S1: Welcome again. You are listening to KPBS Noon Version. Comedian-Con Museum simply opened Torino’s World. The exhibition showcases one of the in style and celebrated cartoonists in Mexico , Jose Trinidad Camacho , higher generally known as Torino. KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando wished to position the exhibit in an even bigger popular culture context , so she spoke with creator and San Diego State College English professor William Riccio.

S2: Invoice , earlier than we speak about this exhibit of Trans World , discuss somewhat bit about your self and your obsession with popular culture , each professionally and personally.

S3: Properly , I realized how you can learn from comedian books. My sister and my grandmother , Anna , raised me on Little Dot Archie comics Unhappy Sack. And actually I realized to learn with comics. So comics , popular culture , in style leisure , you recognize , had been my world. And I used to be born within the early 60s. And so tv was every thing. I one in all my early publications and my mom acquired my late mom acquired very mad. I mentioned I used to be raised by tv. Proper. However nevertheless it’s true. If not , after faculty , we get our TV trays and we would sit in entrance of the tv. So TV comics , the films. I grew up in Laredo , Texas , alongside the border. They had been our leisure and tv in Laredo earlier than cable was , you recognize , we had three , 2 or 3 American channels and we had seven Mexican channels from Nuevo Laredo. And so English and Spanish , in style and leisure was my IV bag , proper ? That is that is simply what I like to do. And so personally , they had been a refuge for me. They had been supply of not simply leisure. I realized I am an English professor now and my deep affection for language , each English and Spanish , is a consequence of popular culture. And so for me , that was just like the wealthy treasure trove from which I derived a lifelong obsession with comedian books and tv and in style tradition.

S2: And also you went on to check sort of Mexican American stereotypes that proliferate in American popular culture and have written about that and actually investigated that. Sure.

S3: Sure. My first main e-book was Tex-Mex Seductive Hallucinations of the Mexican in America. And it was wholly targeted on the evolution of Mexican stereotypes in the USA , kind of like like COVID , the evolution of the virus , as a result of it’s viral. The thought particular concepts of Mexicans transcend books , tv , billboards , motion pictures. The the bandit , after all , the now the narco. The bandit has advanced from Pancho Villa into the narco , the drug narco drug vendor. The Latina sizzling blooded , horny femme fatale , after all , has been a staple since Lupe Vélez. However the concept of the unfavourable concept of the and also you say Mexican , however , you recognize , most Latinos , there are these humorous little packing containers that I needed to open and examine as a result of they’re so endemic. That’s , they are a pure a part of the background of American leisure. So I wished to interrupt that down. That is why I referred to as it a seductive hallucination , as a result of it is in every single place. It’s very permeated consciousness to the purpose the place it must be damaged down as a result of we do not give it some thought anymore.

S2: And we’re sitting right here on the Comedian-Con Museum and you’re a professor at San Diego State College , which now has a program targeted on comics and sort of elevating it on this tutorial degree. I am so. Excited.

S3: Excited. I am a really small participant in it , however I am part of what’s now referred to as the Middle for Comedian Research at San Diego State College. The 2 ringleaders are this unimaginable professor of historical past , Beth Pollard , and an equally exceptional librarian of particular collections. Pamela Jackson and I get to play of their sandbox and what I get. I have been educating comics the college degree since 1985. I began at Cornell College after I was nonetheless a graduate scholar. And I’ve taught and written and printed about comics as as a sort of facet gig , somewhat facet hustle since then. And fortunately I get to collaborate with Beth and Pam and a complete group of professors , lecturers and staffers at SDSU which are into comics.

S2: We’re right here in Torino’s world on the Comedian Con Museum , and that is Jose Trinidad Camacho’s work. So inform me somewhat bit about sort of your familiarity with him and sort of the lineage from the place he comes from when it comes to his cartooning ? Positive.

S3: Mexico has a wealthy custom of sequential artwork , that graphic narrative , these are the flowery phrases as professors name comics , however they’re comics and. And he is in an extended line. I suppose it could begin with Jose Posada together with his printmaking store in Mexico Metropolis after which shifting into the twentieth century. You may have a cartoonist like Rios , who was identified for his left wing satirical revolutionary comics Three. You understand , on the on the finish of this cycle is only a very completed , humorous , foolish , nasty , soiled comedian e-book comic. You understand , I used to be pondering for an American viewers not aware of Reno’s work , who may we consider him as ? And he is sort of foolish. So not Garry Trudeau , not Doonesbury , however Garry Trudeau , Doonesbury plus Jon Stewart , perhaps from The Day by day Present. Sassy , ironic , comedic , after which somewhat nasty. You understand , he is he is acquired some soiled stuff and it is cool. It is humorous.

S2: Properly , it is fascinating as a result of it looks as if his work spans such a various vary as a result of he does kids’s books and but he is additionally achieved a film which sort of reminds you somewhat of Fritz the Cat and that sort of lewd and crude type of comedy.

S4: Yeah , yeah.

S3: Santos And I can not even say the title of it as a result of it is acquired a it is acquired some pornography there. His film belongs on Grownup Swim. I imply , it is positively irreverent. It is a couple of wrestler and zombies. And this wrestler has this dominatrix , a girl , naked chested girl. You understand , one of many issues that strikes me about Reno’s work is that we have to watch out as Individuals to not impose our puritanical lens onto Mexico. Mexicans usually are far more and that is regardless of it being a closely Catholic nation , they’re somewhat bit less difficult going concerning the physique. They’re somewhat bit extra European about nudity. And so what may scandalize us ? You understand , I may see it on Fox Information , proper. Or The New York Submit , kids’s e-book artist pens , pornographic animated movie. After which , you recognize , we would all be , oh , my God , we acquired to cancel him. However no , no , he is he is a nasty and sassy and irreverent. And when he performs to adults , he is , you recognize , taking part in to an grownup viewers. However when he is doing his kids’s books , he is simply making an attempt to entertain. He is very entertaining. I imply , why ought to individuals come out to the Comedian-Con Museum to see the exhibition ? As a result of it is humorous. However deliver deliver a pal who speaks Spanish as a result of there are a whole lot of jokes which are sort of inside Mexi Mexican jokes.

S2: And since that is for radio. Describe the visible type of his drawing. I suppose.

S5: The closest approximation in American comedian strips can be one thing.

S3: Fashion sensible can be like Hagar the horrible. He is acquired a really unfastened and fluid freestyle. It actually appeals to me. He isn’t one in all these. It is not like Ernie Bush Miller’s Nancy. There’s not. These are usually not meticulously deliberate and drawn panels. His panels are free , simple , floating , frenetic and humorous. Humorous. And he is I’ve to say it once more , he is sort of foolish. A few of his jokes are , you recognize , he isn’t above a crappy pun , you recognize , to get the punch line. And a few of.

S2: You speak about that , he is he is sort of acquired some foolish humor to him. And a few of these look political on one degree , however then sort of have a punch line that could be very foolish. Sure.

S3: Sure. Sure. I feel that is perhaps a few of the method we right here in the USA are attuned to Mexican.

S5: Artwork and tradition.

S3: We presume typically the foregrounding of the political. And we’re aghast to search out out that Mexicans like Individuals are simply into the identical crap that we Individuals are. You understand , that is that is the surprise. I imply , one of many conclusions of Tex-Mex seductive hallucinations of the Mexican is that Mexicans aren’t any totally different than Individuals. That’s , they’re humorous and racist.

S5: And unpredictable.

S3: And stuffed with irony and contradictions. They’re human. They’re human. They’re all too human. And I feel we see that in in three information work. I imply , what does three no try and do as a cartoonist ? Principally , he is making an attempt to make you chortle now. He capitalizes on our acquainted I imply , why does he enchantment to an American viewers ? Properly , a whole lot of his jokes are about American popular culture from The Avengers to Star Trek to Star Wars. Mexicans watch TV two they usually go to the films. And so his focus is on we are able to consider it as North American in style tradition. And so in his work , we should not be stunned to search out these gamers. Now , he is additionally acquired Mexican staples. He is acquired Luchadores , he is acquired the Mexican wrestlers. And what he is acquired , which is what’s true of most comedian strips , is he is acquired his eye open to hypocrisy.

S2: And also you introduced up Luchadores. Yeah. And discuss somewhat bit about sort of the significance of that in Mexican tradition and the way it’s performed out in a few of Chino’s work.

S4: Yeah , I a.

S3: Few years again I acquired to be one of many speaking heads in Carlos Avila’s documentary on Mexican wrestlers. And one of many issues I mentioned there that I feel is true is that Mexican wrestling in Mexico is like opera for the working class. You understand , we do not have the blue hair’s going to see lucha doorways , although. You have acquired working class individuals who’ve labored exhausting week eager to do one thing on a Thursday evening , a Friday evening , a Saturday evening. They usually go to the fights. They go to the wrestling fights. And as Roland Bart identified in his landmark work mythology , the fakery of wrestling is what appeals to individuals. They know it is faux. They know it is rigged. They are not there for a sort of judicial straight consequence. They’re there for the exaggeration. They’re there for the clowns , for the spectacle , for the violence to individuals. I imply , since , you recognize , somebody , the primary human laughed when the opposite human slipped on a banana peel. We prefer to chortle at these items. And that is what you get if you go to a Mexican wrestling match.

S2: One of many issues about his work , too , is there’s this very humanistic high quality to the sort of humor that he is doing.

S3: Sure , it appeals.

S5: I imply , this is not I imply , it is virtually it virtually does the work a disservice to name Torino a Mexican cartoonist.

S3: He’s. He is Mexicano. He is from Jalisco. He is actual pleased with that.

S5: However the historical past of.

S3: Cartooning from the cave drawings of Lascaux to as we speak is simply human beings attempt to depart somewhat hint of themselves behind. And what he leaves behind are some actually humorous meditations on the human coronary heart and the human soul.

S1: That was Beth Accomando talking with William Riccio. The cross-border collaboration of Torino’s world can be on show on the Comedian-Con Museum in Balboa Park by July fifth. Developing , a neighborhood creator writes a couple of dystopian future that in some ways places our current into query.