Love and Rockets #38
Love and Rockets #38 occupies a pivotal position in Jaime Hernandez's long-running Locas saga: it is, per the Grand Comics Database's editorial notes, the last installment in which the fictional Southern California barrio of Hoppers functions as the story's primary setting, after which the narrative relocates to the East Coast and eventually rural Texas for the remainder of Volume One. Simultaneously, Gilbert Hernandez's two concurrent serials — the dense, soap-operatic 'Poison River,' tracing Luba's origins before she arrived in Palomar, and 'Love and Rockets X,' a story of a white L.A. garage band navigating race, class, and sexual-orientation conflicts set against the backdrop of the 1992 Los Angeles riots — demonstrate the remarkable range that made the magazine one of alternative comics' defining achievements. Together the two brothers' contributions in this single issue encapsulate what made Love and Rockets so consequential: emotionally and politically serious long-form storytelling featuring primarily Latina characters, published entirely outside the mainstream superhero infrastructure.
In "Love and Rockets X - Part Eight," Gilbert Hernandez continues his layered narrative with sharp emotional precision, as Kristen brings Maricela to her father’s home for help with immigration papers—only to confront a private moment that shatters her composure. Meanwhile, Carl faces the consequences of his past, standing before Malvina’s house as Junior Brooks and Erf'Quake watch, while Ben and Charlie drag him away to a secluded spot where a tense, violent decision looms. The story’s power lies in its quiet dread and moral weight, drawn with Hernandez’s signature blend of realism and surrealism—interior art, inks, and letters all by the writer himself, with the cover also a striking, unified vision by him.
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By mid-1992, Love and Rockets was a decade into its Fantagraphics run, having been picked up by publisher Gary Groth after the Hernandez brothers self-published their debut in 1981. The series was published in an oversized magazine format throughout Volume One, with Gilbert and Jaime producing their respective serials independently of each other and alternating cover duties each issue. Issue #38 arrived at a moment when both brothers' major arcs of the era — Jaime's 'Wigwam Bam' and Gilbert's 'Poison River' — were approaching their conclusions, and Gilbert's collected edition of 'Poison River' later expanded the serialized chapters by approximately fifty percent to improve narrative flow, an editorial revision that has been widely noted by critics.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published June 1992 by Fantagraphics Books; written and drawn by Jaime Hernandez (Locas/'Wigwam Bam' installment) and Gilbert Hernandez ('Poison River' chapter 10 and 'Love and Rockets X' installment), in black and white magazine format.
- This issue contains the last Locas story chapter set primarily in the Hoppers neighborhood; all subsequent Locas stories in Volume One shift the action to the East Coast (New York City) and then rural Texas.
- Jaime's 'Wigwam Bam' storyline — running through issues #33–39 and #42 — follows Hopey's departure from Hoppers and her search for Maggie, with Izzy Ortiz's obsessive search for both women as a central thread; critic Patrick Markee of The Nation called 'Wigwam Bam' 'Jaime's masterpiece.'
- Gilbert's 'Poison River' serial (issues #29–40) traces Luba's early life and origins, including the history of her mother Maria and cousin Ofelia; issue #38 carries installment ten of that arc.
- Gilbert's concurrent 'Love and Rockets X' story arc is set in Los Angeles near the time of the 1992 L.A. riots and follows a white garage band called Love and Rockets as they navigate conflicts involving race, class, and sexual orientation.
- Per GCD editorial annotation, Doyle Blackburn's appearance in this issue is followed by a hiatus of roughly a decade before the character reappears in Love and Rockets vol. 2 #4 (Summer 2002).
- The Jaime material from this issue was later collected in Complete Love & Rockets Vol. 11: Wigwam Bam (Fantagraphics, 1994), then reprinted in the Perla la Loca Library edition (2007) and the Locas omnibus; Gilbert's material was collected in Complete Love & Rockets Vol. 10: Love and Rockets X (1993) and Vol. 12: Poison River (1994), later combined in Beyond Palomar (2007).
- The entire first run of Love and Rockets (issues #1–50, 1982–1996) was further reprinted in the seven-volume Love and Rockets: The First Fifty: The Classic 40th Anniversary Collection (Fantagraphics, 2022), which includes issue #38 in volume [6].
Cast · 40 characters
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Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Kristen takes Maricela to her place ostensibly so her dad can help with her immigration papers. However, when she sees her dad in the pool talking intimately with Igor she gets highly upset. Carl stands in front of Malvina's house, the elderly black woman he assaulted. Junior Brooks and Erf'Quake see him, but Ben and Charlie whisk him away. The trio kidnap E. T., taking him to a secluded location, intending to kill him. Carl orders Ben to kill him in order to prove he's not a rat, but he refuses. Charlie volunteers to do it and takes the gun. But when Carl exhorts him he kills him instead.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).