1. Maria and Gorgo.

If Maggie and Hopey are at the heart of Jaime Hernandez's Love and Rockets work, Luba arguably plays a similar ro!e in Gilbert's. But for me it's Luba's mother Maria that has held more fascination than any other character ever since Poison River, the story that introduced her.

Maria might be seen as the ultimate femme fatale, a woman so attractive she wreaks havoc wherever she goes. But because L&R isn't a straight genre series, though elements of noir and crime drama are certainly present in Poison River, she isn't presented only in that way. We also see her story in a less glamorous way, the everyday problems she has to face and so on (this is mostly after Poison River).

Gorgo is an enigmatically silent gangster enforcer wbo, we gradually learn, loves Maria and watches over her from afar, or tries to. To Maria he's just a hired hand remarkable almost as much fof his ugliness as for his scary reputation and presence. But in spite of zero encouragement he remains loyal all throughthe years, long after Maria has fallen from her exalted position as an important drug lord's kept mistress and is just a struggling single mother.

All lf that maysound like little more than a list of genre cliches, but as always, it's how those tropes are made use of that holds tne magic or lack thereof. Gilbert has a way of putting evrrything together with his unique style that can move from realism to expressionistc to cartoon without ever betraying the mood. For example, Gorgo's scary capacity for extreme violence is conveyed effectively in could have been an offputting cartoonish way but Gilbert makes it work.

 So as with most selections for this year topic, both individuals are fascinating characters in themselves. But this is about the couple that isnt really a couple, Gorgo and Maria. I foundGorgo's unquestioning devotion very compelling and Maria's very slow acceptance of his protection equally so. They dont actually get together until their old age but I think many readers, lije myself, were relieved to know it finally happened.

I had the same reaction. The artwork looks like it might be good too, from that one sample. One of several comics i will be looking for because of this year's 12 Days!

How about the colour reproduction? That's usually what ho!ds me back from collections of comics printed inthe 80s or earlier as opposed to the back issues.