The Education of Hopey Glass (Love & Rockets) [Hardcover]

Jaime Hernandez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 9, 2008

A stand-alone graphic novel from the Locas universe.

It starts with a barely-glimpsed slaying ("Life Through Whispers") and ends with a funeral ("Male Torso Found in L.A. River").

Even though (or perhaps because) he's still carrying the torch for Maggie, Ray diligently pursues the dangerous and annoying "Frogmouth," an aspiring actress and full-time train wreck, from seedy bars and back alleys through comic book conventions...all the way to the ultimate, and unexpected, consummation. Meanwhile, Hopey spends an eventful week during which she undergoes a couple of major life changes, both personal and professional...and for that matter cosmetic.

New characters include Hopey's long-suffering on-the-side squeeze Grace; Maggie's new roommate, the sweet-natured jockette "Angel of Tarzana;" and the live-wire would-be gangsta Elmer—while such classic Love and Rockets characters as the hard-living Doyle, the ageing but still-rocking Terry, and the mysterious super-heroine Alarma pop up in the margins...As does Maggie, well off stage but visible as Ray's resentful ex, Angel's roommate, and (forever and still) Hopey's best friend.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In this perfect confluence of stunning illustration and gripping narrative, Hernandez returns to his early Love & Rockets roots with aging punk-rocker Esperanza Hopey Glass taking the spotlight in this collection's first half. Day by Day with Hopey chronicles a week in the feisty Latina's life as she transitions from tending bar to teaching kindergarten while her low-rent personal life teems with girlfriends who come and go, her lifelong friend and sometime-lover Maggie the only constant. In terms of action or intrigue, not much happens, but Hernandez spins narrative gold from the mundane straw of his protagonist's existence, as Hopey's awkward romantic and social tribulations add more layers to her complex character. The second half features Ray Dominguez, Maggie's long-ago boyfriend, now in his early 407s and still carrying a torch for her. Ray finds himself caught up in a pulp fiction maelstrom hinging on the fallout from a murder and his lust for the gorgeous but borderline-psychotic Vivian, an aspiring actress also known as Frogmouth, who has her own history with Maggie. Fraught with grimy intrigue that evokes a Chicano Mickey Spillane yarn, the second half of the book comes as an unexpected and pleasant surprise that rivets both old fans and newcomers to the page. (Apr.)
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Review

Hopey’s maturation from punk rocker to reserved teacher’s assistant will send any former punk reeling, while Ray’s haunting tale of murder and lost love will leave you ruminating for days. (Wizard )

Every single panel can be pulled out and blown up into an arresting visual worthy of the inside covers of any book out there…Jaime Hernandez continues to be one of comics’ great treasures. (Comics Reporter )

There is no greater all-around artist in modern comics than Jaime Hernandez, and his recent work builds on his past successes so that his oeuvre as a whole is shaping up to be one of literature's best sustained stories about aging and the shifting of relationships over the course of a life. (Ed Howard - Only the Cinema )

In the turbulent slipstream between high ‘n’ low, Maggie and Hopey are the state of the art. (R. C. Baker - The Village Voice )

A beautiful Love & Rockets collection that serves as a great introduction to the series’ most enduring characters — Hopey and Maggie. (Anita Kinney - The Daily Vanguard )

Jaime Hernandez’s comics often provoke bursts of laughter – not necessarily because they’re outright comedic, although they sometimes are, but because they’re so ingeniously constructed. (Douglas Wolk - The New York Times Book Review )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (April 9, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560979399
• ISBN-13: 978-1560979395
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 7.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Nonfiction > Bisexuality
  • #59 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Publishers > Fantagraphics

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still crazy good after all these years..., June 14, 2008

By 

Jamie S. Rich (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Education of Hopey Glass (Love & Rockets) (Hardcover)

I haven't read the entirety of LOVE AND ROCKETS, but from what I can tell, the Hernandez Bros. plateaued artistically somewhere in the mid-90s, and their draftsmanship and writing style hasn't progressed at all since. This makes it all the more impressive that their level of craft is so high, it still manages to astound me. (As opposed to, say, Steve Rude, whose stagnation is still pretty to look at, but not really inspiring.) I am particularly amazed by how well Jaime moves around on a page, the different angles he shows of one character from panel to panel as his or her mood or situation changes, the *psychology* of his framing.

It is also a testament to how interesting his characters are that they are still so compelling. I guess they've aged in real time. Ray makes mention of being in his 40s, and Maggie is looking like a woman in her late 30s. Yet, their day-to-day lives are still the fodder for great fiction. The opening strip of this book even follows Hopey over a week and a half or so, dividing each strip from one day to the next.

I actually wish I had read these stories in the original comics, because I would appreciate Jaime's construction all the more. He tells long stories that are broken into shorter strips, sometimes only one or two pages, and yet sometimes picking up mere seconds after the last one ended. Presumably these are spread over several issues, where they might appear somewhat disjointed, but put together in a book, they form a flawless narrative.

Ingenious.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rather good umpteenth Love & Rockets episode, June 8, 2008

By 

Stan FREDO (BORDEAUX, Aquitaine, France) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Education of Hopey Glass (Love & Rockets) (Hardcover)

Though I wonder what new comers would think about this new tome in the long standing Love & Rockets series, the veteran reader of the series that I am finds it quite good. Gone are the days of sci-fi, super heroines, punk rock, surreal events and the like -- but some of it finds its way in this book. We now find our dear Hopey and Maggie in adult life crisis. Though not exactly desperate housewives, the girls are a bit lost. But so are their pals. And dangerous too. Life in the barrio is not what it used to be but you cannot take the punk barrio out of these girls!

5.0 out of 5 stars An odd introduction to Love & Rockets, April 1, 2011

By 

Tim Lieder "Founder of Dybbuk Press" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Education of Hopey Glass (Love & Rockets) (Hardcover)

I never read Love & Rockets when it was first on the news stands and I don't know whether I should be horrified at my lack of taste as a kid (I was more into superhero comics even in high school) or happy that I found them now that I can appreciate them.

This is a great book with two separate stories. The Hopey Glass one is about becoming and adult and putting away childish things but in a way that doesn't destroy you. THere are too many people in the world afraid of growing up and doing all they can to continue living that college life when they could stay up all night and sleep with anyone without consequences. Hopey Glass is a wonderful representative of this dynamic but ironically her decision to leave the "adult" job as a bartender and work in a day care is her awakening as an adult. SHe is still awesome and fun but even mroe importantly she is taking steps to be someone that you can rely on. It's a real pleasure to read a story about growing up that isn't filled with longing and disappointment and instead goes to the heart of the matter which is that sometimes responsibility is much more fun than being an idiot.

THe second story is about Ray as he finds his way with Viv. Others have called this a Mickey Spillane story but it's more like Mickey Spillane as told from the perspective of the guy who doesn't want to have anything to do with the crime. He's involved because he knows that Viv's boyfriend is dead. HOwever, he also knows Viv's boyfriend and he doesn't mind that he's dead as he was abusive. Viv is a little crazy but fun which gets her into more trouble - particular with Sid's friend who is also a sick creep. It's a strange stroy since the tone shifts from noir to soap opera and back to noir again (and then to gallow's humor).

Excellent collection. Reading other Love & Rockets but I can't say if it is a fine companion to the rest of the stories, but it definitley stand on its own.