The Latin comic thread

[Aaron Kashtan]

This book is excellent if you can read Spanish. It was written by my former thesis advisor, but I read it before I met her.

http://www.amazon.com/comic-hispanic...5848935&sr=1-2

[Johnny P. Sartre]

OH!

10 chara

[dupont2005]

I've said it many times, but... If you have the basics of any language (i.e., some grammar) it is quite easy to improve your skills reading comics. At first you'll need a dictionary, but after a good bunch of albums you'll be surprised at how you grasp practically everything without almost any effort. I did it with French and Italian: it didn't take more than a few months on my own to discard the dictionary, except for some rare words that I couldn't guess by the context. Drawings are extremely helpful at that.

If you still aren't convinced, and if you feel comfortable with reading them on the computer screen, instead of buying one or two comics that you're not sure that you'll understand, try downloading many of them and start with those that look easier to you. You'll probably find most of those I listed in emule or direct download sites...

Oh yeah, I might pick some up off eBay. Particularly ones that reprint American comics, so I can compare them. I occasionally rent a telenovella from Netflix and watch with the subtitles on. I'm pretty fluent in cholo graffiti, taqueria menus, and Calo slang I'm in no rush to learn the language, I just am not a fan of super hero comics. Seems some great stuff outside the super hero genre comes from Europe so I'd like to investigate other regions as well, regardless of my ability to actually read the stuff

[dupont2005]

Besides Latin America, I wonder if the middle east and Russia have any noteworthy contributions? Possibly Africa or Australia?

[Fesch_]

Besides Latin America, I wonder if the middle east and Russia have any noteworthy contributions? Possibly Africa or Australia?

Rutu Modan from Israel is extraordinary. And from Australia, Dylan Horrocks is already a classic. From Australia, also, I've recently read Blue by Pat Grant, and it's excellent.

[Johnny P. Sartre]

I just ordered this and I can't wait to get it; Muñoz (illustrations) and Cortázar (writer) at their best.

"The Pursuer is one of Julio Cortázar’s greatest literary achievements and a classic of 20th century literature. With a magisterially-handled existential background, the story describes the final days of Johnny Carter, a virtuoso saxophonist whose life takes place on the knife-edge between lucidity and self-destruction."

[dupont2005]

Those illustrations are fantastic!

[Johnny P. Sartre]

You can expect that from Muñoz, one of the best artists from Argentina. Muñoz was a protégé of Alberto Breccia and Hugo Pratt, you can definitely see it in his work and you can see he expounds on the B&W and negative space more than Breccia and Pratt. He's also worked with the illustrious Francisco Solano López (Argentinean artist) and López did an amazing series called El Eternauta (with writer Oesterheld); after that Munoz then would co-create Alack Sinner with Carlos Sampayo

This is from Alack Sinner

[Johnny P. Sartre]

El Eternauta (art by López)

[berk]

That Muñoz artwork does look pretty amazing. And I've been curious about El Eternauta since Fesch mentioned it here some time ago.

Does anyone know much about Mexican black & white horror or pulp mags? I seem to remember seeing something about them on the internet a few years ago - maybe there was a new book published about them or something. The excerpts I saw were very lurid - lots of Warren style sex and violence. Crude, but forceful, lots of energy, IIRC.

[Johnny P. Sartre]

For Mexican horror check out Las Momias de Guanajuato, La Bruja Roja and Brujas y Vampiros are some nifty worth while comics to check.

Then there was Historias Fantásticas which were DC reprints but I remember the colors in those books being a bit more vivid than their American counterparts.

And for pulp (check this blog for so amazing pieces http://monsterbrains.blogspot.com/20...-pulp-art.html & http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/rafael-gallur) and then check out Blue Demon comics (luchador, horror and pulp are so goddamn intertwined in Mexican culture, it's hard to get away from them) The Ghetto Librettos.

[Eumenides]

Can you tell us something about Fantomas, La Amenaza Elegante? I've been fascinated by that series for some time now; it looks like a rip-off of Diabolik, but with better adventures and cooler ideas. I've read a few stories and they're very strange and imaginative - secret lairs, super-technology, the cool white mask, his female helpers based on the zodiac signs. Julio Cortázar liked it enough to write an equally strange novella based on it.

[inferno]

Asterix Gallus is pretty sweet:

[Johnny P. Sartre]

Can you tell us something about Fantomas, La Amenaza Elegante? I've been fascinated by that series for some time now; it looks like a rip-off of Diabolik, but with better adventures and cooler ideas. I've read a few stories and they're very strange and imaginative - secret lairs, super-technology, the cool white mask, his female helpers based on the zodiac signs. Julio Cortázar liked it enough to write an equally strange novella based on it.

Pretty much that with luchadors! He was definitely inspired by Diabolik and James Bond movies. It was a great thief who did amazing things just because he could

Check out these blogs everyone

http://mascaprichosdecomic.blogspot.com/
http://caprichosdecomic.blogspot.com

[Johnny P. Sartre]

Another thing to check out is Patoruzú by Dante Quinterno.

Patoruzú is considered the most popular hero in Argentine comics. Patoruzú is a wealthy Tehuelche (collective name for some native tribes of Patagonia and the southern pampas region in Argentina and Chile) cacique (chief) who has superhuman powers yet has a very charitable and had a naive steak at times.