Over that same period, Maggie has worked as a prosolar mechanic’s assistant (in one of the series’s interesting idiosyncrasies, just what a prosolar mechanic might be is never explained), gotten married, worked as a manager of a seedy apartment building in the San Fernando Valley, had her heart broken by the vivacious, vocally-challenged Vivian “Frogmouth” Solis and pined for Hopey, even as the miles and other lovers often kept the two apart. Hopey, the former punk, became a grade school teacher. Luba, said Gilbert, “is now this mellow older lady with white hair.”
And their creators? Jaime and Gilbert, now both in their 60s, hope to keep going for another 10 years or so, to finish 50 issues of their latest “Love and Rockets” run. Gilbert holds up his fingers, stiff with arthritis. “Look, this one I’ve got to keep bending,” he said. “See? It won’t go any more.”
Jaime added, “I remember early on, we said, ‘Let’s do this for 20 years! And then 20 years in, we go, ‘We’re just starting.’ So now, we’re thinking, ‘OK, I’ll be in my 70s in 10 years.’ The biggest worry is that, well, if I do this when I’m older, will it suck? I think about that a lot.”
“But right now, when I’m at my board,” he continued, “it’s just me and my story. I’m going to finish it, and then it’s yours. I’m not going to worry about the future. It’s just me making this story for you.”