Penny Century: 8

The eighth volume of The Complete Love and Rockets Library is the fourth omnibus edition of writer-artist Jaime Hernandez’s Locas storyline. It starts off with a blast with “”Whoa, Nellie!,”” a graphic novelette in which Maggie, who has settled in with her pro-wrestler aunt for a while, experiences that wild and wooly world first-hand. Then it’s back to chills and spills with the old cast of Hopey, Ray Dominguez, and Izzy Ortiz — including Maggie’s romantic dream fantasia “”The Race”” and the definitive Ray story, “”Everybody Loves Me, Baby.”” Penny Century also features two major “”flashback”” stories: “”Bay of Threes”” finally reveals the full back story behind Beatriz “”Penny Century”” Garcia, Maggie’s long-time, bleached-blonde bombshell friend, while “”Home School”” is one of Hernandez’s popular looks at his characters’ lives from when they were little kids, drawn in an adorable simplified Dennis the Menace -style. These comics originally appeared from 1996 to 2002. —- ISBN: 9781606993422