Music for Mechanics

I got out - way out - of comic books several years before the debut of the Hernandez Bros. Love and Rockets books, but a friend of mine kept shoving the series under my nose, time after time. His persistence finally paid off; eventually, after a stategic, last-ditch attempt with a Christmas gift (thanks Brett!), I finally took notice. I'm dang glad that I did. L & R couldn't rekindle my love affair with comics and draw me back into wanting to work in the medium, like I think my friend hoped, but the series did impress me. The Hernandez Bros. took the comic book in an entirely different direction than the medium had ever gone (even in the independents and graphic novels), and the Bros. and their work just got better with time. Music for Mechanics (Complete Love and Rockets, Book 1) Vol. 1 is the must see starting point for those just experiencing Los Bros. Hernandez' work. Although I liked Gilbert's stuff well enough, my personal favorites here are the Mechanics stories by Jaime. I still dig his Dan DeCarlo/Archie's comics inspired drawing and the punk-rock madness of Maggie and her sci-fi exploits. Gilbert's artwork got a little too bizarre for my tastes. Or maybe it was due to my fond memories of Betty and Veronica... I don't know. Hard to believe it's been more than two decades since I opened that Christmas gift, and I'm glad to say that, so far, Love and Rockets has weathered time's test. If you're new to the crew, I hope you enjoy your introduction. Have fun - the ride just gets better from here.

Jaime and Gilbert drew and wrote their hearts out from the beginning of this series and onward. The characters will draw you in, befriend you, make fun of you, and keep you wanting more. THis series is still a rarity amongst "alternative" comics, in its smartly told and...expertly drawn tales. Much of what passes for alternative in either comics or music is either pure rubbish or promising ideas tapped by sophmoric artists. Love and Rockets were a real gem from the start, and continue to be so because of the craftmanship demonstrated time and time again, as well as the uninhibited vision of its creators.

This volume of the L & R collection is, obviously, the beginning. This was Los Bros Hernandez finding their voices and experimenting with concepts and genres. A large part of these stories are sci-fi, a genre the authors essentially abandoned later in the run, in favor of more character-driven "realistic" stories (with some exceptions, such as the later 'Penny Century' material). This volume introduces Maggie, Hopey and Luba, three characters who form the nucleus of the Hernandez universe all the way up until today (in fact, Maggie is the star of a new strip being published weekly in the New York Times Magazine starting in April 2006). There are two main storylines in this volume, Mechanics (by Jaime)and BEM (by Gilbert). In Mechanics, Maggie leaves Hopey at home in Hoppers, their LA-area neighborhood/barrio, and goes off to work as a prosolar mechanic in the fictional country of Zhato, fixing robots, spaceships and other high-tech stuff. During her trip she falls for fellow mechanic Rand Race, gets involved in a civil war and gets lost in the jungle with former world champion wrestler Queen Rena Titanon. In BEM, Luba is shown as an ambitious would-be dictator, attempting to harness the power of the giant monster BEM, who has been released from his underground prison by greedy land developers trying to use it as the cheapest possible labor. In my personal opinion these stories are absurd, funny and beautiful, and while they don't necessarily reflect the characters' eventual 'reality', they are excellent nonetheless. In fact, the included short story Locas Tambien is a much better example of what the stories are like in the future run; no ray guns or creatures, just friends hanging out, going to clubs and worrying about getting beat up. So to sum up, I'll say that if you want to see what Love & Rockets is all about, this is a great place to start. If you're looking for the Hernandez Brothers at their very best, I would suggest their collections 'Locas' (by Jaime) and 'Palomar' (by Gilbert).

....like Betty and Veronica meets Almodovar meets Mad Max these future and past tales from Los Bros Hernandez, Jaime and Gilberto, are both highly entertaining and highly original. Some stories are set in barrios, some in futuristic deserts where denizens ride jet rockets like horses, some in a too realistic village where dreams and reality mesh and couples and not couples mesh. If you're not paying attention, you'll miss something important to the story line. This is how 'Love and Rockets' series first began, and when I was into the various plot twists and story lines I thought that this Los Bros' concept would make a good movie or even TV show...wordless stories of mythic and modern women warriors of Mexican and Spanish descent come right between chapters of a story line involving, for instance, whether Luba's dignity would stay intact after suffering emotional assault from a sister, a lover, the system, the poverty...some of the stories are ludicrous and humourous and others are graphic and real. All of them are full of humanity and bite. The art is Jaime and Gilberto at their Vargas-inspired best...they are equally great artists. You will love this!