Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Love and Rockets: I think it's a good decision for everybody



It's so easy to keep thinking of Vivian as a new character, even though she's been an integral part of Jaime Hernandez's Love and Rockets comics for two decades.

But that's because it's impossible to get a read on her. The Locas characters have endless depth, but you always understand where they're coming from - why Maggie is so lost, why Hopey is so angry, why Tonta is so Tonta.

But Viv - the frogmouth - is an agent of pure chaos, fucking up the world for everybody in a way you'll never see coming. Don't try to explain why she does what she does. It just happens. She has deep feelings that are often ignored or attacked, and they manifest out into the world in wildly unpredictable ways.

Maybe she was happy when she was close to Maggie, and maybe she was even happier when she spent time with Ray, but that all went south, and who knows what she thinks of the current arrangements. I have no idea.

Her wedding in the latest issue of the world's best comic magazine is a fairly sedate affair for her - there are only four or five fistfights - but the Viv stare that closes out this chapter is an all-time classic. As gorgeous as ever, as unreadable as always.

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