Love and Rockets comic books issue 1

2nd and later printings. "PALOMAR: Part 3!" By Gilbert Hernandez. Beyond Palomar collected two of Hernandez's ground-breaking works about the Central American village in a single affordable book. "Poison River" traces the pre-Palomar childhood of Luba, her teenage marriage to gangster Peter Rio, the secrets behind her mysterious mother, all the way up to her eventual escape and arrival in Palomar. "Love and Rockets X" takes us from Beverly Hills to the dangerous east side and introduces us to a diverse cast of characters, including a lowlife rock 'n' roll band, a posse of black youths, a ditzy Hollywood mom and her spoiled son, a gay activist filmmaker and his rebellious, half-Iraqi daughter, and a group of racist thugs that set the story in motion. Softcover, B&W. Mature Readers Cover price $18.99.

1st printing. "A Love and Rockets Collection!" Collects Love and Rockets (2001-2007 2nd Series) #11-19. Story and art by Jaime Hernandez. A standalone graphic novel from the Locas universe! It starts with a barely-glimpsed slaying ("Life Through Whispers") and ends with a funeral ("Male Torso Found in L.A. River"). Even though - or perhaps because - he's still carrying the torch for Maggie, Ray diligently pursues the dangerous and annoying "Frogmouth," aspiring actress and full-time train wreck, from seedy bars and back alleys through comic book conventions, all the way to the ultimate, and unexpected, consummation. Meanwhile, Hopey spends an eventful week during which she undergoes a couple of major life changes, both personal and professional - and for that matter cosmetic. Hardcover, 8-in. x 11-in., 122 pages, B&W. Mature Readers Cover price $19.99.

Love and Rockets: Book 22 - 1st printing. By Los Bros Hernandez. Collects the new adventures of Maggie Chascarrillo, as serialized in the Love & Rockets comic book. Maggie is now the resident building-manager of the notorious Capri Apartments deep in the heart of the San Fernando Valley, where imaginary dogs roam its walkways, all the air conditioners are broken, and the empty swimming pool is covered with flies. As if the eccentric, oddball tenants weren't weird enough, Maggie's houseguest and old friend Izzy Ortiz shakes things up with her usual nervous breakdowns, nocturnal screaming, and obsessive fly-swatting. Hardcover, 8 1/2-in. x 11-in., 120 pages, B&W. Mature Readers Cover price $18.95.

1st printing.

Story and art by Jaime Hernandez.

In Is This How You See Me?, Maggie and Hopey get the band back together - literally. Now middle-aged, they leave their significant others at home and take a weekend road trip to reluctantly attend a punk rock reunion in their old neighborhood. The present is masterfully threaded with a flashback set in 1979, during the very formative stages in Maggie and Hopey's lifelong friendship, as the perceived invincibility of youth is expertly juxtaposed against all of the love, heartbreak, and self-awareness that comes with lives actually lived. The result is no sentimental victory lap, however - this is one of the great writers of literary fiction at the peak of his powers, continuing to scale new heights as an artist.

Hernandez's acclaimed ongoing comics series Love and Rockets has entertained readers for over 35 years, and his beloved characters - Maggie, Hopey, Ray, Doyle, Daffy, Mike Tran, and so many others - have become fully realized literary creations. Is This How You See Me? collects Hernandez's latest interconnected vignettes, serialized over the past four years in Love and Rockets, into a long-form masterpiece for the first time.

Hardcover, 96 pages, B&W. Mature Readers

Cover price $19.99.

(W) Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez (A) Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez (CA) Jaime Hernandez To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Fantagraphics, we are proud to present a series of "replicant" editions of classic Fantagraphics comics from the company's storied history, beginning with the one that launched a thousand ships, the very first issue of Love and Rockets Vol. I from 1982! Introducing Maggie, Hopey, Luba and so many more of the extended Love and Rockets cast that readers still know and love, almost 45 years on. Including Gilbert's groundbreaking "BEM", Jaime's instant fan favorite "Mechanics", and so much more. Look for another classic Fantagraphics replicant next month! Cover price $7.99.

1st printing. By Gilbert Hernandez and Jaime Hernandez. Fantagraphics proudly presents 35 years of Love And Rockets covers collated in full-color, virtually all of them without logos or cover text for maximum visual impact so the viewer can better appreciate these iconic images created by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez. With over 150 classic covers, this will be a gorgeous, oversized art book and the perfect gift for fans of the series that virtually defines alternative comics. Hardcover, 7-in. x 11-in., 144 pages, full color. Cover price $35.00.

1st printing. THE SEQUEL TO THE 2003 PERENNIAL CLASSIC, PALOMAR. When Gilbert Hernandez climaxed his award-winning "Palomar" series at the end of Love and Rockets' original run by leveling the tiny Central American hamlet, many disappointed readers thought he had written off those beloved characters for good. Not so. Hernandez soon picked up the story of Luba (who had not only been one of the dominant characters of the "Palomar" series but had also starred in its prequel "Poison River"): Now older but perhaps not so very much wiser, the hammer-wielding matriarch had relocated to the United States of America, where she continued to contend not only, as an immigrant, with a brand new and not always welcoming culture but also her tempestuous extended family - her eccentric sisters Fritz and Petra, her nurturing but often disapproving cousin Ofelia, her many children ranging from the fully grown (Guadalupe and Doralis) to the latest brood sired by her husband Khamo (Casimira, Socorro, Joselito, and Conchita) - many of them in turn each with her own network of family members, lovers, and friends (including a number of other escapees from Palomar). These "America" stories - over 80 of them, ranging from quick one-page blackout sketches to bona fide graphic novellas - were originally published in a number of different comics and reprinted in a trilogy of oversized paperbacks. Luba finally collects in one compact, affordable hardcover the entirety of these tales, showcasing Gilbert Hernandez's wicked wit, great compassion, and uncanny understanding of how human beings love, squabble, and ultimately find a way to make it through this life. Tales of sex, violence and rock and roll rub elbows with stories of love, sensitivity, and understanding - and thanks to the miraculous alchemy of Hernandez's peerless storytelling, what emerges is a coherent, exciting, funny portrait of one of the richest group of fictional characters ever to spring from a cartoonist's mind. Hardcover, 594 pages, B&W. Mature Readers Cover price $39.99.

Love and Rockets: Book 19 - The Luba Trilogy: Book 1 of 3 - 1st printing. By Los Bros Hernandez. The first volume depicting Luba's post-Palomar life and times, this book takes the sometimes confusing strands of Gilbert's stories and weaves them into a satisfying thematic whole, as Luba tries to make sense of her family's lives in America. Softcover, 8 1/2-in. x 11-in., 224 pages, B&W. Mature Readers Cover price $19.95.

Love and Rockets: Book 21 - The Luba Trilogy: Book 2 of 3 - 1st printing. By Los Bros Hernandez. Luba: Tome 2 - In his first graphic novel in two years, Hernandez's The Book of Ofelia begins with Luba, Ofelia and company trying to acclimate to life in America. When Ofelia decides to chronicle her life with Luba in a tell-all book, she discovers inspiration in Luba's young children - the one-armed Casimira, Socorro with the photographic memory, the loner Joselito and the silent Conchita. See Latino soap opera and soft-core porn, with touches of magic-realism, all in one! Softcover, 8 1/2-in. x 11-in., 260 pages, B&W. Mature Readers Cover price $22.95.

Love and Rockets: Book 23 - The Luba Trilogy: Book 3 of 3 - 1st printing. By Gilbert Hernandez. Luba: Tome 3 - Luba: Three Daughters is the final book in Gilbert Hernandez's post-Palomar trilogy, continuing the story of matriarch Luba and her extended family's travails in the United States after her Central American hometown is destroyed at the end of Palomar. It focuses on Luba and her two sisters, Fritz and Petra, exploring the complex relationships that form between family and how the experiences and actions of one generation influence the next. Renowned for his female characters, Hernandez intersperses his main narrative with "The Kid Stuff Kids," a series of lighthearted and playful one-pagers starring the young children of the three sisters, richly juxtaposed against the complex family drama at work in Three Daughters. Hernandez's mix of Latino soap opera, magic realist touches and rich naturalism speak to audiences about the changes that come with age and experience, and they are unparalleled in comics. Softcover, 8-in. x 11-in., 144 pages, B&W. Mature Readers Cover price $16.95.

Love and Rockets: Book 1 - 1st printing. Collects Love and Rockets (1982-1996 1st Series) #1-2. Containing the legendary first two issues of Love and Rockets, it's one classic after another: the first Maggie and Hopey story, Luba in jungle-queen mode, "Mechanics," "Music for Monsters" and much more. Includes full color cover gallery. Hardcover, 8 1/2-in. x 10- 1/2-in., 150 pages, B&W. Mature Readers Cover price $35.00.

Love and Rockets: Book 1 - 2nd and later printings. Collects Love and Rockets (1982-1996 1st Series) #1-2. NOTE: Cover on reprints may vary. By Los Bros Hernandez. The original, seminal Love & Rockets comic book series, which ran for 50 issues from 1981 to 1996, singlehandedly defined the post-underground generation of comics that spawned Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware, and so many others. Now collected into 15 volumes, Love & Rockets is a body of work that The Nation has described as "one of the hidden treasures of our impoverished culture." Created by brothers Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario Hernandez, three Southern California Mexican-Americans armed with a passion for pop culture and punk rock, Love & Rockets gave a voice to minorities and women for the first time in the medium's then 50-year history and remains one of the greatest achievements in comic book history. Hardcover, 8 1/2-in. x 11-in., 150 pages, B&W. Mature Readers Cover price $35.00.

Signed and numbered Edition - Love and Rockets: Book 1 - 1st printing. Collects Love and Rockets (1982-1996 1st Series) #1-2. Containing the legendary first two issues of Love and Rockets, it's one classic after another: the first Maggie and Hopey story, Luba in jungle-queen mode, "Mechanics," "Music for Monsters" and much more. Includes full color cover gallery. Hardcover, 8 1/2-in. x 10- 1/2-in., 150 pages, B&W. Mature Readers NOTE: Limited to 400 copies. Cover price $35.00.

1st printing. By Gilbert Hernandez. Collects "Heartbreak Soup" stories from Love & Rockets. Palomar is the mythical Central American town where these stories take place, and the stories weave in and out of its entire population, crafting an intricate tapestry of not only Latin American but also human experience. Hardcover, 9-in. x 11-in., 512 pages, B&W. Cover price $39.95.

Reprint. By Gilbert Hernandez. Collects "Heartbreak Soup" stories from Love & Rockets. Palomar is the mythical Central American town where these stories take place, and the stories weave in and out of its entire population, crafting an intricate tapestry of not only Latin American but also human experience. Hardcover, 9-in. x 11-in., 512 pages, B&W. Cover price $39.95.

1st printing. By Marc Sobel. A deep dive into the first 50 issues of the HernandezBrothers' acclaimed comic series, this scholarly bookseeks to answer the question: What makes Love andRockets such an enduring classic of the medium?Love and Rockets by Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario Hernandez is oneof the greatest comic series ever created. However, running consistentlyfor 40 years and encompassing a diverse array of characters,settings, and cultural influences, this literary universe can bedaunting to explore. With Reading Love and Rockets, writer MarcSobel offers an accessible entry point into L&R, an invaluableresource to both new readers and fans who want to deepen theirunderstanding of the series.Reading Love and Rockets hones in on the first 50 issues of theseries, tracking the evolution of the characters and storylines, aswell as the Hernandez Brothers' growth as artists and writers acrossthis 15-year span of creation. Breaking down each issue in sequence, Sobel blendstogether his own sharp-eyed observations with analysis from a variety of scholars,critics, and fans to provide a well-rounded perspective on the series. Plus, explorationsinto topics as wide-ranging as magical realism, women's wrestling, andthe Southern California punk scene reveal the fascinating influences at the heartof these stories. Readers daring enough to embark on this illuminating journeythrough Palomar and Hoppers 13 will return with a richer appreciation for thismasterpiece of graphic literature. Luxuriously illustrated throughout with scenesfrom the comic. Softcover, 8-in. x 11-in., 320 pages, PC/PB&W. Mature Readers Cover price $49.99.

1st printing.

Story and art by Jaime Hernandez.

Hot on the heels of Jaime Hernandez's masterpiece, Is This How You See Me?, comes a stand-alone graphic novel that focuses on one of Hernandez's most memorable characters, Tonta, while she confronts her family history. Her half-sister Vivian gets involved with a small-town gangster while Tonta befriends a young woman who keeps tabs on the neighborhood from the surrounding woods.

Meanwhile, back at school, Tonta discovers that Coach Angel harbors a secret while local punk band Ooot provides the soundtrack.

Hardcover, 9-in. x 11-in., 104 pages, B&W. Mature Readers

Cover price $19.99.