Love and Rockets #47
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeLove and Rockets #47 (April 1995) represents both Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez operating deep within the mature, novelistic phases of their respective long-form narratives — Gilbert weaving a multi-generational family-revelation story around the Palomar diaspora, and Jaime advancing the wrestling-world 'Chester Square' arc that would close out his original Locas run. As one of the final dozen issues of the original 50-issue magazine series, it exemplifies the real-time character aging and densely layered storytelling that distinguished Love and Rockets from virtually every other American comic of its era. The issue sits at the heart of a body of work that Fantagraphics honored with a full facsimile reprint in its 2022 fortieth-anniversary box set, confirming its place within what many critics regard as a milestone of literary comics.
In "The Gorgo Wheel," Gilbert Hernandez crafts a richly layered narrative that weaves together memory, family, and the quiet weight of the past. Doralis, drawn by a news story about the enigmatic Gorgo, confronts him with questions about her long-lost aunts, Fritz and Petra, triggering a series of shifting timelines that reveal hidden connections and long-buried truths. With his signature blend of intimacy and narrative daring, Hernandez—writing, drawing, inking, and lettering the entire issue—guides readers through a journey that traces the complex bond between a wealthy woman, Maria, and a humble laborer, Eduardo, all while building toward a gathering that will take them south of the border to reunite with Luba. The cover, also by Hernandez, captures the story’s mood with its distinctive, evocative line work.
In "The Gorgo Wheel," Doralis tracks down Gorgo after hearing news of him, drawn into a complex web of family secrets when she insists he reveal everything about her long-lost aunts, Fritz and Petra. As past and present intertwine, the story unfolds through shifting timelines, revealing the quiet connections between lives shaped by love, class, and memory—culminating in a journey south to meet Luba.
In "Hester Square," Maggie navigates the tangled streets of her neighborhood, returning a lucha libre costume and chasing echoes of past connections. What begins as a simple errand spirals into a tense encounter at Little Luigi's, where old wounds resurface and unexpected alliances form—leading her to a quiet, charged moment behind the bar, where a mother and son meet in secret.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
By April 1995, Love and Rockets was in the home stretch of its original magazine-format run, which would conclude with issue #50 in 1996. Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez continued to work independently within each issue — Gilbert on his Palomar/post-Palomar family sagas, Jaime on the Locas/Hoppers stories — with the brothers alternating front and back cover duties each issue. The series was published at magazine size, larger than standard American comic books, a format it had maintained since Fantagraphics first republished it in 1982.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published April 1995 by Fantagraphics Books as issue #47 of the original 50-issue magazine-format Love and Rockets Volume 1 (1982–1996), written and drawn by Gilbert Hernandez and Jaime Hernandez.
- Gilbert's story features a multi-generational family reunion plot driven by Doralis, who — after seeing Gorgo in the news — arranges for both sides of Luba's extended family to meet, revealing previously unknown aunts Fritz and Petra; it includes time-shifted sequences exploring the relationship between the wealthy María and the poor laborer Eduardo.
- The cover composition depicts Gorgo at center surrounded by Guadalupe, Fritz, Doralis, Petra, Maricela, and María — a tableau that visually encapsulates the family-reunion theme of Gilbert's story.
- Jaime's story belongs to the 'Chester Square' arc (serialized across issues #40–50), which follows Maggie through a Texas backwater and the pro-wrestling world of Camp Vicki; characters from the catalog — including Rena Titañon, El Diablo Blanco, Gina Bravo, and Enero Garcia — confirm the wrestling subplot is active in this issue.
- The issue falls within the range collected in two Fantagraphics trade paperbacks: Jaime's Chester Square (1996, collecting L&R vol. 1 #40–50) and Gilbert's Luba Conquers the World (1996, collecting L&R vol. 1 #41–48, 50).
- Both stories were later collected again in the Love and Rockets Library omnibus editions: Jaime's material in Perla la Loca (2007, Locas Book 3, collecting #33–50) and Gilbert's in Human Diastrophism (2007, Palomar Book 2, collecting #21–26, 41–48, 50).
- The entire issue was reprinted in facsimile as part of Love and Rockets: The First Fifty: The Classic 40th Anniversary Collection (Fantagraphics, 2022), a seven-volume hardcover box set covering all 50 original issues; issue #47 appears in volume 7 (issues #43–50).
- Guadalupe's newborn son Jimmy Reyna appears in this issue as a baby — a story-time marker noted by the GCD, confirming the issue takes place several months after the preceding chapter.
Cast · 32 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in The Complete Love & Rockets #13 (1996), The Complete Love & Rockets #13 (1996), The Complete Love & Rockets #14 (1996), The Complete Love & Rockets #14 (1996), Locas #[nn] (2004), Locas #3 (2006), Love and Rockets Library #[4] (2007), Love and Rockets #[4] (2007), Love and Rockets Library #[5] (2007), Love and Rockets #5 (2008), Love and Rockets: The Covers #[nn] (2013), Love and Rockets: The First Fifty: The Classic 40th Anniversary Collection #[7] (2022), Be bop a Luba #3
Key issues in Love and Rockets
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