Love and Rockets #13
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeLove and Rockets vol. 2 #13 (Spring 2005) arrives at the midpoint of two of the Hernandez brothers' most celebrated late-period storyline runs: Jaime's ongoing 'Education of Hopey Glass' cycle, which tracks the Locas cast's hard-won maturation from punk-scene youth into complicated adulthood, and Gilbert's serialized 'High Soft Lisp' stories centered on the mercurial Rosalba 'Fritz' Martinez and her orbit of obsessives. The issue contributes to a volume-wide arc in which Jaime depicts Hopey Glass navigating a career pivot and romantic instability while Ray Dominguez is drawn deeper into the dangerous world of Vivian 'Frogmouth' Solis — character work that critics and scholars have consistently cited as among the richest slice-of-life storytelling in American alternative comics. Published under Fantagraphics' Mature Readers banner at a moment when Love and Rockets had already been named by Rolling Stone as the best non-superhero comic ever produced, this issue exemplifies the series' foundational achievement: characters who age in real time, carrying the full weight of their histories.
In "Song of the Sea Hog," Jaime Hernandez delivers another quietly resonant chapter in the lives of his beloved characters, capturing Hopey’s bittersweet transition as her coworkers treat her to a farewell lunch before her new role begins. Back home, she tries her hand at driving Rosie’s pickup, only to find herself navigating more than just the roads—her clumsy effort leaves the truck with a few dents, a small but telling moment in a story that’s always about the weight of growing up. The issue’s gentle humor and keen observation are rendered with Jaime’s signature style, while the cover by Gilbert Hernandez adds a touch of whimsy to the proceedings.
In "Day by Day with Hopey: 'Wednesday is Bitter Ends Day'," Hopey navigates the quiet chaos of her last day at the office, sharing a bittersweet lunch with coworkers before her new role as a teacher's assistant begins. Back home, she tries driving Rosie's pickup, only to find herself fumbling with the wheel and leaving a dent in the taillights and bumper—small mishaps that feel like the perfect punctuation to a day of change.
In "Did Ya Get Got?", Ray pours out his heart about his complicated feelings for Vivian, laying bare the quiet ache of being close yet forever just a friend. Told entirely from his perspective, the story captures the bittersweet tension of longing unspoken, set against the quiet rhythms of everyday life.
In "Julio's Day [Part 13]," Julio’s mother reflects on the loss of her daughter Sofia, a quiet grief shadowed by memories of a life that once was. Araceli returns from the Korean War after three years, only to learn Benjamin has passed, carrying the weight of time and absence in her silence.
In "Cream City," Vivian shows up at Ray’s place at midnight, their tense exchange unraveling a simmering question about her past with Maggie. Told entirely from Ray’s perspective, the story lingers in the quiet space between memory and doubt.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Love and Rockets vol. 2 launched in 2001 after Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez determined that their separate solo series had not found the readership that the shared anthology format of the original 1982–1996 run had built. Fantagraphics reformatted the revival as a standard US comic book periodical — smaller than the original magazine format — and Gilbert and Jaime continued to work completely independently of each other within each issue, as they had always done. Issue #13 was published in Spring 2005, roughly halfway through the second volume's twenty-issue run, and its contents fed directly into two major trade paperback collections: Gilbert's stories were later gathered in High Soft Lisp (2010) and Jaime's in The Education of Hopey Glass (2008), both published by Fantagraphics.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published Spring (March) 2005 by Fantagraphics Books as part of Love and Rockets vol. 2, the standard-format comic series that ran for 20 issues from 2001 to 2007.
- Written and drawn by Gilbert Hernandez (Beto) and Jaime Hernandez, each contributing separate, independent stories to the anthology — the brothers' long-established working method.
- Jaime's Locas content in this issue is part of the 'Education of Hopey Glass' narrative arc (serialized across vol. 2 #11–19), which follows Hopey Glass's uneasy transition into adulthood and Ray Dominguez's entanglement with Vivian 'Frogmouth' Solis.
- Gilbert's content in this issue is part of his 'High Soft Lisp' Fritz storyline (serialized across vol. 2 #3–9, 11, 13–15, 17–18), centering on Rosalba 'Fritz' Martinez — Luba's half-sister — and her ex-husband, motivational speaker Mark Herrera.
- Vivian 'Frogmouth' Solis, cataloged as a key character in this issue, is described by Fantagraphics as 'one of Jaime's greatest recent characters' — a volatile aspiring actress whose presence pulls Ray Dominguez into criminal danger.
- Jaime's stories from this era were later collected in the trade paperback The Education of Hopey Glass (Fantagraphics, April 2008), and the broader omnibus Locas II: Maggie, Hopey, and Ray (Fantagraphics, August 2009).
- Gilbert's Fritz stories from this era were later collected in High Soft Lisp (Fantagraphics, April 2010), with a dozen additional new pages added by Gilbert for that edition.
- Both Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez were inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2017, and Love and Rockets was named the best non-superhero comic of all time by Rolling Stone in 2019.
Cast · 19 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Funny Book #1 (2005), The Complete Love & Rockets #[23] (2006), The Complete Love & Rockets #[24] (2008), Luba #[nn] (2009), Locas #II (2009), The Complete Love & Rockets #[25] (2010), Locas, Maggie Chascarrillo & Hopey Glass #[nn] (2010), Love and Rockets Library #[9] (2011), Julio's Day #[nn] (2013), Love and Rockets Library #[14] (2018)
Key issues in Love and Rockets
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