His heroine Maggie and her friends are almost all punk fans he also has done a series of stories about the career of another main character (Hopey) as a bass player for a luckless punk band. In addition to playing in bands himself it has been a constant element of his work. Hernandez has also been a lifelong punk rock fan. Hernandez has a lifelong fascination with pro wrestling, especially women's wrestling, and it has been a regular part of his work. The work of Alex Toth, Charles Schulz, Jesse Marsh and Jack Kirby were also hugely influential. The children in his otherwise rather realistic stories are often drawn to resemble Ketcham's, and Jaime's characters often strike very 'DeCarlo-esque' poses. Hernandez was particularly influenced by Hank Ketcham's Dennis the Menace and Dan DeCarlo's Archie' comics. They read all types of comics and enjoyed those that gave a fairly realistic depiction of family life as well as the standard superhero adventures. 'I wanted to draw comics my whole life.' 'We grew up with comics,' Hernandez said. His family embraced comics: their mother read them frequently and old issues were kept in large quantities in the house, to be read and re-read by all over the years.

He is the youngest of his family, with four older brothers and one sister. Jaime Hernandez grew up in Oxnard, California.

Jaime (sometimes spelled Xaime) Hernandez (born 1959) is the co-creator of the alternative comic book Love and Rockets with his brothers Gilbert and Mario.

Birdland by Gilbert Hernández