Whoa Nellie Collection (Love and Rockets Collection)
Brothers Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez's Love & Rockets (1981-96)  comics were some of the most innovative and best known in the  new generation of comics targeting a mainly adult audience  through complex characters and sometimes sexual themes. Here  they return with separate books largely building on those works  with varying success. Jaime's volume collects the first four  issues of Penny Century, his most recent comic, while featuring  familiar Love & Rockets characters. Locas in Love consists of  mature sight gags and parallel storylines focusing on possibly  the brothers' most famous creations, Maggie & Hopey and Penny  Century, a wealthy woman who indulges in her fantasies, often at  the emotional expense of her willing victims. Also included in  this book is the Eisner Award-winning story "Home School." Jaime  is an accomplished storyteller, and although the storylines  concern themselves with the characters' ongoing search for  love sometimes portrayed graphically the stories are driven by  character development.  Gilbert's book collects a series of short stories, some focusing  on familiar Love & Rockets characters, such as Roy, and some  featuring new characters. In this disjointed collection, the  stories are too short to develop fully, and this reader found  the instances of nudity gratuitous. Love & Rockets is an  essential piece of recent comic book history, but libraries  should consider adding earlier books such as The Death of Speedy  or Poison River before purchasing these collections. Libraries  that already have close to a full run should consider adding  Locas in Love but can safely pass on Fear of Comics. Stephen  Weiner, Maynard P.L., MACopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.