Customer Reviews

Locas II: Maggie, Hopey & Ray (Love & Rockets)

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"Locas II: Maggie, Hopey And Ray" (Love & Rockets)
Written and Illustrated by Jaime Hernandez
(Fantagraphics Books, 2009)
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It's quite possible that Jaime Hernandez is my favorite comicbook artist of all time - his work is so elegant and intelligent, so full of life and genuine good humor, and so much closer to the "real world" that we live in, it has an irresistible pull. Plus, Maggie and Hopey are both so sexy - count me in on the legions of fans with unrequited crushes on these two fictional locas. I started reading "Love And Rockets" a bazillion years ago with issue 3, and made it through the full fifty issues of the first run. When they started up again, I would occasionally dip into something new, but it was hard to keep track of the publishing schedules and I was often discouraged/alienated by Gilberto's pretentious Palomar stories, which became too self-involved and masturbatory for me to bear. Picking up the mammoth Jaime-only "Locas" collections is a rare treat, however, with stories that gather more texture and depth with each re-reading, and several story arcs that I'd missed during my years in the wilderness. If you love Jaime's work, these big books are a godsend. (Joe Sixpack)

Jaime Hernandez has long been an idol of mine. One of the finest talents to grace the comic industry and the 2 volume set of his Love & Rockets work is wonderful!

Jamie Hernandez offers us another surreal view into the Love and Rockets world with Locas II. This book focuses on the lives of Maggie, Hopey and Ray, with an often-surreal twist including what can only be described as a hallucinatory sequence with the Maggie story. If you are a Love and Rockets fan this is a great book to pick up. Like many of the love and rockets story lines that are collected, they tend to jump around a bit making continuity harder to follow. If you are new to love and rockets then note that the story lines jump around throughout this book, which will have you going back and forth in the book to make sure you did not miss anything. This is one of those comic books you are going to read two or three times to make sure you got the story line down.

The book focuses on the three main characters of Maggie, who is managing a dirty nasty apartment building throughout the book, Hopey gets her first real job as a teacher and Ray ends up with "frogmouth" much to his chagrin as she is tightly connected with the local thugs (gang) causing no end of grief for Ray. Ray still and probably forever will carry the torch for Maggie, and it will be interesting to see if they ever get together (they do not in this book). The book is at times sexy, funny, and downright bizarre, which is one of the critical aspects of the Love and Rockets universe, you see people as they live and love and grow. You cannot help but connect with the characters, they are us, or bits of us should we chose to recognize aspects of ourselves in this book. This is a book worth getting and reading, I found myself rereading bits of it to make sure I got the story line down, or did not miss anything critical. Overall 5 of 5 stars, I am a love and rockets fan and have been following these characters for years. Well worth reading and adding to your library, it was a lot of fun to read, even through the dream sequences.

Locas II is every bit as good as the first series. Especially as Jamie's artwork has always developed in such a realistic and smoothly drawn way. I read the stories over and over. I often have to wait in my car to pick people up: now I make sure I am extra early so I get in more reading. I also have all the original comics for both series. My favourite story is 'Monday is Atilla the Hun Day', with Hopey. As I have just become a teacher later in life I really appreciate Hopey's feelings. Keep up the great work Jaime, never has social drama been more addictive, real, and true to life petty! Buy one copy, then get another to lend, or gift to a person in need.