Mexican Satire Comic "Los Supermachos", with Themes of Political Corruption and Gender Politics, Archive 1968–1971

Los Supermachos

Periodical

Post Rius Los Supermachos comic archive, circa 1968 to 1971, documenting Editorial Meridiano’s continuation of Eduardo del Río “Rius”’s political comic after the creator separated from the publisher amid disputes over censorship and government pressure. Rius left Los Supermachos after No. 100 and transferred his didactic satirical method to Los Agachados in 1968; Meridiano retained the title, characters, and San Garabato setting and continued publication without him. Tebeosfera records the Meridiano series as beginning in 1965, becoming weekly with No. 25, and continuing after Rius’s departure, while the Hemeroteca Nacional de México’s Pepines catalogue characterizes the later version as an unauthorized continuation that preserved characters including Calzonzín, Chon Prieto, and Don Perpetuo while redirecting the comic toward topical political and cultural subjects. These eleven issues, all numbered above 100, belong wholly to that post Rius phase and range across rural education, mass media, alcoholism, sexuality, inflation, electoral politics, pollution, class, and the approaching 1970 presidential transition. Los Supermachos. Mexico City: Editorial Meridiano, circa 1968 to 1971. Eleven stapled issues, each 9.5" x 7", with illustrated color wrappers and cartoon interiors; Tebeosfera records the series in this format with issues commonly comprising 28 pages. [1] Los Supermachos No. 130. Junio 27 de 1968. The cover converts a Red Cross fundraising appeal into a street joke, with one character asking, “¿Por qué no hay nadie en las calles?” and another answering, “Es que hoy es la colecta de la Cruz Roja.” The issue belongs to the first sequence published after Rius’s departure and preserves Meridiano’s close visual imitation of the established series. [2] Los Supermachos No. 150. Noviembre 14 de 1968. The cover announces “La taumaturgia o dramaturgia y K taumaturgia... y eso...,” pairing pseudo intellectual terminology with a cartoon exchange in which one speaker attempts to explain “taumaturgo,” an example of the continuation’s use of verbal confusion and popular instruction as comedy. [3] Los Supermachos No. 169. Marzo 27 de 1969. La radio y la televisión en capilla. A cover centered on broadcasting and its public accountability, presenting radio and television as institutions placed figuratively “en capilla,” or awaiting judgment. The subject places the issue within contemporary debate over the rapidly expanding influence of commercial broadcast media in Mexican political and domestic life. [4] Los Supermachos No. 172. Abril 17 de 1969. Sexo, carácter y violencia. The cover announces three linked subjects in large lettering and uses a domestic caricature of physical aggression to introduce questions of sexuality, temperament, and violence, one of several instances in the group where the post Rius magazine moves from electoral and institutional politics into social behavior and gender. [5] Los Supermachos No. 188. Agosto 7 de 1969. El alcoholismo. A bottle dominates the cover while labels identify “alcohólicos anónimos,” “cirrosis,” and related consequences of drinking. The issue adopts the didactic vocabulary inherited from Rius while applying it to public health and alcohol abuse. [6] Los Supermachos. No. 190. Agosto 21 de 1969. This issue points directly to the burdens placed on rural teachers and to the gap between official educational ambitions and working conditions outside urban Mexico. [7] Los Supermachos No. 210. Enero 8 de 1970. Pronósticos para 1970. The cover states “Lo que va a ser será y nadie se podrá escapar” and surrounds the large date 1970 with caricatured public figures, turning the approaching year into a vehicle for political prediction during the final phase of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz’s presidency and the presidential succession that brought Luis Echeverría to office in December 1970. [8] Los Supermachos No. 226. Abril 30 de 1970. La infla... infla... infla... inflación. A corpulent figure literally inflates while the cover divides society into “Los que comen” and “Los que no comen,” converting monetary inflation into a visual joke about purchasing power and economic inequality. [9] Los Supermachos No. 229. Mayo 21 de 1970. Los Mini Diputados. The cover places a diminutive legislative figure before a tricolor roundel and identifies the subject as “Los Mini Diputados,” using bodily scale to ridicule congressional politics and political representation. [10] Los Supermachos No. 278. Abril 15 de 1971. Ruido, smog... y curso de manejo al tacto. A traffic sign marked “E” is crossed out above the phrase “Se usará grúa,” while a pedestrian says, “A ver cuándo usan la cabeza.” The issue joins noise, air pollution, automobile traffic, and urban driving into a satire of the environmental and infrastructural pressures accompanying the growth of Mexican cities. [11] Los Supermachos No. 281. Mayo 20 de 1971. Golpe a la alta sociedad. The title occupies most of the cover beneath small domestic and class based cartoons, directing the issue toward elite social behavior and the rituals of the “alta sociedad.” Rius created Los Supermachos in 1965 around the fictional town of San Garabato de las Tunas, using Calzonzín, Chon, Don Perpetuo, and other recurring figures to explain Mexican politics and social problems through colloquial humor. After disputes with Editorial Meridiano over censorship, he abandoned the series at No. 100; UNAM’s catalogue connects the rupture to government pressure during the Díaz Ordaz period and records Los Agachados, launched in September 1968, as the project through which Rius continued his political and educational work. The eleven issues here therefore document a separate episode with the survival of a commercially successful title after the departure of the artist whose political voice had defined it. Meridiano preserved the recognizable masthead, characters, caricatural vocabulary, didactic captions, and topical structure, but its post No. 100 sequence ranged opportunistically across mass media, sexuality, feminism, student and educational questions, popular culture, and current politics; Pepines specifically distinguishes this later editorial program from Rius’s left political orientation. The subjects visible in this group chart that transformation at close range, moving from the burdens of rural education and public health to television, inflation, legislators, traffic, pollution, and class hierarchy during the unsettled years surrounding 1968 and the 1970 presidential succession. Moderate toning and edge wear to wrappers, with occasional soiling and rubbing; staples intact in the copies visible. Some rippling and staining, and top staple to issue 130 detached. Overall good condition. A concentrated run from the contested post Rius life of Los Supermachos, showing how a politically charged Mexican comic was appropriated, continued, and redirected through the social and political pressures of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Item #23731

Price: $785.00