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cuban cartoon

 

 

Concept: Set of vignettes, organized in a structured narrative sequence

Cartoon. It is a set of vignettes, organized in a structured narrative sequence; or also, an expressive medium belonging to the family of media born from the integration of iconic language and literary language, as defined  Román Gubern  in his book comic language. 

 

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The Cuban Cartoon before 1959 

En la primera mitad del  siglo XX  en  Cuba  la  comic  suffered the same fate as in other Latin American and European countries: the low prices at which the strips produced and published in  North America _cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b were offered -136bad5cf58d_and that they had already covered their expenses prevented any possibility of emergence and development of a national production. Despite this, with the sacrifice of the authors, some brief spaces were opened that settled on the lines from costumbrismo to political satire.

Before the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution changed the rules of the game, among a majority of North American strips and pages, we thus found some samples where excellent cartoonists stand out as  Ricardo de la Torriente _cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_and, later,  Conrado Walter MassaguerHurtado de Mendoza , Salcines, Arroyo,_cc781905-5cde-3194-bbd5 Eduardo Abela ,_cc781905-5cde-3194-bbd5-8 etc. in the pages of magazines and newspapers such as  AvanceEl País , Hoy and its supplements.

The high rates of environmental humidity, the poor quality of the paper used by the press, the frequent flooding of vast areas of the capital, the congestion of  La Habana  y by Therefore, the difficulty for most of having spaces to keep books and newspapers, the substantial absence during the years up to  1995  of a use market and the consequent non-existence in any form of collecting, they are among the main factors responsible for its lack of documentation.

 

Establishment in Cuba of the Cartoon

The Cuban cartoon or comic began as a form of political expression as a result of the 

 

Cartoon Zunzún American intervention en  Cuba , when a great influence of North American culture was suffered in the daily life of Cubans. This is how the famous comics arrived: these comics were published in the various newspapers of the time, such as en  El Diario de la MarinaEl País _cc781905-5cde -3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_y  El Mundo , among others. In total, more than 400 comic characters circulated in the country, which resulted in the development of a taste for this genre in the population and the subsequent emergence of

 

Cartoon in the neocolonial period

El Curioso Cubano, de  Heriberto Porter Vilá , was published in  1927  becoming one of the first Cuban publications.

Later, in the  Newspaper Hoy , at that time the official organ of the Popular Socialist Party, several comics were published as  Espartaco , drawn by_cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b- 136bad5cf58bad5cf58d_ Espartaco Benítez Gimeno , The life of  Julio Antonio Mella  of Horacio Rodríguez y Peluza y Pimienta, de_cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b_-136bad5cf58d Horacio Mucioz5cf58d.

Among the different newspapers that published them, the most outstanding was Information, for having a greater number of pages dedicated to these purposes and being the most regular in its publications. Some of the comics published in this newspaper were:
• "The History of World War II ", by Plácido Fuentes;
• "Cascaritas and Mango Macho", de  Horacio Rodríguez ;
• "José Dolores", de  Rafael Fornés Collado .

All of them had popular characters and great humor, reflecting the idiosyncrasy of the average Cuban.

The comics were considered a way of reflecting the poverty and suffering of Cuban society due to the abuses of the rulers of the day, a way in which their creators collaborated with the clandestine struggle that existed in the country to overthrow those governments.

Examples of the former are the comics of Pucho and Luis and their friends, made especially for the clandestine magazine "Mella" by their authors Virgilio Martínez and Marcos Behemaras. Another case is that of Julito 26 and Juan Casquito, drawn for "El Cubano Libre" by  Antiago Armada . This newspaper was published in la  Sierra Maestra , center of the insurrectionary struggle of the rebel army of  Fidel Castro .

 

comics theme

The first themes were historical and educational, such as  Cucho  o Supertiñosa, de  Virgilio Martínez . Soon those related to science fiction began, following the example of the Spanish, French, Italians or Argentines.
In the periodicals (Pionero, Cómicas, El Muñe) topics on adventures, humor or history alternated with science fiction.

 

Format

At first the comics were short, 6 or 7 pages, like Summer Night, by Zoia Sandor and Alfredo Mantilla. With Virgilio Martínez, the Fantásticos magazine began to be published, in which long scripts appeared.
In the 1990s, the scarcity of paper limited the continuation of magazines.

Before the year  1959 , those who now comb gray hair in  Cuba , devoured the adventures of a good number of fantastic comic book heroes, almost all from North American creators, among those that can be cited: Hogarth's Tarzan, based on the work of Burroughs; Ham Fischer's Joe Palooka; Terry Lee, drawn by Milton Caniff; Flash Gordon, dreamed up by Alex Raymond; Batman and Robin and a whole long list of superheroes and superheroines more. But of all these "idols", the one who most brilliantly spread the conceptions of the American way of life in the country was the famous Superman, invented in  1938  por writer Siegel and artist Shuster, commissioned by editor Liebowitz for Action Comics Magazine.

All of them contributed to a large extent to laying the foundations for the love of comics in the largest of the Antilles. But it was not until after  1959 , that Cubans had their own fantastic characters in this genre. Although long before, several creators of the patio regularly published their Creole heroes in comics generally dedicated to historical, political, satirical, or humorous content, in various national publications.


In the 90s, due to the economic crisis, the Cuban cartoon lost its space. However, cartoonists and writers continued to create and carry out actions in order to make their work known. The strips of Editorial Pablo emerged. They were comics published with the scraps left over from the bohemian magazine, that was a very creative way to perpetuate the comics and at the same time to give utility to the paper that would otherwise become garbage. With the polygraphic revival in the year 2000, many publishers have started to put out comic books and graphic novels. Ejemplos de estas son: José Martí, ese soy yo del autor Francisco Blanco hijo, Agord de angel hernandez, Al encuentro del mayor sobre la vida de Agramonete con guión y dibujos de Angel Velasco, Memorias de un Descamisado_cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_de Maikel García, San Martín de Jesús Rodriguez, among many other titles. This new book format allows the author to tell a complete story in 30 or 46 pages. However, it is still not enough since other authors prefer shorter stories or continuity, which is why it is necessary to create a periodic magazine like the missing ones: Comicos, Pablo, Muñe or Mi Barrio. The latter was a magazine edited by the CDR in the middle of the special period and the Cuban family liked it very much.

 

Examples of science fiction comics

In the Fantasy and Science Fiction genres, the most liked characters in the country after the year  1959  were:

Alona, with scripts and designs by the incomparable Rafael Morante, currently the Special Design Award del  2001 , and who clearly transcended in  1986 _cc781905-5cde-bb-3194 -136bad5cf58d_the graphic imagery of his time. A true sample of a superior visual culture, these comics were essentially dedicated to the adolescent public, although they were undoubtedly enjoyed much more by adults, due to the peculiar style of their drawings and the depth of the themes that these arguments usually dealt with. It is also very curious the case of a heroine with this category of advanced and intelligent woman, at a time when macho conceptions were still deeply rooted in society. Alona was one of the characters in the defunct comic magazine, Cómicas, from Editorial  Pablo de la Torriente .

Matías Pérez , one of the most popular science fiction heroes in comics 

 

Matías Pérez Cubana, who was recreated by  Luis Lorenzo Sosa , based on the real character of the same name. A merchant of Portuguese origin established in  Havana , known as the king of the toldistas, because of his activity in that commercial sector. The real life story tells, that he made his own hot air balloon and in the month of June de  1856  he made his first public ascent, descending without incident in the outskirts from the city. On the 28th of that same month, he returned to the clouds in his balloon "La Villa de París", rose until it became a tiny point suspended in space, to disappear before the eyes of thousands of spectators who waited in vain. her return. The island's authorities carried out extensive searches by sea and land without obtaining results. The entire country was dismayed by the disappearance of this pioneer of the conquest of the air. Thus it remained forever in the memory of the population, which still maintains the legendary phrase. “It flew like  Matías Pérez !”

In the version of Luis Lorenzo in his children's comic, from the magazine  Pionero , the aeronaut had a close encounter of the third type, from which he fraternized with various extraterrestrial characters; traveling to other planets, in his fight for truth and justice; holding chases and cosmic battles, in his ship that is very reminiscent of a hot air balloon; as well as time travel to su  Colonial Havana , where hilarious encounters and adventures take place. Matías Pérez was also one of the heroes of the comic magazine  Zunzún , from Editorial Abril.

Yakro, the lizard man. Coming from a civilization of great technological and social advancement, in a distant nebula, whose damaged ship falls on the planet  Earth , in the Neolithic era, and must temporize with the earthlings in their earliest phase development. Yakro was a creation of  Orestes Suárez Lemus  and he began his life in the year  1990_of comics, in the magazine Pablo had a biannual output, it was dedicated to adults and had its first appearance as an organ of the Latin American Association of Cartoonists.

Tatácora was a descendant of the Atlanteans who landed on the peninsula of Yucatán_cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b- 136bad5cf58d_ .

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Tatácora  Mounted on his fabulous three-cornered hat, he fights against the fearsome Caribs, against evil and wickedness, remembering with nostalgia Tedeu and Gucumats, deities who created life and man, who always appear in his Aboriginal imagination, such as a curiously dressed human couple (dressed in space suits). It was created from the illustration to the scripts, by  Luis Lorenzo , in the magazine Comics for the year  1989 .

 

The momis, two small extraterrestrials that enter the Earth, coming from un 

 

The Momis planet where everything is magenta. Here they develop searches and are entangled in brief adventures. The Momis were geared more towards didacticism for young children, using CF, than towards the genre itself. With script and illustrations by  Juan Bertrán . Published in Comics and in Dolls year  1988  al  1989 .

 

Yeyín, con guión e ilustración de  Ernesto Padrón  desde el 1987  en la revista infantil  Zunzún , from Editorial Abril, also uses CF as a background to educate a 

 

Yeyinlos little readers and is possibly the only one of these characters who remained alive until very recently.

The first animated series with this character is in the production stage at the Animation Studios del  Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry , with its creator as scriptwriter.

 

Sources

 

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