This year, the seminal, alternative comic book, Love and Rockets turned 30 years old! That's 30 years of continuous publication in comic and graphic novel formats by creators / cartoonists, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez (their older brother Mario also contributes stories and art from time to time)! This first page of art shown here is by Gilbert Hernandez (they also write and draw their own stories). The characters that populate Gilbert Hernandez' stories mostly inhabit a fictional town called Palomar.
This page of art ('actually reviewing this published entry, I'm seeing that blogspot continues to find new ways to mess up my posts, so photos two and three are reversed'- both pages are amongst eleven pages of originals on display at the Artist Spotlight section of Alternate Reality Comics through the end of December) is by Jaime Hernandez and most of his characters live in the fictional town of Huerta (Hoppers).
What is Love and Rockets about? Simply put, it's about everything people go through in a life lived, being kids and teen-agers, falling in love, complex friendships, having sex, getting into trouble, getting old, and dying. Every character within Gilbert and Jaime's Love and Rockets stories are fully developed and while many of their women are of the eye-pooping beuatiful variety, they both draw many varied kinds of people, who are all beautiful in their own ways. Gilbert and Jaime are both masters at telling funny, sad, strange, and poignant stories, illustrated in gorgeous black and white (some of their work has been in color, but they work the black and white with such grace that you'll prefer to see their art this way). The Hernandez brothers' understanding of the possiblities of the comic book medium was fully realized when they made their debut back in 1982, but they somehow have even managed to hone their skills, never stagnating.
This past Saturday, December 1st, Alternate Reality Comics was honored to be one of the Love and Rockets 30th Anniversary Celebration hosts, and I want to again thank everyone who showed up and dished out deserved ego strokes to Gilbert and Jaime! For those of you who haven't already seen my posts about this on my store's facebook, our sale on Love and Rockets comics and graphic novels will be 20% off through the end of the year and we still have some lmited edition 30th anniversary prints left for a mere $15.00 (11x14, suitable for framing)! Seriously, if you've never seen original artwork by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, come on by an give your eyes a treat!
