Panel Patter Gives Respect to Jaime Hernandez & Love and Rockets

Head on over to Panel Patter for Scott Cederlund’s poignant (and rather timely) take on the ever seminal, transcendent and legendary Love and Rockets: The Death of Speedy by the great cartoonist Jaime Hernandez (one-half of the writer/artist creators of the 35 years-plus old series published by Fantagraphics Books).

The final pages of this story are some of the most heart-wrenching and surprisingly redemptive moments in Love and Rockets or in any other comics for that matter. As the war escalates between Dairytown and Hoppers, the cost for Hopper escalates as well. These men and women that are barely more than boys and girls have been treating life as if it was nothing more than child’s play. Breaking hearts and shooting guns are their ways to hang on to their youth. It all comes crashing down as Esther’s Dairytown boyfriend’s gang escalates the fighting, shooting one of Ray and Speedy’s friends. Outside of the hospital, Speedy breaks down in front of Maggie, asking for her love as some kind of redemption for all of his actions. It’s more than Maggie can or is willing to offer to Speedy and she pushes him away.

Read more at Panel Patter.