The REAL Steve Gray

First appearing in 1982, ‘Love And Rockets’ is the most amazing journey. Today the characters barely resemble the California Punks and Central American innocents who have lived their lives within the pages of, perhaps the greatest comic OF ALL TIME.

Two brothers invented this amazing, and believable story. Jamie Hernandez, who sets his stories in Southern California, starting in the late 70′s and following the life of a bunch of Punk/Music Loving/Mechanic mainly strung together by Maggie and Hopey, sometime lovers, always living life honestly.

Maggie’s weight goes up and down as the comics continues, generally based upon the state of her relationship with Hopey, the love of her life but the most bohemian chick you will ever meet.

Told in flashback/forward, the story bounces around the characters lives with people coming and going just as they do in life. Love is fucked up, people you love die, and just when you think you know all about a character, far more is revealed.

The other story is told by Gilbert Hernandez. Based in an unnamed Central American country, the story ends up following 100 years in the lives of a diverse bunch of people that have some tie to Palomar, a tiny shit poor town/village.

A far more political story, the Palomar stories pack a punch that stays with the reader for years later. They also illustrate American Intervention and its’ effect on countries in away rarely seen, in any medium.

All the stories have been collected into easy to read graphic novels, and as the stories still continue today, they are a rare pleasure that can be passed on from generation to generation.

www.kingscomics.com.au,blogs.warwick.ac.uk, www.newkadia.com, bolhafner.com, utexas.edu

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