San Diego Comic-Con kicked off this week, but on Thursday, I was still at home getting ready to walk the dog.
I pulled out a random T-shirt from the drawer and came up with a favorite: my “Love & Rockets” tee from Fantagraphics, featuring a Jaime Hernandez image from issue #24. It seemed appropriate for the day.
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“Love and Rockets” image. (Courtesy of Artbound / Fantagraphics)
During my twice-daily dog walks, I smile, nod and catch up with neighbors and fellow dog walkers, and even though my pup is a sweet, friendly doofus, I step aside and let people pass so they can see clearly that this butt-wiggling burst of fur is a good citizen and not a threat.
At one point, I paused to detangle her leash as a man in dark glasses and a straw hat came striding our way. Leaning over to adjust her collar, I smiled and nodded a quick hello that landed somewhere around his kneecaps.
I almost didn’t hear him speak as he passed by.
Nice shirt, he said.
We continued on our way, but I kept thinking about how he said those two words – “Nice shirt” – as we turned a corner and went down another block. It wasn’t snide or rude, but kind of wry, almost like an inside joke.
And then I realized it was an inside joke.
I pulled out my phone, typed in a search and there he was: Jaime Hernandez, the “Love & Rockets” co-creator and artist who’d drawn the very image I was wearing. I’d briefly met him and his co-creator brother Gilbert in the swirl of humanity at Comic-Con once, and I’d interviewed the filmmaker behind the PBS documentary about the Hernandez brothers’ 40+ year career a few years back. And my colleague Peter Larsen had a great talk with them in 2022.
Yes, it’s a nice shirt, indeed.
Readers and friends, I resisted the urge to chase after him or retrace my steps because I am a grown-up and don’t do that stuff and running is hard. However, I am also a regular walker of my neighborhood, and so I had a pretty good sense that we might pass each other on the way back.
But block after block as I headed home, we didn’t cross paths again.
Until finally we did.
Hernandez was peering into the same Little Free Library I always do. (Note: I peer into ALL the Little Free Libraries.) This time we were both in on the joke.
Hi, again, I said. This is your work I’m wearing, isn’t it?
Yeah, Hernandez said.
This probably happens to you all the time, I said.
No, he said. It doesn’t.
So do you live around here, I asked.
[Gesturing vaguely in the least definitive direction possible] Yes.
Since he’d published a new Fantagraphics book, “Life Drawings: A Love & Rockets Collection,” earlier this year, I asked if he’d be attending Comic-Con. Hernandez said he would be there on Friday, today, when he’s doing a signing at the Fantagraphics booth and participating in a 4:30 p.m. panel about his work in Room 26AB: A Life Drawing: Jaime Hernandez in Conversation with Gary Groth.
We only talked a minute or two, as I aimed to be mindful that this might be (and probably already was) strange or uncomfortable for him.
I’m not a weirdo, just a journalist, I said in a reassuring manner, though I realized both could be true.
As if to prove this, I escalated things to a Larry David-level of awkwardness by asking if he’d be willing to take a photo. I didn’t think this odd coincidence would be believable otherwise. He agreed.
Erik Pedersen, wearing a Love & Rockets T-shirt, ran into Jaime Hernandez, the “Love & Rockets” creator and artist, while taking a morning walk in Pasadena. (Photo by Erik Pedersen)
Photo taken, I wished him well as we went our separate ways, and about a block from home, I stepped aside for another dog walker who nodded and smiled.
Nice shirt, she said.
And you know, it really is.
For more Love & Rockets, check out the Fantagraphics website, and for a look at 2025 San Diego Comic-Con, check out our coverage.
Originally Published: July 25, 2025 at 1:11 PM PDT