Love and Rockets #30
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeLove and Rockets #30 sits at a pivotal hinge in the Locas continuity: it delivers the emotionally charged first reunion of Maggie Chascarrillo and Hopey Glass since issue #19's 'The Secrets of Life and Death: Vol. 5' (January 1987), a gap of over two years of in-story separation whose weight had been accumulating across years of real publishing time. On the Gilbert side, this issue continues 'Poison River,' the multi-year origin epic tracing Luba's backstory — rooted in politically motivated violence against Latin American leftists — which stands as one of the most formally ambitious long-form works in alternative comics history. Together, the two narratives in this single issue exemplify how Los Bros Hernandez used the serialized anthology format to run parallel literary sagas of radically different register — intimate punk-era character drama alongside sweeping generational tragedy — within the same magazine, a structural feat with few peers in the medium.
In "Ninety-Three Million Miles from the Sun ... and Counting," Gilbert Hernandez crafts a haunting, grounded narrative following Eduardo’s desperate journey from the city to Isleta, where he finds fleeting refuge with Hilda and Ofelia. Over a year later, his quiet departure with a shovel hints at a life still searching, ending in a tragic death on a distant beach. The story unfolds with quiet intensity, tracing the fragile threads of survival and memory, as Ofelia, Ruben, and Gina flee with baby Luba—only to face violence and betrayal that leave her buried alive, her survival a fragile, unspoken defiance. The issue’s stark emotional weight is matched by the Hernandez brothers’ distinctive art, with Jaime’s cover capturing the story’s melancholic, intimate scale.
In the quiet aftermath of a long separation, Maggie reconnects with Hopey at H. R. Costigan’s East Coast mansion, brought together by Penny’s careful planning. Over the course of their reunion, old wounds and new revelations surface—Hopey’s recent pregnancy and loss, the shifting weight of time and distance, and the lingering presence of Ray, whose place in their lives remains uncertain.
In "Poison River Chapter 2," Eduardo’s desperate journey from the city to Isleta ends in quiet despair, his fate shadowed by memories of Maria. Years later, Ofelia, Ruben, and Gina flee town with baby Luba, only to be ambushed by violence that leaves Ofelia buried alive—her survival a fragile thread in a story defined by loss and resilience.
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Love and Rockets was Fantagraphics' flagship alternative comics title, edited by Gary Groth, with Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez each writing and drawing their own independent serials that shared pages in the same anthology issue. By 1989, the series was deep into its Copper Age run, and the dual stories in #30 were mid-serialization chapters of two long arcs — Jaime's 'Ninety-Three Million Miles from the Sun' story thread leading toward the 'Wigwam Bam' saga, and Gilbert's 'Poison River' (which would ultimately run from issues #29 through #40 before collection). The issue features a wraparound cover design consistent with the series' magazine-format production, with the two brothers alternating cover duties across the run.
Trivia · 7 facts
- Jaime Hernandez's story 'Ninety-Three Million Miles from the Sun…and Counting' features the first on-page reunion of Maggie Chascarrillo and Hopey Glass since their separation depicted in L&R #19 (January 1987) — more than two years of story-time apart.
- The Locas segment is set at H. R. Costigan's East Coast mansion and deals frankly with Hopey's recent pregnancy and miscarriage, among the most emotionally direct character moments Jaime had written to that point in the series.
- Gilbert Hernandez's 'Poison River' Part Two continues the origin backstory of Luba, featuring father Eduardo, mother María (María Inclán), and cousin Ofelia Beltran; the segment depicts politically motivated murders targeting leftists, with Ofelia shot and buried alive but surviving.
- Gilbert's 'Poison River' arc ran across L&R Vol. 1 #29–40 and was later collected as The Complete Love & Rockets Vol. 12 (Fantagraphics, September 1994).
- Jaime's Locas material from this issue is collected in The Complete Love & Rockets Vol. 9 — Flies on the Ceiling (October 1991) and reprinted in the landmark omnibus Locas: The Maggie and Hopey Stories (Fantagraphics, September 2004, 712 pages), as well as the Love and Rockets Library Vol. 3 — The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S. (July 2007) and the 40th Anniversary box set The First Fifty (Fantagraphics, 2022).
- Written and drawn solely by Jaime Hernandez (Locas segment) and Gilbert Hernandez (Poison River segment); Gary Groth served as editor; Doug Erb and Visual Concepts credited on the issue per GoCollect.
- The issue is also reprinted in the UK Titan edition Love and Rockets Vol. 3 — The Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S. (September 2007) and in the Spanish-language Ediciones La Cúpula collection Locas #2 (Septiembre 2006).
Cast · 22 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in The Complete Love & Rockets #9 (1991), The Complete Love & Rockets #9 (1991), House of Raging Woman - A Love and Rockets Graphic Novel #[nn] (1992), The Complete Love & Rockets #12 (1994), The Complete Love & Rockets #12 (1994), Locas #[nn] (2004), Locas #2 (2006), Love and Rockets Library #[3] (2007), Love and Rockets #3 (2007), Love and Rockets: The Covers #[nn] (2013), Love and Rockets: The First Fifty: The Classic 40th Anniversary Collection #[5] (2022)
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