Review
A delightful book about Mexican culture as seen through Mexican comic books, this study analyzes the influences and differences between these and their Euroamerican counterparts. Among other questions the authors ask "Why are comic books so popular in Mexico?" They analyze Kaliman, Lagrimas, Risas y amor, Los supermachos and Los agachados, Chanoc, El Payo, and La familia Burron. Kaliman, "The Incredible Man," read by all sectors, is described as representing "sanitized machismo," symbolizing male supremacy in the outer world. "Ordinary people and the authorities are basically helpless." Kaliman's sidekick, Solin, more Mexican-looking than the exotic Kaliman, is seen by the comic's creators as a role model for children, a "model of dependency." Other treatments are just as ingenious. The Mexican comic book, a sort of escapist folk or mass literature, is much more--it touches on themes such as class conflict, US cultural imperialism, and how Mexicans see the world. Not Just for Children makes one think and laugh. Highly recommended. All levels.Choice


Book Description
This pioneering study presents an overview of the Mexican comic book industry, together with in-depth studies of the best selling Mexican comic books of the 1960s and 1970s. Most of the popular superhero, adventure, humor, romance, political, detective, and Western comic books are described and analyzed in detail, and then discussed in terms of how they reflect both Mexican and United States cultures. The study concludes with a critical discussion of the applicability of the media imperialism hypothesis to the Mexican comic book.


About the Author
HAROLD E. HINDS, JR. is Professor of History and Director of Latin American Studies, Division of Social Sciences, at the University of Minnesota-Morris. CHARLES M. TATUM is Professor of Spanish and Head of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This pioneering study presents an overview of the Mexican comic book industry, together with in-depth studies of the best selling Mexican comic books of the 1960s and 1970s. Most of the popular superhero, adventure, humor, romance, political, detective, and Western comic books are described and analyzed in detail, and then discussed in terms of how they reflect both Mexican and United States cultures. The study concludes with a critical discussion of the applicability of the media imperialism hypothesis to the Mexican comic book.

SYNOPSIS