The fotomontaje style and system may have been pioneered by Cruz and crew, but it was certainly
not their exclusive domain. While non-wrestler titles utilizing the
“realism” technique were numerous, few other masked grapplers prowled the sepia-toned
streets.
To call Santo the king of the hill of Mexi-lucha-hero comics would be an understatement. The
title absolutely defined the genre, and was so complete in it
’s success, it arguably may have done away with any need of competition within
the genre. Legit contenders to the title and even shameless imitators were
actually few and far between. Jose G. Cruz himself shied away from other masked
wrestler titles, save for a brief run of books starring Black Shadow.
When looking at the other companies that did indeed try to cash in on the Santo success, it is clear the Santo creative team pretty much had the best artists and most accomplished overall
production system, with few imitators even coming close to the quality of
backgrounds, character designs, stories and compositing skill of the
originators.
That being said, I can’t claim to have an extensive collection of Santo rivals to study, as these titles from the golden age are even rarer than the
Santo books, and most are all but lost to time. What few surface are often
latter titles from Central or South America. It took me a six years to actually
assemble enough non-Santo books to justify this article.
So the below is a census of what my years of searching has found. I think all
the major titles are represented here, certainly the ones with runs big enough
to yield surviving copies.
BLUE DEMON
If Santo was Mexico’s Superman, Blue Demon was certainly it’s Batman. The
El Increible Blue Demon comic series was done in the early 70’s in Columbia, and widely distributed in Central and South America. The fotomontaje resembled more the Italian style of staging an entire scene with actors, with real sets, props, etc. There are some nice laboratory scenes and outdoor locales like castle ruins. The books look no less accomplished for their lack of lush brushwork, and there really is some first-rate adventure here.
El Increible Blue Demon comic series was done in the early 70’s in Columbia, and widely distributed in Central and South America. The fotomontaje resembled more the Italian style of staging an entire scene with actors, with real sets, props, etc. There are some nice laboratory scenes and outdoor locales like castle ruins. The books look no less accomplished for their lack of lush brushwork, and there really is some first-rate adventure here.
The titillation quotient of Blue’s series was much higher than anything else in the genre, thanks to attractive
recurring villains like curvaceous cat-suited femme fatale Satanela, and
celebrity guest stars like burlesque queen Zulma Faiad.
The sepia ink used in these books was very washed out in every example I’ve seen, and has not aged well, making these tough to enjoy now. As with Santo’s runs outside of Mexico, these are relatively easy to find online.
Blue’s comics have a definite sense of humor that few others in the genre had. Here,
a UFC-ready chunky battle-axe of a maid makes short work of
‘Profe Manotas’.
Clear Italian influence here, as a Diabolik-esque villain slaps around a
helpless sidekick who
’s losing her top.
Another great thing about the Blue comics — topical covers! The heralding of celebrity guest stars forced the issue of
having the cover content match the interiors. Some classic
fotomontaje techniques used here, from the illustrated Kong knockoff to the Barnabas Collins
rip, however the compositing skill leaves something to be desired. Blue Demon
photos clashed with the art surrounding it, there
’s just no harmony.
That’s not just a cheap rubber Halloween mask, it’s actually a lucha hood covered with sculpted rubber and fake hair — completely ring viable and up to enmascarado specifications! Wrestlers like AAA’s Gronda are still wearing hybrid ‘lucha-ween’ masks today. Cavernario Galindo needed no mask... These photo comic features were primitive by industry standards, but they weren’t Lucha Libre’s bread and butter, either. It was a fun and innovative nod from Perez to the
multi-media appeal of lucha libre.
back to: Photo Comics The Covers FX sin limite Confessions of a Fake Santo Continued in... Los otros p. 2 SOURCE NOTES
Article text ©Keith J. Rainville, 2007. Artwork from the private collection of Keith
Rainville. Content reproduced is
© of the original owners.
