Picture a world filled with superheroes and villains, extraterrestrials, robots, wormholes and all sorts of grand wonders. Now picture a comic book set in that world -- which deals with none of them. That book is Love & Rockets. Sound dull? Not on your life.

Since the Brothers Hernandez have announced plans to resurrect Love & Rockets for a new run, it seems a good time to go back to the beginning of their cult series. And the beginning, collected in one handy package, is Music for Mechanics.

This first volume of the series introduces a lot of characters and concepts, some of which don't make a lot of sense. The Brothers Hernandez, y'see, don't always tell stories in linear form. Situations which may seem puzzling now will no doubt be explained in later books, but whether that will occur in the past or future is anyone's guess. Sound confusing? A bit, but it's deliciously so.

The primary character in Music for Mechanics is Maggie, a young, clumsy, slightly overweight girl living in a Mexican-American neighborhood in southern California. She lives with her best friend, Hopey, and some people think they're lesbians. (Are they? Wait and see -- these characters from Jaime's pen will reoccur throughout the series.) Maggie sometimes has a job as a mechanic -- not fixing cars or appliances, mind you, but fixing spaceships and teleporters. In her world, mechanics are as glamorous as our world's movie stars and supermodels. And Maggie works with the best, the handsomest, the most famous, Rand Race, who may or may not be flirting with her. They're sent to a volatile jungle country, where dinosaurs still live and the leader is an oppressive dictator, to fix a downed ship, and things get intense from there. Much of this lengthy tale is told through letters from Maggie to Hopey -- an effective storytelling device. The plot twists and guest characters will keep you guessing throughout.

Other stories in this collection are less epic. For instance, there's the one where pal Joey needs Maggie's and Hopey's help to borrow some books. Gilbert's "Bem" is a slightly bewildering story of monsters and would-be heroes -- introducing, among others, the huge-breasted goddess-wannabe Luba, who shows up in later volumes as a hammer-toting bathhouse girl. Jaime expands on the Penny Century character (a minor player in the "Mechanics" storyline) in a brief piece explaining her quest for super powers.

You'll probably have no clue what's going on in the Mario/Gilbert collaboration "Radio Zero," but the Errata Stigmata character will be back in later volumes with a little more back-story to clear up the confusion.

A short story at the end of this volume sets us up for Gilbert's big storyline, set in the poverty-stricken Latin American village of Palomar. Although this story is almost a throw-away, you'll want to read it for the characters you'll meet: the young tomboy Pipo, the town's bathwoman Chelo, and boys Vicente, Israel, Jesus, Satch and Martin. Remember them -- their stories in future volumes will touch you in many different ways.

Music for Mechanics presents something of a jumble, but the stories taken individually are for the most part engrossing, and the larger whole of the series will keep you coming back. In some ways it's a soap opera, involving you deeply in the daily lives of some interesting, very real characters. (Caveat: Because of some nudity and sexual situations, this isn't an appropriate series for the younger Spider-Man and Superman set of readers.) Thanks to Los Bros Hernandez for returning to their too-long-silent world!

[ by Tom Knapp ]