The crafting of queer domestic space in Jaime Hernandez’s love and rockets

Abstract

This article brings together archival research and existing critical approaches to the study of Hernandez’s work. Using critical perspectives on Chicano/a home spaces in conjunction with draft and archival material I interrogate the depiction of alternative homes and families in Jaime Hernandez’s contributions to the comic book series Love and Rockets, arguing not just for their centrality to the narrative of the comic, but to Hernandez’s conception of his characters and their world. This article has two objectives. The first is to update existing critical conceptions of Hernandez’s work. The second is to apply an awareness of the importance of Hernandez’s draft material to these critical readings of his work, demonstrating the importance and sophistication of the “home” spaces within the comic.