Love and Rockets: The First Fifty: The Classic 40th Anniversary Collection

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Fantagraphics’ flagship series, this prestigious box set presents bound facsimiles of the original fifty issues of the Love and Rockets comics magazines.

The Washington Post, Best Graphic Novels of 2022

Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez are now recognized as two of the greatest cartoonists in the history of the medium — award-winning, world-renowned, critically acclaimed. But in 1982 when the first issue of Love and Rockets came out, they (occasionally working with their brother, Mario) were two young, struggling, unknown cartoonists who were bucking the dominant comic book trend of costumed characters and adolescent content with intimate, complex, humane, novelistic stories told in comics form. Love and Rockets has appeared in a variety of formats over the years and continues to this day, but the original 50-issue run represents a milestone in comics history. Fantagraphics is celebrating and honoring the 40th anniversary of Love and Rockets and the debut of the Hernandez's' first published comics with a gigantic eight-volume slipcase reprinting each issue in a facsimile edition.

Their organic body of work is available in a series of scrupulously and logically organized graphic novels, but here Fantagraphics honors the original quarterly format by presenting the comics as they appeared between 1981 and 1996, recreating not only the reading experience of tens of thousands of fans, but of a particularly fecund period in comics history when a new generation of cartoonists was exploding the idea of what comics could be. Painstakingly recreated in issue-by-issue facsimile, this boxed set includes every cover, comics page, and letter column (even advertising!) in seven hardcover volumes. An eighth volume densely collates selected essays, reviews, and profiles that appeared in the popular (and unpopular) press between 1981 and 1996, along with over 100 pages of additional, rarely-seen comics from the period by all three Brothers, plus dozens of book and magazine covers – a virtual history of the growth of Love and Rockets and the simultaneous rise of the literary comics movement of which they were exemplars and trailblazers.

There is apparently a systemic but randomized manufacturer's defect related to the slipcase itself (but not the hardcover volumes within the set). It has been brought to our attention that some slipcases can arrive damaged. If this happens to you, please send photos of the damage, your name, address, and order number to helpme@fantagraphics.com and we will work with you to send a replacement slipcase (though this may not be done immediately due to limited quantities of available slipcases). Thank you for your patience and understanding.

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Love and Rockets: The First Fifty: The Classic 40th Anniversary Collection is part of the Love and Rockets series.