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THE WRITTEN CHORO PRESENTS:
CARICATURA LATINOAMERICANA By Victor Hernandez Some thoughts on Latinamerican comics and their socio-political value. Illustration from Indigenous Mexican Codex. |
Due to the fact that this particular genre in the world of Art is so heavily commercialized in the United States, cartoons are usually not very welcomed by many scholars. One of the very first things I had to learn as an Art major was that cartoons, in studio Art classes, were out of the question. Just last week, to top it off, during a critique for a painting class, Professor Gail Roberts made a comment which I found very annoying: cartoons and graphic media are "taboo" in painting.
I would understand --and perfectly justify-- this position from Art scholars if the only type of cartoon in my body of knowledge was the American cartoon. Most of it --there are exceptions-- is done for one purpose and one purpose only: to make money. Editors, publishers, and syndicates care very little about quality in the cartoons they print and distribute. All it matters for them is that they get a product that can produce a profit. If you can stick it on a luch box, that's enough for them.
Political cartoons, you might be tempted to say, can not be put on a luchbox. That's right. However, today's American political cartoon has become a different kind of product. Fewer newspapers are hiring cartoonists and, on the contrary, most pay syndicates for copies of other artists's work --regardless of how mediocre the cartoon may be; as long as it has the brand name they want it. This, at least, is the explanation Bill Watterson gives regarding his lack of success as a political cartoonist.
No wonder Art scholars dislike cartoons. They're no longer art. They're a product.
Still, whenever I question scholars about their knowledge of Latinamerican cartoons I usually get this "uh, I dunno" face.
"You don't know about Rius? Los Supermachos? Mafalda? Los Agachados?"
"Uhm, I read Doonsbury..."
Doonesbury I'm afraid, is mild in comparison to any of the above mentioned--and even milder when compared to more contemporary work.
Latinamerica, because of its history of political upheaval, has a long, rich tradition, of socially-oriented cartoons. Mexico, for example, has produced some of the best political cartoons of the 20th century, and so has Argentina. But does anyone know about it? Well, not really... Not many... Not in the USA at least.
Lets start with Mexico. Back in the 60's a young cartoonist called Eduardo del Rio, who signed his work as "Rius," after following the steps of Abel Quezada in revolutionizing the Mexican editorial cartoon, created the first truly revolutionary comic book. The name of this comic book was Los Supermachos.
Los supermachos took place in a little town in central Mexico called "San Garabato Cuc." In it, Rius created a time capsule through which one could see the way in which a town in central Mexico living under the government of a Cacique was like. Its main character, an Indian called Juan Calzonzin, would speak against the abuses of this government, and lead the rest of the characters from adventure to adventure dodging the police and the agents of the upper class.
There were no superheroes in Los Supermachos. They were "Supermachos" because they had to put up with a lot of abuses from the government and the upper class, but that was it. This, along with the rebellious attitude of Juan Calzonzin and company, was in fact what was selling the comic book. People throughout Mexico felt a relationship between their lives and the lives of the inhabitants of San Garabato.
The comic book contained such successfully sharp social commentaries that the Mexican government ended up pressuring the publisher to censor it. This lead to an eventual antagonism between Rius and the publisher, leading to the stealing of the title and characters from Rius and his departure to another publishing house in order to publish his second work of art: Los Agachados.
Los Agachados was a more "modern" version of Los Supermachos, having the same basic flavor. Los Agachados ran for years in Mexico from 1968 to 1980 almost without pause. It became the most successful comic book in the history of Mexican caricature.
Aside from Doing Los Agachados and Los Supermachos, Rius authored over 50 different books on different subjects ranging from vegetarianism to the philosophy of Karl Marx. One of his books, called Marx Para Principiantes (Marx for beginners) was translated to English and, believe it or not, it is a required text in some classes at San Diego State University.
From Rius's generation three more cartoonists became highly praised for their work in the filed of political cartoon. They were Helio Flores, Rogelio Naranjo, and Bulmaro Castellanos, who signs his drawings simply as "Magú." Of the three of them, Magú, at least in my opinion, has the freshest style of drawing, mocking everything and anything with his pen in complete disregard for authority--even the Subcomandande Marcos, whose cause he supports, has been put under the microscope of his satire.
The most recent generation of Mexican cartoonists has also revolutionized the caricature landscape in Mexico for ever. The "newest" generation is formed mainly by the cartoonists from the La Jornada newspaper from Mexico City. The are Rafael Barajas (El Fisgón), Antonio Helguera (Helguera), José Hernandez, Patricio, and the always irreverent Jis and Trino from Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco, who work individually and in tandem to create El Santos one of the most groundbreaking comic strips of the last years.
My personal favorites are Jis and Trino. Trino works alone on his Fábulas de Policías y Ladrones, which appears almost on a weekly basis in La Jornada. Then, for the weekend, and for the El Chamuco magazine, Trino works in tandem with Jis in order to create El Santos a comic strip that borrows its characters from cheap Mexican wrestling movies transformin them in perhaps the most defiant cartoon characters of all time.
In El Santos you will find a complete disregard for any kind of stablished rule. Either formally, iconographically, iconologically, or in whatever other field you might think of, Jis and Trino always find a way to break the rules. Their themes are intentionally meant to break taboos about sexuality, freedom of expression, and human waste... Their creation has been censored several times even in La Jornada, which is the newspaper with the largest freedom of expression in México. But that doesn't stop them. Once censored they take their Santos to El Chamuco, where it is printed in its full version.
Argentina
There is a long list of great Southamerican cartoonists. Argentina, however, takes the front by being the country of one of the most renoun cartoonists around the world: Quino.
Joaquín Lavado, Quino's real name, is the creator of Mafalda the most revolutionary comic strip of the century. Mafalda is a little girl from urban Argentina who constantly expresses her worries about society and world affairs. His friends, also urban children, represent each one of the different areas of the Latinamerican middle class, ranging from the conformist burgoise, represented by Mafalda's friend Susanita, to the merchants, characterized by Mafalda's friend Manolito, and all the way to the revolutionary, characterized by Mafalda's friend Libertad. Each enteraction between Quino's little characters is a brilliant metaphor for life, and a biting commentary on society and the human condition.
Decades before Bill Watterson marveled us with the ever precocious psyche of Calvin, Quino created a world in which all of his little charachers developed personalities so well defined, and so in accord with the reality of Latinamerica, but still preserving their precocious childhood energy, that it would be impossible, for those who know his work, to imagine a Latinamerica without Mafalda.
Mafalda has been translated to several languages, reprinted again and again for over 30 years in book collections (its charm comes from the fact that its humor is still fresh after all those years), sold around the worl, and, a few years ago, even taken to the big screen in its animated feature film "El Mundo de Mafalda."
Quino stopped making Mafalda after about 10 years of its initial run. His reason? Probably the same as Bill Watterson: he was tired.
But Quino still makes cartoons. He publishes his humorous metaphoric gags at Tia Vicenta magazine in Argentina. Is he planning on resurrecting Mafalda? No way.
Also from Argentina is the almost antithesis of Quino: Fontanarrosa. Fontanarrosa is the creator of Boogie, his most successful comic internationally. Boogie is an American mercenary who at times works for the CIA, and at times for private patrons looking to extort somebody or to intimidate another country. An ex green baret, and Vietnam vet, Boogie is the incarnation of violence for sale. At a more philosophycal level, it is also Fontanarrosa's metaphor for the Unitied States and its military might.
Fontanarrosa's work, in terms of the drawing itself is dark, "hard" and merciless. It is far from the cute little kids from Mafalda. It is, in fact, a Tango performed with pen and ink.
TO RECAP
From my perspective, Latinamerican comics do deserve to be called Art. Latinamerican comics, the good ones, have always been a reflecion of society, and its most poignant criticism. They have served to educate, create social conscience, and, well, yes, to entertain.
Most Americans, and even a lot of Latinamericans, have not been in contact with this type of art, even though it has been around for over 30 years. For somebody who is familiar with the work, this is very difficult to imagine, since the Latinamerican comic is a testimony of the power of the cartoonist to create social consciousness, elevate cartoonists from the latrine of comercialization, and change society for the better.
It is curious to notice that the Subcomandandte Marcos himself has acknowledged that his early social readings were none other than Rius's works! But, after all, there is nothing special about this. Lots of schools in Mexico, and even some universities in the United States, have leared to appreciate Rius's work for its true value, and they encourage its reading. Perhaps one day the Art world will turn its head towards San Garabato and see the Art in its heart.
WHERE TO FIND THIS
If anyone out there is interested, here are some links and sources where you can find some of these artists works.
EL CHAMUCO CYBERNETICO
This is the online version of El Chamuco magazine. El Chamuco is published every two weeks throughout Mexico and it contains the works of El Fisgón, Helguera, José Hernandez, Patricio, Jis and Trino, and Rius, among others. Unfortunately the online version has not been approved by Editorial Grijalbo, which publishes the Magazine, and after almost 5 months of its debut online it is still in its testing stage. It has not been updated, but it contains a full edition of El Chamuco, which is a nice glimpse at what is done on the printed version.
Another misfortune is the fact that Rius is semi-retired (he has been working for almost 40 years) and his contributions are minimal.
EL SANTOS
While there is no official website for El Santos just yet, a devoted fan of Jis and Trino's masterpiece has set up La pagina del Santos, a nice little fan site featuring some samples of the strip and a list of the major characters.
LA JORNADA
This is perhaps the best newspaper in Mexico City, and it houses the works of some of the best cartoonists in Mexico, such as El Fisgón, Helguera, José Hernandez, Ahumada, Rocha, Magú, and Trino. Its online version contains daily installments of these artists's work, including Trino's Fábulas de Policías y Ladrones. It can be reached through either of the two University of Mexico servers, the SERPIENTE or the NUCLECU.
MAFALDA
There are a couple of Mafalda pages registered at the YAHOO! search engine, but you can start your browsing by visiting Al's Mafalda Page, which contains an English and a Spanish version for both audiences, as well as links to other Mafalda related sites.
PROCESO
Proceso magazine is a weekly political magazine which features the work of such names as Rogelio Naranjo, Helio Flores, Rius, Quino, and Fontanarrosa. Its online version usually contains the Naranjo cartoon, though you never know what else you can find.
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