Luba's Comics and Stories #8
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeLuba's Comics and Stories #8 (June 2006) is the final issue of Gilbert Hernandez's eight-issue solo anthology series, and it carries enormous narrative weight as the installment in which Doralis de los Santos — one of Luba's eldest daughters and a recurring presence across the entire post-Palomar saga — dies in a hospital, ending one of the most prolonged character arcs in the series. The issue also establishes the backstory behind the lasting rift between half-sisters Petra and Fritz Martinez, a relationship fracture that later writers of the Love and Rockets continuity would reference explicitly. As the capstone of a run that spanned six years and served as one of several parallel vessels for Gilbert's sprawling 'America' stories, it marks a genuine generational turning-point in a body of work that Rolling Stone named the best non-superhero comic of all time.
In "Another Story Altogether," Gilbert Hernandez returns to the lives of the sisters with a quiet, poignant shift in tone, six years after the last chapter. Guadalupe reflects on how Fritz’s sudden rise in film has fractured the family, leaving Luba, Petra, and Fritz estranged—no longer speaking, no longer close. With his signature blend of intimate storytelling and expressive line work, Hernandez crafts a moment of stillness that hums with what’s left unsaid, all rendered in his distinctive style, both on the interior pages and on the cover by Gilbert Hernandez.
In "Another Story Altogether," Guadalupe reflects on the quiet unraveling of her family six years after the last chapter, as Fritz’s rising fame in film has left the three sisters—Luba, Petra, and Fritz—drifting apart, their once-close bond now fractured by silence and distance. The story lingers in the spaces between words, exploring how time and success can reshape even the deepest connections.
In "Luba in America²," the quiet moments between mother and daughter unfold with emotional weight as Doralis steps away from the spotlight to let Fritz take her place in the Maria M. movie. Later, amid shifting timelines and the lingering ache of goodbye, Luba faces the quiet aftermath of her daughter’s passing in the hospital.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
After closing the Palomar era with the end of Love and Rockets Vol. 1 in 1996, Gilbert Hernandez pursued the post-Palomar lives of Luba and her family across several simultaneous Fantagraphics titles — including the Luba solo series, the all-ages anthology Measles, and Luba's Comics and Stories, which launched in March 2000. Issue #8 (June 2006) arrived during the same year as the companion trade paperback Luba: Three Daughters, which collected stories from this very issue alongside material from Love and Rockets Vol. 2 and Measles; the comic and the collection thus appeared nearly simultaneously, making the issue part of a deliberate and coordinated publishing close-out for this phase of the saga. All story and art in the series — including this final issue — were solely the work of Gilbert Hernandez, who also created the cover.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Final issue of the Luba's Comics and Stories series, which ran eight issues from March 2000 to June 2006, published by Fantagraphics.
- Written, pencilled, inked, lettered, and cover-illustrated entirely by Gilbert Hernandez ('Beto').
- Central story features Doralis de los Santos (Luba's daughter) giving up her starring role in the in-universe Maria M. film to Fritz Martinez, then dying in a hospital — a major, permanent character death in the Palomar/Luba continuity.
- The cause of Doralis's death was withheld in this issue and subsequently revealed in Love and Rockets Vol. 2 #20 (also 2006), creating an intentional narrative thread between the two publications.
- A story titled 'Another Story Altogether' in this issue establishes the origins of the estrangement between half-sisters Petra and Fritz Martinez — a plot point later referenced in Love and Rockets Vol. 4 continuity.
- The inside back cover features a retrospective gallery presenting the characters as they appeared during their Palomar years in Love and Rockets Vol. 1 (1982–96), underscoring the issue's role as a series finale and a look back at the saga's roots.
- Material from this issue was collected in the trade paperback Luba: Three Daughters (Fantagraphics, August 2006, ISBN 1560977698), the third volume of Gilbert's post-Palomar trilogy, alongside stories from Luba's Comics and Stories #3–4 and 6, Love and Rockets Vol. 2 #6, 11–16, and Measles #1.
- The issue also appears in the later omnibus collection Luba (Fantagraphics, 2009), a 608-page hardcover gathering the complete run of Gilbert's post-Palomar 'America' stories.
Cast · 17 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in The Complete Love & Rockets #[23] (2006), Luba #[nn] (2009), Love and Rockets Library #[14] (2018)
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