美国国家公共电台 NPR--'Love and Rockets' celebrates 40 years of edgy, Latinx, alternative comics

'Love and Rockets' celebrates 40 years of edgy¹, Latinx, alternative comics

Transcript²

Artists Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez have been drawing and writing their popular comic book series Love and Rockets since 1982. They've followed the lives of their mostly Latina characters as they grow from restless teens to middle-aged³ women. To celebrate the 40th anniversary, their loyal publisher Fantagraphics has a new box collection of their classics.

The Hernandez brothers grew up in a small Southern California town similar to the fictional⁴ community Hoppers, where their characters Maggie and her friends live. Oxnard, California was thousands of miles away from the New York and British punk music the brothers listened to as teens in the late 1970s.

"For us, it just seemed new and fresh," Gilbert says of their favorite bands, the Ramones, Sex Pistols and The Clash. "Rock was revitalized, youth culture was revitalized. You know, we weren't these just nobody guys in a small town, we were always alert about what the bigger world was. And that kind of opened up for us because it was a D.I.Y. thing."

With that same do-it-yourself, renegade punk spirit, the brothers played in local bands and began drawing their own alternative comics. Their older brother, Mario, was their partner at the beginning when they self-published. Jaime says they were inspired by what he jokingly calls their "love of junk culture: old science fiction movies, wrestling, crummy TV shows, crummy comics."

"It was just the stuff we like to draw, and we thought it was it cool because people started to tell us that it wasn't cool," he says. "And if you're going to tell us that ain't cool, then we're going to do it more. We were cocky and confident enough that we knew what we liked was good, and our comic was going to show you why."

"Los Bros Hernandez," as they're also known, recently reminisced while visiting Golden Apple Comics, the beloved L.A. indie shop filled with the kinds of comic books they grew up with: everything from underground comix to Marvel⁵ and DC superheroes to Dennis the Menace to The Archies. Jaime says he was drawn⁶ to The Archies in particular for its fashion and rock band that reflects the pop culture of its times. He says Betty and Veronica and his friends inspired him to create his main character Maggie and her friends as 1980s punk teens.

"When we were in the punk scene, a lot of the young women were very spirited and very alive. And I just loved that about them," he says. "And I thought, 'my characters better dress, right? Or the real punks will make fun of them.'"

For Love and Rockets, Jaime says he threw in everything he loved: rockets, robots, horror and punk. He first made Maggie a rocket mechanic wearing 1940s clothes and living in a science fiction world. Then she became a 1980s punk teen, with friends like Hopey, her occasional lover.

"The punk girls were hanging out together and smoking cigarettes and getting drunk and stuff," he says. "Anybody can go to outer space in comics, you know. But if I can make these girls bored out of their heads because they live in a small town and make that interesting, then, boy, I'm a good artist."

Meanwhile, Jaime's older brother Gilbert wrote and drew parallel stories about a fictional Latin American village called Palomar. His storyline follows Luba and her family as they immigrate⁷ to California.

"I wanted something with some weight, something with substance," he says. "That was a challenge just to get people to read it. And luckily it was enough people to get it to keep us going for 40 years."

Over the years, they focused on their women characters' interpersonal dramas, their love lives and their neighborhoods.

"It might have been that we were raised by our mom and her grandmother, and our mom had a bunch of sisters," says Gilbert. "We saw the world through women's eyes."

Gilbert says it was important that, unlike The Archies, the Love and Rockets characters matured into middle age '"cause it just seemed weird⁸ for them to be the same age all the time."

In a recent PBS SoCal documentary about Love and Rockets, fans testified about what they say are honest portrayals⁹ of Latinx and queer characters dealing¹⁰ with love, loss, death and aging.

"They start having a conversation about menopause, who's getting their periods, who isn't getting their periods," says L.A. Times journalist Carolina Miranda. "It feels so real because what kinds of conversations are women this age having? They're talking about their bodies. This is a surprising thing to see in a comic, especially one written by men. Menopause is not something that's talked about very much. And it's the sort of thing that really makes me appreciate Love and Rockets."

Golden Apple Comics owner Ryan Liebowitz says the Hernandez brothers have die-hard fans since day one, and newer generations too. "Love and Rockets just hits home for people who basically don't like capes¹¹ and superheroes and want to read stories about kind of real people doing real things."

Forty years later, Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez say they have no plans to stop drawing Love and Rockets. "We're trying to catch up to Charles Schulz and then we'll retire," Jaime jokes. "He continued drawing just short of 50 years."

1 edgy   

adj.不安的；易怒的

参考例句：

• She's been a bit edgy lately,waiting for the exam results.她正在等待考试结果，所以最近有些焦躁不安。
• He was nervous and edgy, still chain-smoking.他紧张不安，还在一根接一根地抽着烟。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

4 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

5 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

6 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

7 immigrate   

v.（从外国）移来，移居入境

参考例句：

• 10,000 people are expected to immigrate in the next two years.接下来的两年里预计有10，000人会移民至此。
• Only few plants can immigrate to the island.只有很少的植物能够移植到这座岛上。

8 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

9 portrayals   

n.画像( portrayal的名词复数 )；描述；描写；描摹

参考例句：

• And painters alluded to her eroticism in their bare breasted portrayals of the dying queen. 画家们把她描绘为裸胸垂死的贪欲的女王。 来自互联网

10 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

11 capes   

碎谷； 斗篷( cape的名词复数 )； 披肩； 海角； 岬

参考例句：

• It was cool and they were putting on their capes. 夜里阴冷，他们都穿上了披风。
• The pastor smiled to give son's two Capes five cents money. 牧师微笑着给了儿子二角五分钱。