Los Bros Hernandez duet, with kissing

How much do your women have in common with women that you actually know?

JH: Maggie is a tough one. She's a million people in one. A lot of her is me, if you can believe it. Hopey is a little easier because I created her look from a type of punk girl that I saw at the clubs in the late '70s. I thought they were so cool -- these little tiny spiky-haired girls with big mouths. When I created her, she was going to be this cute little thing that was so loveable. And then I said, 'Wait a minute, what am I doing?' I've got to make her the biggest pain in the ass I can.

GH:I would say that the temperament comes from my mother and Latin women that I've known. There's another cliche: Besides the Latin lover, there's the Latin temperament, and boy, that ain't no myth. Also, Latin women are a lot more vocal -- not always in front of men, but certainly in front of children -- about sexuality. They let you know which men they like, in no uncertain terms, without being coy about it.

Where did you learn what women say to each other?

GH:My mother and my grandmother raised us, and my mother's sisters also lived in town. I watched how the women interacted in our home, and then I went into the outside world to watch what women do. It just became a normal thing to do. I don't know what the psychological reasons for it may have been. Sometimes, I was just one of the fellas. I was thin and small, but I wasn't the wimpy guy. Until male aggression reared its ugly head -- then, I would back off. I didn't mind playing a bit of baseball with the guys, but then it went to football, then it was war games. I wasn't necessarily scared of it -- I just got bored with it. I didn't go for male bonding rituals. I thought they were bores.

But I'm introducing a new male character. His name is Hector Rivera. He's going to be the male character I never really had. The closest thing I've ever had to a standout male character would be Heraclio from the Palomar stories. But I left him behind, because that's where he belonged, I felt, in Palomar. Now I've moved the characters to the U.S., and I needed a new character.

Do you find it difficult to create a male character after having worked with women for so long?

Yes. I have to work hard to convince myself that this is a good male character and that he is someone we will want to follow. I had to create a conscious effort to do it. Heraclio was like Luba; he just kinda came out.

And Heraclio is a very vulnerable character: He was seduced by Luba as a young boy; he's very devoted to his wife and daughter.

GH:Yes, he was very sensitive. The women had the aggressive role; he had the sensitive one. This new character is going to be interesting, because he is going to have both: He's going to be sensitive, but he's going to be aggressive as well. I've never done an aggressive male character before. He's basically a rounded character. It's my new challenge: to create a male character as real as a female character.

How do you react to the new tough-chick movement in popular culture? You guys have been doing that for years.

JH: I think it's kinda funny, because the tough-chick movement is naught. It does not mean a well-rounded character, it means a girl who can beat up a guy. Which is OK, but I'm not taking it too seriously as far as making women real. Sure, do a movie about a woman who can kick everybody's ass. But what's she like? Where does she live? That's what interests me more.

Jaime, when did you realize that Maggie and Hopey were going to get together? And why did you decide to do it?

JH:I knew fairly early on. It was another thing that wasn't done too much. Gilbert urged me not to. He wanted them to just be close friends, the unbreakable bond kinda thing, rather than lovers. I thought that was a good idea, but I decided to go with the lover thing, but with a twist: Hopey is a lesbian, but Maggie just loves Hopey.

Coming up, Maggie will get caught in a situation where she will meet another woman. And she'll have to ask herself: Do I go with this woman? Do I even like women? I don't know what the outcome will be, so I'm interested to find out myself.

When Maggie and Hopey became popular as two lesbian characters drawn by a heterosexual male, people said, 'Who do you think you are? Why do you think you can do it?' And I just said, 'Well, I do it. I make no apologies for them. These are the characters. If you don't like them, do your own comic.'

It's hard to imagine a sexier character than a 21-year-old lesbian punk rock chick. And it's hard to imagine a less sexy character than a middle-aged woman, [most of] who[m] famously claim to be invisible as a group. But it seems that Maggie and Hopey are just as interesting as always.