Love and Rockets is a long-running comic series written by Gilbert and Jamie Hernandez that began in 1981 with a self-published issue edited by their brother Mario. It’s kind of an anthology with science fiction or magical-realist elements, each brother working independently from the other, so there are two stories and more following a large cast of characters throughout their lives.
On Jaime’s side, it’s been one long story named Locas for the last decades about Maggie Chascarrillo and Hopey Glass, two young, queer women living in a fictional California town called Hoppers and their transition into adult life—Maggie and her friends and family have aged in real-time.
On Gilbert’s side, there are more ongoing stories and some short stories too—often infused with magical realism. The bigger one is Palomar & Luba about a poor fictional Central American town and the inhabitants like the hammer-wielding matriarch Luba, the midwife-turned-sheriff Chelo, Fritz the (sometimes X-rated) actress, and many more.
Gilbert and Jaime’s work can be read independently.
Love and Rockets Reading Order:
I. Love and Rockets: The First Fifty
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Fantagraphics’ flagship series, this prestigious box set presents bound facsimiles of the original fifty issues of the Love and Rockets comics magazines. This collection presents the comics as they appeared between 1981 and 1996.
Love and Rockets: The First Fifty: The Classic 40th Anniversary Collection
II. Love And Rockets: Locas, Luba & Palomar
The easiest way to read Love and Rockets today seems to be with the Fantagraphics‘ Library editions.
a. “Locas” by Jaime Hernandez
Locas is, in the beginning, the punk and SciFi tale of Maggie, a young mechanic, her brash best friend and occasional lover Hopey, and their friends. It goes on to become a slice-of-life story of young people in a California town called Hoppers.
- Maggie the Mechanic (The Love & Rockets Library – Locas Vol.1)
- The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S. (The Love & Rockets Library – Locas Vol. 2)
- Perla La Loca (The Love & Rockets Library – Locas Vol. 3)
- Penny Century (The Love & Rockets Library – Locas Vol. 4)
- Esperanza (The Love & Rockets Library – Locas Vol. 5)
- Angels and Magpies (The Love & Rockets Library – Locas Vol. 6)
Collects “God and Science: Return of the Ti-Girls” and “The Love Bunglers” from New Stories (1-4). - Is This How You See Me? (TPB)
Previously serialized in Love and Rockets: New Stories 7 & 8, as well as numbers 1 through 5. - Tonta (TPB)
Previously serialized in Love and Rockets: New Stories 5 & 6.
The story continues in the ongoing Love and Rockets Vol. IV.
b. “Palomar & Luba” by Gilbert Hernandez
Palomar is the story of life in the fictional Mexican town of Palomar, a mix between a soap-operatic telenovela and magical realism.
- Heartbreak Soup (The Love & Rockets Library – Palomar Book 1)
- Human Diastrophism (The Love & Rockets Library – Palomar Book 2)
- Beyond Palomar (The Love & Rockets Library – Palomar Book 3)
- Luba and Her Family (The Love & Rockets Library – Luba Book 1)
- Ofelia (The Love & Rockets Library – Luba Book 2)
- Three Sisters (The Love & Rockets Library – Luba Book 3)
- Children Of Palomar And Other Tales (The Love & Rockets Library – Palomar Book 4)
The story continues in the ongoing Love and Rockets Vol. IV.
c. Short stories by Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez
- Amor Y Cohetes
Collects all of the non-“Locas,” non-“Palomar” stories from Love and Rockets Volume 1, including Gilbert’s “BEM,” “Frida” and “My Love Book”; Jaime’s “Rocky and Fumble”; and more. - Comics Dementia
Collects a collection of short stories by Gilbert Hernandez unrelated to the ”Palomar” continuity, including many that haven’t been reprinted since they were first available in the 1990s.
III. Love And Rockets, New Stories
After all that, there is Love and Rockets: New Stories. Since 2008, one volume a year collects new L&R stories from the Hernandez brothers.
- New Stories, volume 1 (2008)
- New Stories, volume 2 (2009)
- New Stories, volume 3 (2010)
- New Stories, volume 4 (2011)
- New Stories, volume 5 (2012)
- New Stories, volume 6 (2013)
- New Stories, volume 7 (2015)
- New Stories, volume 8 (2016)
If you only want Jaime’s stories from this period, they are collected in other volumes :
- God and Science: Return of the Ti-Girls (also in Angels and Magpies)
- The Love Bunglers (also in Angels and Magpies)
- Is This How You See Me?
- Tonta
Those two books are also in the Angels and Magpies book.
IV. Love And Rockets, volume 4
In 2017, Love & Rockets came back as a new ongoing series. On Jaime’s side: What do you do when none of your old punk friends want to be punk anymore? On Gilbert’s side: Family drama takes center stage when a Fritz discovers a grandchild she didn’t know existed!
- Love and Rockets Comics Vol. IV #1
- Love and Rockets Comics Vol. IV #2
- Love and Rockets Comics Vol. IV #3
- Love and Rockets Comics Vol. IV #4
- Love and Rockets Comics Vol. IV #5
- Love and Rockets Comics Vol. IV #6
- Love and Rockets Comics Vol. IV #7
- Love and Rockets Comics Vol. IV #8
- Love and Rockets Comics Vol. IV #9
- Love and Rockets Comics Vol. IV #10
- Love and Rockets Comics Vol. IV #11
- Love and Rockets Comics Vol. IV #12
- Love and Rockets Comics Vol. IV #13
Bonus. THE FRITZ B-MOVIE BOOKS
These standalone graphic novels were never serialized in Love and Rockets but each is presented as a fictional, hard-boiled “B-movie” starring Gilbert’s actress character (and Luba’s sister), Fritz.
- Chance in Hell
- The Troublemakers
- Love From the Shadows
- Garden of Flesh
- Maria M. Book 1 & 2
- Hypnotwist/Scarlet by Starlight
Collects the graphic novellas “Hypnotwist” and “Scarlet by Starlight” from Love and Rockets: New Stories. - Proof That the Devil Loves You
Collects Three Fritz B-movies including the new one “Proof That the Devil Loves You,”