Love and Rockets 1 Changed Comics Forever

[@CartoonistKayfabe]

Jim's Octobriana 1976 Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/jimrugg/fluorescent-blacklight-outlaw-comic-book Ed's Patreon: www.patreon.com/edpiskor

[@jimmygownley9573]

Guys, you could not have focused on anything more appropriate or deserving at this particular time. Thank you. This book is hugely important for me. Not only did it show me what was possible in my already beloved art form, but as a poor white kid growing up in an all white town, it taught me empathy and understanding for people different from me. I would probably not be the cartoonist I am without Love and Rockets, and I DEFINITELY wouldn't be the person I am without Los Bros. Keep up the great work.

[@GoreVidalComicbooks]

I read Love & Rockets when it was coming out. I was a kid at the time growing up in Texas after emigrating from Mexico and the Hernandez Brothers brought in not only Mexican and Latin American culture into their work, but also the importance of wrestling in the lives of Mexicans, especially kids. Before action figures existed, Mexican kids had plastic wrestlers as their primary toys. There has never been anything like Love & Rockets, then or now.

[@Gootie29]

I was given a copy of Love & Rockets by a punker girl when I was 12. She was 19, I was crushing on her pretty hard but I was completely smitten with that comic. Both Jaime and Gilbert blew my mind.

[@alexdiotto]

I'd love a whole series of videos on Love and Rockets

[@diegopadilla7546]

Me too! It changed my life!

[@ja_no]

Mentioning Moebius/Giraud made me think of this great quote from him about this spefific issue: "Love and Rockets #1 is marvelous. I hope one day to attain the level of the cover drawing myself... it is a perfect drawing." (1982) Imagine getting this level of compliment from ol' Gir at such a young age. And well deserved! Cartoonist/animator Stephen Destefano (himself a somewhat underrated genius in the comics world in my opinion, check out Lucky in love) once asked Xaime about his approach to spotting blacks and one of the things he said was something like "Put your main character in a black shirt." It's (also) the simple things... Great episode, this truly is the channel that keeps on giving...

[@willpfeifer3312]

Great to be reminded of how great Los Bros were even when they were raw young punks! I wasn't on board for this issue (though I remember seeing the ads in The Comics Journal), but I picked up the first collection in the spring of 1986 and couldn't put it down for weeks. One of the most influential books I've ever owned. Bought every issue from that moment on, which is why things like the ending of "The Love Bunglers" hit me like a thunderbolt. I'd known these people for thirty plus years!

[@vincelang3779]

I read through the entire thing every few years, catching up to the new stuff, and never fail to be blown away. Palomar seems like a place where I once lived and kinda forgotten . . .

[@elbruces]

Yeah... I feel like that about Palomar too.

[@boudusaved4719]

I've been reading comics for more than 40 of my 50 years and I only, surprisingly, came to know about Love and Rockets about 2 years ago. I'm on volume 15 and I have to say it may be my favorite comic series of all time. There is simply nothing like it out there. I love the characters, the art, the various plots, the manner in which the writer/artist brothers "direct" or "edit" the scenes. It must have been highly influential on the cinema that followed. Before I came across Love and Rockets, I was ready to say Watchmen, The Sandman and Saga were my favorites, but I don't think so anymore. Love and Rockets all the way.

[@Arseface-X80]

You're right. It's extraordinary.

[@Q-Bits8]

Awesome episode, I'm a huge fan of the series myself and proud owner of every single issue of Love & rockets comic book ever published, including some original pages and original art.

[@tumblrtwopointoh]

For people who can't track down this first issue- the Jaime stuff from this issue is in the "Maggie The Mechanic" Love And Rockets Library volume, with the follow-up stuff where it starts to get more character-focused and the Gilbert BEM stuff is in the "Amor Y Cohetes" book with a bunch of other weird, experimental, and sci-fi strips from the first thirteen years of the series.

[@chadneyeverett126]

That is the comic that made me fall in love with comics!! Still have that first issue I bought in 83

[@thewolfmike2226]

This is such a great episode, thanks guys! Exo Squad haircut, hell yeah Ed. Gimme the J.T. Marsh please!

[@beattodeath]

By far one of the best Fantagraphics books, along with 8 ball and Hate. But there has never been a comic where the characters grew and aged and felt like they lived real lives, and in some cases even died.

[@calanives3270]

Hopey is my favorite fictional character.

[@artcamp7]

Love and Rockets blew my mind when I was 15. And I still love it now

[@CartoonistKayfabe]

Every new issue blows our minds

[@darklordbob1868]

Knew of them growing up in Oxnard around 1978-81 met Jaime first in Ventura College while learning figure drawing very interesting kids then very much in the punk scene Maggie was Jaime's friend then the blonde you see in BEM.

[@crsdrw90000]

no way! just started love and rockets. perfect timing. thanks for all yall do.

[@dantrice78]

Fucking amazing! Thank you so much. Please do all 50 issues. They mean the world to me.

[@hcanderson3787]

Guys, thank you, this was awesome. Love and Rockets meant more to me coming up than I could ever describe, and revisiting this comic I have a renewed appreciation for just how good, how revolutionary Los Bros work was. And I had forgotten the great Todd Klein created the logo! I love the overlap between the mainstream and the cutting edge as it was defined in the 80s. Incredible stuff.

[@fstgeorge]

Los Hernandez Bros are legendary! I only have a couple of their books but love their style so much! Black and white books hit different.

[@robynchapman1453]

Love this! I have the fanzine issue of number one too (framed on my wall).

[@RPS67]

What amazing insights into the start of Love & Rockets! Thank you. So many things that I have been unable to articulate you guys make so clear. Like How To Kill A.. being the origin story of Izzy and her neurosis. 100% agree. I wonder if Raw magazine had introduced Gilbert to Jose Munoz? It would have been about concurrent with this issue. Also for some of us reading in the 80s Tank Girl was definitely seen as one of the first Hernandez imitators. Wonderful to hear you acknowledge Los Bros Hernandez as opening the door for your own wonderful careers. Mostly, I just wanted to say thank you for this channel and especially this episode.

[@fad23]

I picked up #1 in the late 80s and it was the first book that captured something that resembled the neighborhood where I grew up. I mean the Hoppers stuff really developed later, but it kinda blew my mind.

[@henryferkey4505]

I re-read issues 1 and 2 recently; that is exciting work! Love and Rockets is the first comic I read that had characters that talked and moved like real people; I can almost feel them breathe. I will always be thankful for that experience. Additionally, the Todd Klein logo is ideal to me.

[@amirmalekpour4316]

Ed - your Love & Rockets #1 is super special because Xaime gave it to you due to you guy’s special relationship. Nothing is above that.

[@MonsieurMosca]

Ok, so I am late to this party, but i wanted to comment on the backstory of “How to Kill A…” starting at 29:00. I read somewhere that Isabel Ortiz married a gringo named Reubens and used her married name as her nom de plume when she became a novelist. This story chronicles Izzy’s descent into madness from her writer’s block (“How to Kill A….” being a working title that she cannot finish). Don’t remember reading an actual explanation to the story, but I did read her character bio a long time ago, and took it from there.

[@unkleskratch]

i worshipped these guys' work back in the 80s

[@gmosphere]

40:06 in one of the forwards to some of the tank girl trades Hewlet talks about Love and Rockets being an influence and they show panels from THIS PAGE when talking about it.

[@gotohellaaron]

There's also a band called Love And Rockets and I think they named themselves after this comic.

[@faustusgood8194]

The band stole the name after hearing about the comic from Alan Moore. Something Alan Moore apparently felt fairly bad about afterwards.

[@arempy5836]

Yeah, and that's why in Love and Rockets X they have 2 bands called Love and Rockets and one band keeps saying they had the name first.

[@jt1929]

The band members were still in Bauhaus when the comic came out, they morphed into Tones on Tail, then Love and Rockets

[@chainsawbarbarian]

You guys surprise me over and over. Love and Rockets is one of the coolest comics ever. They are so critically acclaimed....yet so overlooked. I'm an old punker. Not old enough to be part of the original thing....89 was my first show at 13. Why do I not know one L and R fan? I was a huge comic book nerd. Its nice to hear you guys marvel at these beautiful books. Jaime's contribution to punk rocks culture through L and R and artwork for bands really inspired me. Dinner with him? Jealllllllooooouuuussss! And the wrestling stuff rules too

[@numberrunner3133]

Props for the random Exosquad mention.

[@TaylorTalksComics]

We need some more Love and Rockets overviews! Where is issue 2?! These people asking for Wizard issue episodes are nuts. We need more Los Hernandez brothers!

[@RyanRoemer8624]

Legendary comic book series

[@diegopadilla7546]

Love and Rockets forever

[@jasonduran8324]

“Love and Rockets” on the day of the SpaceX launch! Nice. Intentional?

[@leestevenson80]

Phenomenal looking stuff. Cheers lads.

[@shovethedove]

cant help but feel like some of this pops in the same kind of way that pettibon did

[@drawrobot]

Jaime's stuff in here reminds me of Frazetta's Johnny Comet.(as well as the noted Toth influence)

[@AndrewGordonMacpherson]

Gary Groth shoot bout to drop tomorrow I reckon

[@thomasrolfe2306]

Sergio Toppi, pls.

[@eburonson]

Thanks so much for this!!! Viva Los Bros!!! Totally punk rock!!! I was able to chop it up with Jaime at a con where he was sitting alone and apparently unrecognized for his greatness! Totally down cat and humble! #Hoppers #ApeSex #JerusalemCrickets #MagpieLovesHopey

[@sjc7773]

I bought LR, #15 I got it Jan of 86.we went to see the band LR, from new wave England style. They were art student drop outs, in a band called bauhaus (see the themes)? Anyway it's to big to fit in a comics box, so unfortunately it's not in great shape. But still not bad. I didn't realize what I had, i was just a fan of the band. Thanks for the knowledge.

[@davidmoses6434]

BETO SHOOT INTERVIEW??

[@lancetomimoto3478]

Hey guys, any chance you could review that wild run of Prophet by Brandon Graham from the image 20th anniversary event? The story telling is so imaginative and the art is out of control. I'm just rereading it now for the first time in like 5 years and it is awesome.

[@hotelnapkin]

nice and long just how i like them

[@ValadeCartoonist]

I'm always so stoked when it's a long episode!

[@powerofpop8747]

Indie comix! Big Beto fan.

[@SketchbookTimeMachine]

Holy sharkballs! You guys gotta stop putting out so many great vidoes! (not really) I'm trying to make my own and I don't have time 'cause all I do is watch Kayfaaaaaaaaaaaaabe!

[@hotelnapkin]

hi guys