Love & Rockets - No. 1

Love and Rockets No. 1 by the Hernandez Brothers tells the tale of the Ti-Girls, the Fenomenons, and their search for the troubled Penny Century. The most notable component of this comic is the focus on the role of women. Thinking back, I can't recall a single male character in the entire Ti-Girls comic. I found this to be particularly interesting considering that the authors are both men.

The first prominent feminine theme that defines the story is the competition between stereotypes. Despite the fact that all of our characters are super gals in one way or another, we have a constant tension between the Fenomenons--slender, flashy, beautiful women who attract [or steal] attention--and the Ti-Girls--old, overweight, unconventional hero types. Although they eventually find a way to cooperate and save the day, their multifaceted interactions are an exaggerated portrayal of the female psyche in real life. Members of the audience do not have super powers, but can nevertheless relate to the way these women act because there is an aspect of reality in the character development. Women are competitive, judgmental, and make assumptions about other women based on nothing more than their appearance, which the Hernandez brothers pay keen attention to and use as a storytelling element.

Another motif throughout the comic is motherhood. More specifically, we see a demonstration of different mother-daughter relationships, and the power of maternal instincts. Penny Century's entire ordeal is based in the fact that she lost her daughters, and is thrown into blind rage by their separation. This too is based on some level of reality: readers can easily understand the possibility of a woman reacting severely to such a situation. The authors take this subject to another level later in the story when the Ti-Girls somehow "give" maternal instinct to one of the heroes in order to aid her in locating Penny Century's daughters. Again we see motherly tendencies, which are a very real part of most peoples' lives and are often unexplainable to a point, being exaggerated to add interest to the barrier that the characters face.