This is the first Love & Rockets book. I liked the art, and I know Love & Rockets was a big deal in terms of making room for indie cartoonists, but I did not find the stories all that compelling. I intend to read a few more L&R books to see if they either get better or start to grow on me. I hope so.

So this was very fun to read primarily because of how bubblicious all the women are, which is kind of a busted primary, so idk. Also, like, I don't super care about the plot and I just wanted to watch all the hecka gorgeous dames banter and smoke, so like a significant portion of this book (the adventure) I was like fine sure whatever, let's go back to Maggie & Hopey's apartment now.Anyway I will read more! To see how it all shakes out.

The greatest blessing of my life was when one of my students convinced me to start reading graphic novels. I asked each of my students to read a book each month and to share it with the class, telling them why he or she thought that reading the book would be worth everyone's time. I was flooded with books from Twilight to The Sun Also Rises. Some of my students even read books in other languages and shoved me into reading the translation. But a real confrontation gathered when one of my students...

For me it's a coin-flip between this FIRST (not others) Love and Rockets book and Watchmen

I was all "HEY I SHOULD PROBABLY BECOME FAMILIAR WITH LOVE AND ROCKETS" and this book was all "YOU HAVE A DISTINCT FEELING THIS IS GOING TO BE INTERESTING AND WORTH YOUR TIME, BUT HERE IS A NOT TOTALLY AWESOME BUT STILL GOOD INTRODUCTION TO THESE STORIES." I am excited to read more, but saddened because I do not have infinite gift certificates with which to buy the other volumes.

Took some time to get into this refreshing surreal ‘everything goes’ 50s lesbian sci-fi proto-tankgirl/charles burns piece of underground comic. But once the penny dropped, there’s no looking back.Cant wait for next issue.

I read these in the late 1990's. I wasn't impressed then and I'm not impressed now. I don't understand the high marks for these books. I won't be reading any more from Gilbert Hernandez. Overated.

Love and Rockets helped shape my generation. Reading it now after so many years (I remember I first heard of it when I was in university, back in 1988 - how time flies!!), I can't help but feel nostalgia. Those were the days.

I was introduced to Los Bros Hernandez nearly 25 years ago. The impact of meeting the two touchstone characters: Maggie and Hopey, has had a lasting impact on my psyche. Maggie Chascarillo, a gifted apprentice “Pro-solar Mechanic” in the earlier fantasy-oriented storylines, and Hopey Glass, a feisty anti-authoritarian punk dykette, [who also happens to be Maggie’s on-again, off-again lover] they are the touchstones but Love and Rockets is more than a universe, its a multi-verse.The story-lines c...

Probably closer to 4.75?I don't remember reading this volume of Love & Rockets, however I do remember owning it back in the late 80s, early 90s. I never got very far in Love & Rockets in any case. The bulk of this collection introduces Maggie and her adventure in digging up a rocket ship in South America? Maybe Central America? It's a fantastic story. The Hernandez Bros have a talent for writing science fiction that's rooted in Earth-bound situations. Is that the definition of pulp science ficti...

This is the second "Love and Rockets" book that I've read. I read #3 first, because the library didn't have #1 or #2 on the shelf at the time.I have become a huge fan of Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez's work. I loved this book.Jaime's work is gorgeous and goes great with his story. His artwork is classical and reminds me of 50's and 60's serial strips like Steve Canyon, Tarzan and the like. The story line is right out of a 50's B movie. Loved it! I know know why the books are called "Love and Rocke...

REREAD: You know, apparently I read this back in 2011, but I don't think it's true. I'd never read BEM before, and if I did, I have no memory of it whatsoever. I know Gilbert is the critically-acclaimed Bro, but Jaime is just where it's at for me. Nonetheless, this particular book is pretty excellent, and I enjoy it far more than the digest-sized reprint series that came out a few years ago. The art, in general, is way too good to get shrunken, and I like moving back and forth between the Bros.

Love and Rockets is the comics series closest to my heart. What is truly wonderful about L&R is that it is a comic in the old fashioned form. An ongoing storyline about a groups of characters that goes on for years and years. It isn't as enclosed as a graphic novel and was never intended to be. These are human stories, unfolding at the pace of life.Which is why I prefer this 15 volumes of trade paperbacks over the current collected editions. First of all, the size is correct. The new collections...

I didn't make it through this book. While I found some of the weird stuff interesting, I just didn't care about any of the main characters. Perhaps they get better if you read more, perhaps I didn't spend enough time trying to understand the book or perhaps it's just not for me.The art was good for the most part, but I didn't really like the hyper-sexualized way all the females were portrayed and nothing beyond that really stood out for me.

As the jacket blurb says: 'It starts with the first glimpse of Maggie and Hopey and ends with the first glimpse of Palomar.' Carter Scholz's 1985 introduction to this volume of Hernandez material from '81-'85 really speaks alot about the endurance of Love & Rockets. It's probably hard to imagine now, if one were to come to the material fresh (this is at least my third time reading the books, since the early '90s), the state of comics in the mid-'80s, but it was pretty bleak. There are VERY few c...

Music for Mechanics is a collection of comics written by the Hernandez brothers during the early 1980's. The drawings are great, and I love how most of the characters are bad ass females. The stories themselves are silly sci-fi stuff with a lot of cartoonish violence and mischief. There are some deeper messages and societal criticism, but very little. I wish there were a little more of that.The end of the collection is much stronger than the beginning of it. My favorite series is definitely "Mec...

While my wife and friends were at a play (that I skillfully got out of attending) I spent two hours browsing at Bookbuyers in Mountain View. I exercised tremendous restraint by only buying two Love and Rockets compilations and one history book.I love the Love and Rockets comics, and I completely admit that I slept on them in the 80s. But I intend to catch up on them now.

This book is an interesting one - it seems so different in tone from Los Bros's later works, but the artwork is so solid, and a lot of what makes them great is visible - Jaime's punk rock aesthetic and keen character building, Beto's zany sci-fi weirdness and great world building. It's a little depressing seeing how the latter brother has deteriorated in art and writing skill, though.

Rating: 2Thoughts: I really like the artwork but the stories are a bit of a mess. There were a few that were pretty good (which the artwork just added to it), but overall the storylines were just too weak for me.

I love LOVE AND ROCKETS! It is without a doubt my favorite comic book /graphic novel series OF ALL TIMES! It just speaks to my generation ~ We were these weirdos! The Hernandez Bros. have such a great ability to take you to their world. You can pick up any volume and instantly be in Hopper's or Palomar, and get an entire heart breaking story. This first volume is a hard digest, as the bros WRITE OUT everything. The art is there but they hadn't perfected their storytelling ability and flow. Of co...