El Fontanel

Born from Gilbert Hernandez's singular imagination in the pages of Love and Rockets #31 (1989), El Fontanel is a Fantagraphics original who has quietly persisted across an impressive 34-year span — a testament to the richness of the world Hernandez built around him. A Copper Age creation sharing pages with beloved figures like Maggie Chascarillo and the broader cast of characters that make Love and Rockets one of alternative comics' most treasured ongoing sagas, El Fontanel may clock in at just 11 catalog appearances, but one of those carries key-issue weight — the mark of a character who matters. For collectors and devotees of literary alternative comics, he's exactly the kind of deep-cut discovery that makes digging into Hernandez's sprawling, humanist universe so rewarding.