Chicanonautica: Lowriding to Mictlan and Back

by Ernest Hogan

Enough of this political turmoil! Let's take a break an celebrate La Cultura, the real Latinoid stuff that's going to win over the world even with pendejos in the Casa Blanca are trying to shut us down! Like a book that is wildly entertaining, and will open up new worlds and bring us all together!

I'm talking about Lowriders to the Center of the Earth, a graphic novel (though being old school, I prefer the term “comic book”) written by Cathy Camper, and illustrated by Raúl the Third.

It's a sequel to Lowriders in Space, that I also thought was great. I'm happy to say this is one of those instances where the sequel is better than the original. They were just getting warmed up.

In a fantastic cartoon barrio – beyond magic realism! – Lupe Impala, El Chavo Flapjack, and Elirio Malaria shut down their garage because their gato, Genie, has disappeared. This takes them on an incredible, eye-frying (Raúl's art brings it all to phantasmagorical life) road trip to Mictlan – the Aztec underworld. Yup, this is more PreColumbian mythology than Jules Verne and Hollow Earth Theory. We also meet Coyote, La Llorna, the Corn Goddess Xilonen, and of course the Death God Michtlantechtuli! There's even a Hunter S. Thompson reference that was probably inspired by the ghost of Oscar Zeta Acosta. And it all goes raging lucha libre.

Santo, Blue Demon, and Mil Máscaras would be proud.

This is a dazzling celebration of La Cultura, for Latinoids of all pedigrees and recombinations, genders and ages, and also a fun introduction for those of you from other cultures.

If the authorities insist on an educational justification, there are footnotes, and a glossary explaining the Spanish, Spanglish, and Náhuatl. And even some basic geology for the more scientific-minded.

Look! Could those be the seeds of the new, improved Cultura of the future germinating? Do I hear walls being torn down, and bridges being built?

Will there be more books in this series?

I can still dream – can't I?

As for the pendejos? Just let them try to ban this!

Ernest Hogan's story in Latin@ Rising: An Anthology of Latin@ Science Fiction & Fantasy has been called “a comic gem” by the Texas Observer.

Chicanonautica: Hey, Muchacho/as! Lowriders in Space!

by Ernest Hogan

Cartooning is a big thing among Chicanos. You see a lot of it on walls and in the schools, in and on notebooks. We don't usually get published, though. Most Chicano cartoonists get it beat out of them and end up in real jobs to support their families – if they're lucky they can get away with drawing on the backroom walls of their workplace.

Check out Lalo Delgado's poem, “Stupid America” for more on this subject.

Meanwhile, Lowriders in Space, written by Cathy Camper and illustrated by Raúl the Third, materialized in the library where I work. It's a comic book – I'm the only one who thinks that the term “graphic novel” is pretentious? – for kids, shelved just after the middle reader/chapter books, for the under 12 crowd. At that age, I prefered real comic books – the kind you bought at the neighborhood liquor store, but this one looked like a bit of Chicanonautica for the new generations, so I checked it out.

It's a cartoony fantasy with talking animals in the barrio. Their leader is female, Lupe Impala. And flipping through it, I noticed references to Cantinflas and renderings of customized cars that reminded me of my school days – Raúl inks with ballpoint pens, hijacking the available technology! I was also reminded of Hot Rod Cartoons, and CARtoons, the gateway reading between Mad Magazine and underground comix. Upon reading it, I was won over.

Though not hard science, this fantasy encourages the imagination to go wild with art and technology, working to create your own future instead of buying it off the rack. A bit of lowrider philosphy that will help the muchacho/as of the 21^st century.

It also has educational footnotes and a glossary, explaining the Spanish words and lowrider culture.

This is a book that can be read to younger kids, be read by the beginning readers, and enjoyed by adults.

It can also help enlighten people in places like Arizona, where some gringos think that lowriders practice human sacrifice and cannibalism.

“Book 1” on the cover suggests that more are in the works, which gives me hope for the future.

Ernest Hogan isn't a lowrider or a cannibal, and does not practice human sacrifice, but will probably never win a Hugo or a Nebula award. 

Chicanonautica: Jesús Murciélago Velázaquez, the Original Batman?

by Ernest Hogan

I’ve got another story out -- Novaheads, a postcyberpunk romp with a futuristic masked Mexican wrestler and a drug made from weaponized chili. It’s in Super Stories of Heroes and Villains edited by Claude Lalumière. I’ve written about its origin and long, twisted path to publication on my blog, Mondo Ernesto.

Here, I’d like to explore the lucha libre tradition -- specifically, Jesús Murciélago Velázquez. No, Murciélago (Bat) isn’t his real name. His parents named him Jesús Velázquez Quintero. He became know as El Murciélago Enmascarado when he wrestled in a black hood, trunks, and boots. He also wore a black cape into the ring, and, according to Dan Madigan in Mondo Lucha A Go-Go: The Bizarre and Honorable World of Wild Mexican Wrestling: he would carry a sack full of live bats and release them into the crowd before the match started.

Fantástico! What a showman! Death metal bands would love to do that. Imagine the legal/insurance complications it would cause . . .

And for those of you who don’t believe that it could be done, here’s a video with him entering the ring, without a mask, but with his cape, releasing bats:

The debut match of El Murciélago Enmascarado was April 3, 1938. Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27, in May, 1939. That’s almost a year later. Velázquez may qualify as the original Batman.

We can’t tell if Bob Kane and Bill Finger had any way of knowing about Mexican wrestling at the time, but if they did, there may be an argument for a case of cultural appropriation here.

Even though his influence on American comic books is debatable, Velázquez was one of wrestlers who helped create the weird world of lucha libre, one of the first to wear a mask. He was known for knocking the eye out of Merced Gómez in the ring, though some say Gómez actually lost his eye in his earlier career as a boxer. Like the bat-release, it helped create the drama and legend of El Murciélago Enmascarado.

When a younger wrestler tried to use the name El Murciélago Enmascarado II, he sued. The young wrestler later obtained a silver mask and took the name Santo.

He was also the first luchador to be unmasked in the ring, which didn’t end his career -- he wrestled until 1955.

This was not the end of Jesús Murciélago Velázquez, who used the “bat” as part of his name in his career as an actor and screenwriter.

According to Internet Movie Database, he wrote 25 movies -- some starring Santo -- and not just the lucha libre genre, but horror, adventure, drama, comedy, crime, western, musical, and even a Pancho Villa biopic.

As an actor he usually played himself and wrestled. American monster movie fans may have seen him in Doctor of Doom and Wrestling Women vs the Aztec Mummy.

He was a true renaissance luchador!

Ernest Hogan’s story Novaheads is in Clalude Lalumiére’s Super Stories of Heroes and Villains that was called “the best superhero anthology around, and a must-read for comic book fans” by Publisher’s Weekly.