The 20th collection of Love & Rockets books dives right into the story of Maggie's impending divorce.

Divorce? Bless me, I didn't know she was married! Have I fallen so far behind in the storyline of Jaime Hernandez's top-notch black-and-white world, or is this a literary device that caught us all by surprise?

The great thing is, it doesn't really matter. Love & Rockets is a soap opera on paper -- sometimes light-hearted and sometimes not, and occasionally daubed with traces of science fiction in a real-world kind of way -- but it's always absorbing stuff. Within a few panels, I was deeply involved in the continuing hijinks of Maggie, Hopey and their wonderful supporting cast.

Not knowing of Maggie's marriage to the previously unknown-to-me Tony "Top Cat" Chase works effectively as a plot device, as the couple's past and present both unfold in the narrative. Only one item -- the actual wedding itself -- is left out. The book also includes a foot race of literal and metaphorical proportions, an evil imp, drunken sex, a lunar soliloquy, a shrinking woman, mother-and-daughter fugitives, a funeral and the unraveling of a bit of a horned billionaire's past.

Dicks & Deedees reminds me why I love this series and makes me wonder why I allowed my attention to wander. Don't worry, Jaime, I'll be back.

- Rambles
written by Tom Knapp
published 30 August 2003