Mr X by Paul Rivoche (via Comic Alliance)

Which put me in the mood for more Mr X… so much to choose from…. and the more I look the more I can’t decide. And you must understand here that I’m merely pondering the covers, it would take me too long right now to discuss the insides with you… but just quickly….

Dean Motter’s series began in ’83, featuring the mysterious Mister X, supposedly the architect of Radiant City, the beautiful, brutal, madness inducing setting for the comic. Mister X’s design included elements of psychetecture that went horribly wrong, a utopian paradise became a nightmare city, and X wanders through it, attempting to cure his city and its people.

The interior artwork and story was initially handled by The Hernandez Brothers, then by Motter & a young Seth when Los Bros walked from the comic after a few money issues with Vortex Comics publisher Bill Marks.

My real love of Mister X comes not from that first volume though, but from the memorable second volume, written Jeffrey Morgan with art from Shane Oakley and D’Israeli with inks by Ken Holewczynski.

I loved it, it got me at just the right time, in just the right way. When I’d done that I went back to volume 1, and although the art deco infused stylings are beautiful and the story inspired, the expressionist stark black and white of volume 2 still wins me over.

Dark Horse have recently released two huge hardcover collections of both volumes. For the Hernandex / Motter heavy volume 1 you want the Mister X Archives. But trust me, I’d recommend you give Mister X: Brides Of Mister X & Other Stories a go.

But enough guff from me, one feature of both volumes that consistently amazed were the covers….. and luckily there’s a complete Mister X gallery here. But these are my faves….

(Dean Motter volume 1 issue 2, Seth volume 1 issue 11)

(Steve Sampson volume 2 issue 7, D’Israeli volume 2 issue)

And finally, on this little Mister X nostalgia trip, one of my favourite covers of all time, and the exception that proves the rule as to how awful variant covers are….. Brendan McCarthy’s 4 versions of Volume 2 Issue 1:

Love & Rockets from The Comics Journal on Vimeo.

(cover to Love From the Shadows by and (c) Gilbert Hernandez, published this week by the lovely Fantagraphics mob. Love the small hardback format and the semi pulp 50s style cover work; below; interior pic from the book, again (c) Gilbert Hernandez)

Art by Jaimes Hernandez, one of the best, most influential comics creators on the planet; hell, Los Bros Hernandez even get read and enjoyed by people I know who would never consider themselves comics readers, but Love & Rockets they can’t resist… Finished work, sketches, layouts and designs, it’s a large, well produced hardback volume from Abrams full of glorious Jaime artwork, with text by the brilliant Todd Hignite and an intro by Alison Bechdel.

(sketch work by and (c) Jaime Hernandez)

Let me just repeat that to your stunned brain: Hernandez, Hignite, Bechdel, glorious big art book. Want is not a strong enough term. Desire, perhaps. Covet. Need. By the great Four Color Gods, comics life just doesn’t get better than this…

(a colouring guide for Love and Rockets volume 2,  number 7 (above) and the finished, gorgeously clear picture (below), both by and (c)Jaime Hernandez)

(to heck with  Roy Lichtenstein, this is real pop art!)

Jordan Crane has re-created Jaime Hernandez’s brilliant rock’n'roll cover to Love & Rockets issue 24 as a large silk-screen print. You can practically smell the spilt beer and sweat of the mosh pit, the sort of atmosphere you only get in smaller, intimate venues (or dives really), not in the big auditorium. Imagine how goddam cool this would look on your wall next to the Clash – London Calling Poster. I’m talking cooler than a polar bear bathing in liquid nitrogen. (via Boing Boing)

Update: our Kenny tells me he ordered a print for himself but found Paypal slapped on VAT; as he thinks under $350 value is tax free he’s advising anyone else from here ordering a copy to see if they can claim the VAT back.