The Hernandez brothers' decades-spanning oeuvre can seem overwhelming to new readers, so we've put together this handy guide with suggestions on which books to start with, and where to go from there. For more advice and opinions, see the recommendations of comics critics Chris Mautner of Comic Book Resources (2009), Alex Carr of Amazon's Omnivoracious blog, Douglas Wolk at Time's Techland blog (2010), and Sean T. Collins (2010), who alternately suggests starting anywhere at Robot 6 (2011).

JAIME HERNANDEZ — "LOCAS"

FIRST, read Maggie the Mechanic, which contains the earliest "Maggie and Hopey" stories, and follow up with The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S. and Perla La Loca, which collect all of the stories from Love and Rockets Vol. 1. OR, pick up the giant Locas hardcover, which collects most of this material in one volume.

Love and Rockets Library (Locas Book 1): Maggie the Mechanic Price: $14.95

Love and Rockets Library (Locas Book 2): The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S. [Sold Out] Price: $14.95

Love and Rockets Library (Locas Book 3): Perla La Loca [with FREE Signed Bookplate] Price: $16.95

Locas: The Maggie and Hopey Stories [Sold Out] Price: $49.95

THEN, you can follow Maggie and Hopey's further adventures (which originally ran in the Penny Century miniseries and Love and Rockets Vol. II) in three different formats: as they were first collected in the hardcover volumes Locas in Love (now sold out), Dicks and Deedees, Ghost of Hoppers and The Education of Hopey Glass...

Love and Rockets Book 18: Locas In Love [Sold Out] Price: $14.95

Love and Rockets Book 20: Dicks and Deedees [with FREE Signed Bookplate] Price: $18.95 $12.63 You Save: 33.33%

Love and Rockets Book 22: Ghost of Hoppers Price: $18.95

Love and Rockets Book 24: The Education of Hopey Glass Price: $19.99

...OR, the Love and Rockets Library volume Penny Century collects Locas in Love and Dicks and Deedees, plus the out-of-print Whoa Nellie, a standalone wrestling story starring supporting characters from the "Locas" universe; and the new Esperanza compiles Ghost of Hoppers and The Education of Hopey Glass (with the stories in a slightly different order) in the same affordable, compact softcover format; OR, find all of this material (except Whoa, Nellie!) in the hardcover omnibus Locas II: Maggie, Hopey & Ray. OR, why not just get everything at once, with the bargain-priced 5-volume Love and Rockets Library: The Locas Collection set? MEANWHILE, Love and Rockets Vol. II #20 (also out of print) contains the "La Maggie La Loca" serial which originally ran in the New York Times Magazine and can now be found in the Art of Jaime Hernandez book from Abrams.

Locas II: Maggie, Hopey & Ray Price: $39.99

Love and Rockets Library (Locas Book 4): Penny Century [with FREE Signed Bookplate] Price: $18.99

Love and Rockets Library (Locas Book 5): Esperanza Price: $18.99

Love and Rockets Library: The Locas Collection Price: $84.83 $64.99 You Save: 23.39%

GILBERT HERNANDEZ — PALOMAR, LUBA AND BEYOND

FIRST, read Heartbreak Soup, and then its sequel Human Diastrophism. OR there is the giant Palomar hardcover (except that it is now sold out). AND, there's Beyond Palomar, which follows some of the Palomar characters into the past and future.

Love and Rockets Library (Palomar Book 1): Heartbreak Soup [with FREE Signed Bookplate] Price: $14.95

Love and Rockets Library (Palomar Book 2): Human Diastrophism [with FREE Signed Bookplate] Price: $14.95

Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories [Sold Out] Price: $39.95

Love and Rockets Library (Palomar Book 3): Beyond Palomar [with FREE Signed Bookplate] Price: $16.95

THEN, you can follow Luba's stateside adventures in Luba in America, Luba: The Book of Ofelia, and Luba: Three Daughters. OR, the entire Luba trilogy, plus the final chapter from Love and Rockets Vol. II #20, is collected in the 600-page Luba hardcover.

Love and Rockets Book 19: Luba in America Price: $19.95

Love and Rockets Book 21: Luba: The Book of Ofelia Price: $22.95

Love and Rockets Book 23: Luba: Three Daughters Price: $16.95

Luba Price: $39.99

THEN, the new collection High Soft Lisp collects stories starring Luba's half-sister Rosalba "Fritz" Martinez from L&R Vol. II. NOT TO MENTION, Chance in Hell, The Troublemakers and Love from the Shadows are the first three books in Gilbert's series of "Fritz B-movie" standalone graphic novels, which are comics adaptations of fictional movies starring or co-starring Fritz and are tangential to the post-Palomar continuity.

Love and Rockets Book 25: High Soft Lisp [with Special Offer] Price: $16.99

Chance in Hell [with FREE Signed Bookplate] Price: $16.95

The Troublemakers [with FREE Signed Bookplate] Price: $19.99

Love from the Shadows Price: $19.99

New Tales of Old Palomar #1 Price: $7.95

New Tales of Old Palomar #2 Price: $7.95

New Tales of Old Palomar #3 Price: $7.95

Love and Rockets Book 17: Fear of Comics [with FREE Signed Bookplate] Price: $12.95

ADDITIONAL READING

All of the non-"Locas" and non-"Palomar" stories from Love and Rockets Vol. 1, including work from all three Bros. (including Mario!) are collected in the final (for now) installment of the Love and Rockets Library series, Amor Y Cohetes. You can also collect all 7 volumes of the Love and Rockets Library, with every page of material from Love and Rockets Vol. 1, in one handy bargain-priced multi-pack, a savings of nearly $25!

Love and Rockets Library (Short Stories): Amor Y Cohetes [with FREE Signed Bookplate] Price: $16.99

Love and Rockets Library: The Complete Vol. 1 Price: $84.99

NEW!

Love and Rockets was reborn in 2008 with Love and Rockets: New Stories, with 100 pages of all-new material from Gilbert and Jaime (and Mario in #1) in an annual trade-paperback format.

Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 [with FREE Signed Bookplate] Price: $14.99

Love and Rockets: New Stories #2 Price: $14.99

Love and Rockets: New Stories #3 [2nd Printing Pre-Order] Price: $14.99

Love and Rockets: New Stories #4 Price: $14.99

COLLECT IT ALL

A handful of Love and Rockets back issues are still available; we also have several of the original album-sized collections and some nifty, hard-to-find collectors' items as well. Use the links below to browse the whole range of Love and Rockets items:

• Love and Rockets Vol. II - the second comics series, 2000-2007
• Love and Rockets: New Stories - the third volume of L&R, now formatted as an annual trade paperback, 2008-
• Love and Rockets Library - handsome new softcover collections compiling every story from Vol. 1
• Love and Rockets: Original Collections - album-sized books containing the original reprints of the Brothers' work 1982-2007 — you'll find the omnibus collections here, too
• New Tales of Old Palomar - Gilbert's recent mini-series in the Ignatz format
• Love and Rockets Collectors' Items - books, one-shots, foreign editions and novelties for the Hernandez Brothers fan

Browse by Brother:
• Gilbert solo
• Jaime solo
• The Brothers in tandem