Comic Book Recommendation of the Week

First, I managed to get my computer working again via some questionable methods that are possibly dangerous and very likely a fire hazard, but never mind that. There's new Flight of the Living Dead on its way and The Sundays will be sent out to prospective publishers within the week.

The Girl From H.O.P.P.E.R.S
By Jaime Hernandez

Now, what I've really come here to talk about is my latest comic obsession, LOVE & ROCKETS, which was recommended to me by my friend Joe Frontirre. The comic, by Jaime & Gilbert Hernandez, has been published on and off since the early 80s, but they just started releasing these big trades of all the stories in chronological order, so I picked up the first one, "Maggie the Mechanic," a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it. I've been itching to read volume two, "The Girl From H.O.P.P.E.R.S.," since then but was only just today able to find a copy at my local Borders.

Jaime is a fantastic artist and impresses me with his talent on every page. He also writes convincing and natural sounding dialogue, despite writing mostly for female characters. This is one of those indie slice-of-life comics I'm always going on about, and fans of other similar stuff like "Strangers in Paradise," "Wet Moon," or dare I say it, "The Sundays," should maybe check it out. There's a third volume called "La Perla Loca" out in December, and there are already two volumes of Gilbert's stuff as well. I'm not as familiar with Gilbert (having only read his Vertigo GN "Sloth" and one regular issue of "Love & Rockets"), but I'm looking forward to picking up his trades as well.