Love & Rockets for a New Generation
by Calvin Reid, PW Comics Week -- 5/30/2006
After reading early issues of the scathing news and critical publication the Comics Journal back in 1981, two Mexican-American brothers decided to send their self-published comic book to the magazine for review, figuringor so the legend goesthat if they could take criticism from TCJ, they could take it from anybody. Turns out TCJ liked that first issue so much that TCJ and Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth offered to publish the first issue of Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez's comic book Love & Rockets and in the process changed American cartooning forever.
Now, in time for the series' 25th anniversary and a new generation of readers, Fantagraphics has announced plans to republish the entire15-volume Love & Rockets trade paper backlist, re-formatted into seven "manga-sized" (7"x 9") volumes, beginning in January 2007. The new books ($14.95 each) will split the stories of Jaime and Gilbert into separate books.
The current backlist collections have sold hundreds of thousands of copies combined. Volume 1 has been reprinted 15 times, and the books have been translated into more than 10 languages. Fantagraphics publicity director Eric Reynolds says the republishing effort was driven by the successful publication of two giant hardcover collections by Los Bros, Locas (2004) and Palomar (2003).
"Each volume sold well," says Reynolds, who noted that Jaime's collections sell "a little better" than Gilbert's. He pointed to sales of about 7,500 to 8,000 copies for Jaime and 6,500 to 7,000 for Gilbert for the $50 hardcover collections. "Reformatting the books in a manga format was Kim's idea [Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson]," says Reynolds. "It was a no-brainer. He ran it by the Bros and they dug it."
Hailed as one of the greatest comics of all time, Love & Rockets marked the beginning of the American alternative comics movement of the 1980s. Jaime's crisply illustrated stories about punk-Chicana lovers Hopey and Maggie and Gilbert's epic melodramas set in the fictional Central American village of Palomar set new standards for imaginative characterization, sexual depiction, draftsmanship and literary nuance for a generation of comics artists.
Describing the influence of Love & Rockets, international comics expert Paul Gravett tells PWCW, "Love & Rockets offered love, and rockets, and lots of style, street cred and strong women. But above all, it was heart and humanity that Los Bros Hernandez introduced into the early 1980s comics landscape, in their vivid stories of flawed, unpredictable, believable characters. They ushered in a new generation of post-underground graphic novelists and have been influencing them profoundly every since."
Reynolds says that next year, Fantagraphics will use the republication of the Love & Rockets backlist as an opportunity for a "full-on" 25th-anniversary Los Bros national book tour to promote the new editions.
"Twenty-five years later, it's our flagship title," says Groth. "They were something more than underground comics, they moved serious issues into the comics mainstream. They created mainstream fiction in comics form and ran with it. Nobody does what they do. It's so universal, their stories can appeal to anyone."
by Calvin Reid, PW Comics Week -- 5/30/2006
After reading early issues of the scathing news and critical publication the Comics Journal back in 1981, two Mexican-American brothers decided to send their self-published comic book to the magazine for review, figuringor so the legend goesthat if they could take criticism from TCJ, they could take it from anybody. Turns out TCJ liked that first issue so much that TCJ and Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth offered to publish the first issue of Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez's comic book Love & Rockets and in the process changed American cartooning forever.
Now, in time for the series' 25th anniversary and a new generation of readers, Fantagraphics has announced plans to republish the entire15-volume Love & Rockets trade paper backlist, re-formatted into seven "manga-sized" (7"x 9") volumes, beginning in January 2007. The new books ($14.95 each) will split the stories of Jaime and Gilbert into separate books.
The current backlist collections have sold hundreds of thousands of copies combined. Volume 1 has been reprinted 15 times, and the books have been translated into more than 10 languages. Fantagraphics publicity director Eric Reynolds says the republishing effort was driven by the successful publication of two giant hardcover collections by Los Bros, Locas (2004) and Palomar (2003).
"Each volume sold well," says Reynolds, who noted that Jaime's collections sell "a little better" than Gilbert's. He pointed to sales of about 7,500 to 8,000 copies for Jaime and 6,500 to 7,000 for Gilbert for the $50 hardcover collections. "Reformatting the books in a manga format was Kim's idea [Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson]," says Reynolds. "It was a no-brainer. He ran it by the Bros and they dug it."
Hailed as one of the greatest comics of all time, Love & Rockets marked the beginning of the American alternative comics movement of the 1980s. Jaime's crisply illustrated stories about punk-Chicana lovers Hopey and Maggie and Gilbert's epic melodramas set in the fictional Central American village of Palomar set new standards for imaginative characterization, sexual depiction, draftsmanship and literary nuance for a generation of comics artists.
Describing the influence of Love & Rockets, international comics expert Paul Gravett tells PWCW, "Love & Rockets offered love, and rockets, and lots of style, street cred and strong women. But above all, it was heart and humanity that Los Bros Hernandez introduced into the early 1980s comics landscape, in their vivid stories of flawed, unpredictable, believable characters. They ushered in a new generation of post-underground graphic novelists and have been influencing them profoundly every since."
Reynolds says that next year, Fantagraphics will use the republication of the Love & Rockets backlist as an opportunity for a "full-on" 25th-anniversary Los Bros national book tour to promote the new editions.
"Twenty-five years later, it's our flagship title," says Groth. "They were something more than underground comics, they moved serious issues into the comics mainstream. They created mainstream fiction in comics form and ran with it. Nobody does what they do. It's so universal, their stories can appeal to anyone."