Comics culture in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

is far from being a modern phenomenon. Its roots may be traced back to many stages in

Mexican history The written history of Mexico spans more than three millennia. First populated more than 13,000 years ago, central and southern Mexico (termed Mesoamerica) saw the rise and fall of complex indigenous civilizations. Mexico would later develop ...

Ancient history

Indeed, Mexican intellectuals such as

Ilan Stavans Ilan Stavans (born Ilan Stavchansky on April 7, 1961) is a Mexican-American author and academic. He writes and speaks on American, Hispanic, and Jewish cultures. He is the author of ''Quixote'' (2015) and a contributor to the ''Norton Anthology ...

agree that centuries-old

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

codices The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

and other ancient documents could be seen as primary sources of the comics culture in the country.Ilan Stavans, ''The essential Ilan Stavans'', (Routledge, 2000),

Revolutionary times

Another important influence has been the work of José Guadalupe Posada whose satirical cartoons helped create a political identity of visual art. Political satire was quite a strong movement during the

Porfiriato , common_languages = , religion = , demonym = , currency = , leader1 = Porfirio Díaz , leader2 = Juan Méndez , leader3 = Porfirio Díaz , leader4 ...

(1884–1911). Many newspapers became almost legendary because of their political comics and vignettes that were published during this era and during the subsequent Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). As a result of the harsh government repression, the political cartoon ("caricatura política") practically became the only means of free expression in those turbulent years.

The twenties, thirties and onward

The end of the Mexican Revolution marked the birth of a national comics industry that lasted many decades, with notable authors like

Yolanda Vargas Dulché Yolanda Vargas Dulché de la Parra (; July 18, 1926 Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico– August 8, 1999 in Mexico City) was a List of Mexican writers, Mexican writer principally known for the creation of the comic book character of Memín Pinguín and ...

(founder of

Grupo Editorial Vid Grupo Editorial Vid (also known as ''Vid'' or ''Mundo Vid'') was a Mexican comic, manga and books publisher. It was funded in the early 1940s as ''Editorial Argumentos'' (EDAR). Many of their books are sold from around 30 pesos for comics up to 60 ...

), starring titles like '' Memín Pinguín'', ''La Familia Burrón'' and ''Chanoc'' among many others. From the 1930s through the 1970s, Mexico had a thriving comic-book industry with several diverse genres. Authors and artists like Gabriel Vargas, Germán Butze, Gaspar Bolaños,

Oscar González Guerrero Oscar González Guerrero (January 17, 1926 - May 18, 2017 in Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in Nor ...

, José Angel Mora Suarez and

Rius Eduardo Humberto del Río García (June 20, 1934 – August 8, 2017), better known by his pen name Rius, was a Mexican intellectual, political cartoonist and writer born in Zamora, Michoacán. One of the most popular Mexican cartoonists, Rius h ...

became famous with very original and diverse comic book series and titles such as ''Los Superlocos'', ''La Familia Burrón'', ''Adelita y Juan Sin Miedo'', ''Pancho López'', ''El Gran Caperuzo'', ''Los Chiflados'', ''Los del Doce'', ''Sopa de Perico'', ''Chanoc'', ''Pepín'', ''Fantomas'', ''Kalimán'', ''Rolando el Rabioso'', ''El Payo'', ''Hermelinda Linda'', ''Los Supersabios'', ''Los Supermachos'', ''Los Agachados'', ''Las Aventuras del Santo'', ''

Tinieblas Manuel Leal (born June 8, 1939), better known as Tinieblas ("Darkness"), is a Mexican luchador. Professional wrestling career Tinieblas began as a body builder and stunt man who was spotted by luchadores Black Shadow and Dory Dixon. Impressed ...

'', ''Blue Demon'', ''El Tío Porfírio'', ''Burrerías'', ''Smog'', ''Don Leocadio'', ''Zor y los Invencibles'', ''Las Aventuras de Capulina'', '' Las Aventuras de Cepillín'', ''El Monje Loco'' and ''Memín Penguín'' to name a few. “Los Supermachos” treated social and political issues - suicide, tuberculosis, Marxism, for example - with humor and with innovative and varied graphics. Most of these books sold millions of copies during this era, which has often been cited as "The Golden Age of Comic Books in Mexico". Because of their success some comic book titles and their characters were even adapted into radio dramas and live action TV series and films during the 1960s and 1970s, among them ''Chanoc'', ''Fantomas'', ''Kalimán'', ''Hermelinda Linda'', ''Los Supermachos'' (in the 1974 film ''

Calzonzin Inspector ''Calzonzin Inspector'' is a 1974 Mexican comedy film and live action comic adaptation directed and starred by Alfonso Arau. It was selected as the Mexican entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 47th Academy Awards, but was not accept ...

''), '' Los Supersabios'', ''El Santo'', ''

'', ''Blue Demon'', ''Capulina'' and ''Cepillín''.

The foreign sci-fi and fantasy boom

During the early eighties American superhero and sci-fi comics poured into Mexico. The cheaper costs of reprinting foreign titles combined with the perception that comics were only for kids, nearly wiped out indigenous comic books in the country. '' Las Aventuras de Parchís'', ''El Pantera'', ''El Hijo del Santo'', ''Katy la Oruga'', ''

Timbiriche ''Timbiriche'' (also known for a brief time as ''La Banda Timbiriche'') is a Mexican pop music group. The group started as a children's group in 1981 and managed to evolve successfully into adulthood. Timbiriche is considered one of the most ic ...

'', '' Simón Simonazo'', '' Video-Risa'', '' Karmatron y los Transformables'', ''Hombres y Heroes'', ''Sensacional de Luchas'', and '' Destrúktor el Defensor Cósmico'' were some of the very few titles produced locally to great demand. The only genre to survive, and even thrive, was a unique form of adult pulp comics. In Mexico, adult comics go by a number of names, like "sensacionales" or "ghetto librettos." They are published in huge numbers as roughly square-shaped digests, about 96 pages long, in a realistic but uncomplicated "house" style. Most are sold cheaply at newsstands, either new or second-hand. ''Sensacionales'' are known for their lurid subject matter, with stories and images that can get very gory or pornographic – or even a combination of the two. Typical titles include ''Bellas de Noche'' ("Ladies of the Night") or ''Relatos de Presidio'' ("Stockade Tales").

The Asian invasion

In the 1990s the Mexican comics industry began to be revived, importing again USA heroes comics and some national ones like ''Ultrapato'', '' Tinieblas, Son of the Night'' and ''Penumbra''. The national industry went through many inner problems getting almost killed again. The only survivors went to magazines or newspapers mainly as comic strips but not as individual autonomous issues. The most popular, like ''El Cerdotado'' or ''Buba'' have managed to get anthologies of their strips. In this decade, imported and translated original Japanese manga also began to arrive with titles like '' Dragon Ball'' and ''

Video Girl Ai ''Video Girl Ai'', known in Japan as simply , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masakazu Katsura. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from December 1989 to April 1992. It was followed by a short seq ...

'', which started a very successful trend of Spanish translated Japanese manga that has continued until recent times.

Modern times

In the last years, with the immense popularity of manga across the world, the Mexican comic industry seems to getting back on track with Editorial Toukan (whose whereabouts are uncertain at the moment) and Editorial Vid publishing, along some USA comics, many new manga titles translated into Spanish. Manga has been one of the comic genres with the more growth in the last years. In recent Mexican comics the political satire is still quite strong and there are some attempts of new independent comics like ''Zeraky'', ''El Bulbo'', ''Caballo Negro'', ''El Arsenal'', ''Rebelde'', ''Meteorix 5.9'' and ''Goji: Un Dragón con Ángel'' as well as the revival of older titles like ''Santo: La Leyenda de Plata'', ''Blue Demon Jr.: El Legado'', ''

'' and '' Karmatron''. Other more recent comic strips that have found some unusual success thanks to the relatively new technology of

Social Networks A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for a ...

to promote themselves (in

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

respectively) have been the titles ''

Cindy La Regia ''Cindy la Regia'' is a 2020 Mexican comedy film directed by Catalina Aguilar Mastretta, and Santiago Limón. The film is based on a character created by Ricardo Cucamonga, it stars Cassandra Sánchez Navarro as the leading character. It premiere ...

'' (2004) by Ricardo Cucamonga and '' Jours de Papier'' (2013).

References

External links

History of Mexican Comics
- Fan site * El Cerdotado Spanish Wikipedia page {{Comics