Locas: The Maggie and Hopey Stories is actually the collected stories of certain characters that usually appear in the Love and Rockets comics.
The standard love and Rockets comic are short scenes from a number of different character's lives, most of whom are Latin American.
Two characters who regularly appear in Love and Rockets are Maggie and Hopey - two girls who have quite an open minded approach to life, to say the least.
Maggie I suppose is the more bisexual of the two, although Hopey does have affairs with men on occasion. They start off as punky girls and Maggie develops into a more feminine character as the time goes by whereas Hopey pretty much remains a tough talking, laid back cool character who plays bass in a band (Maggie is originally a mechanic).
The characters are very on/off and by no means exclusive to one another but you can't deny there's something very special between them and regardless of their sometimes unrealistic and other times painfully realistic mistakes and adventures, I can't help but be drawn into their lives. I veer between wishing I was them and being quite thankful I'm not but their tales are incredibly enjoyable.
The Hernandez brothers don't steer away from nudity, sex, violence and other adult themes. It's not quite as graphic as many other comics however. And it's lovely to see women portrayed in comics whose looks change, who put on weight, who lose weight, who grow up and change remarkably over the space of the volume. I will admit I have a bit of a crush on both of them, Maggie for her looks and vulnerability and Hopey for her straight talking boyish no-nonsense approach to most things.
You spend most of the time wondering if they are together and when they aren't, why they're not. It's beautifully complicated and in many ways a very realistic portrayal of a relationship - even if the events they go through sometimes seem too out of reality (well, to a square lesbian sitting in London it does, anyway but I don't doubt other people lead far more exciting lives than I do).
Definitely one I'd recommend for those wanting to read exciting adventures of cool ladies and the portrayal of an interesting and not straight-forward relationship.
You can find out about Jamie Hernandez via the Fantagraphics website: www.fantagraphics.com
- Purchase Locas: The Maggie and Hopey Stories by Jamie Hernandez from US Amazon
-Purchase Locas: The Maggie and Hopey Stories (Volume 1 only) by Jamie Hernandez from UK Amazon
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