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Case 1: Intro Text Title: Cuban Comics in the Castro Era the Publishing Industry of Cuba Experienced a Seismic Shift in 1959

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Case 1: Intro Text Title: Cuban Comics in the Castro Era the Publishing Industry of Cuba Experienced a Seismic Shift in 1959 Case 1: Intro text Title: Cuban Comics in the Castro Era The publishing industry of Cuba experienced a seismic shift in 1959 when Fidel Castro won a revolutionary war against dictator Fulgencio Batista. With this change, underground and subversive media creators of the Batista era became an important part of the new socialist culture. This helped to mobilize the masses in support of the new Castro government and against U.S. capitalistic ideology. A new world opened up for the creators of comics, who now had the singular purpose of supporting their new government while still appealing to their readers. In this early era, many of these readers were children, who continued to consume U.S.-created comic books and the ideals that went with them. This exhibition examines the art and history of Cuban comics after the successful 1959 revolution. It highlights the creators, characters, heroes, and anti-heroes of Cuba. It also touches on the triumphs and failures of the publishing industry and how Cuban artists today struggle to keep the genre alive. These materials are part of the Caridad Blanco Collection of Cuban Comic Books, acquired in 2018. Blanco, a Havana-based artist and curator, collected over 700 examples of stand-alone comics and newspaper supplements created between 1937 and 2018. This exhibition was curated by Digital Repository Specialist Gilbert Borrego and is part of his fall 2019 Capstone Experience course in partial fulfillment of his MSIS, School of Information, The University of Texas at Austin. Extended label 2: In 1959, as Castro’s victory over Batista was finally at hand, the planning of a new nationalistic government became paramount. Key to this process was the cementing of a new socialistic cultural identity in the minds of the Cuban populace. Radio, television, and print media (including comics) helped to mobilize the masses. Widespread suspicion held that beloved American comics were imperialistic indoctrination tools for Cuban children. In response, the new Cuban government began utilizing comics as a means to teach values that aligned with revolutionary doctrine. Cuban-created comics replaced American ones on the shelves. These works appealed to highly literate youth. Mixing adventure, comedy, and the ideological tenets of the new government, they portrayed revolution as necessary and exciting, especially for the country’s youth. Page 1 of 6 Tombstone: “Día de las Far” Zunzún, no. 2, 1980. “Jóvenes Rebeldes” Mella, no. 201, 1962. [Revolutionaries] Mella Suplemento, no. 60, undated. “¿Qué sabes tú del PCC?” [What do you know about the Cuban Communist Party?] Zunzún, no. 3, 1980. “¡Hola, yo soy Adriana!” Pásalo, 1982. Page 2 of 6 Case 2 Label 1 The Ups and Downs of Titles and Publications The Castro government officially sanctioned comics after the revolution. This included titles such as Mella and Zig-Zag that secretly served Castro and the revolution before its victory as well as other clandestine anti-Batista comic strips. Comics printed by the popular newspaper Palante and magazine El Pionero became widespread in the 1960s. Yet it was the 1970s and 1980s when they expanded their reach beyond juvenile titles such as Zunzún and Bijirita. More adult and academic titles aimed at mainstream audiences included C-Línea and Cómicos. An economic crisis in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as ongoing U.S. embargoes, led to shortages of ink, paper, and other supplies. This ultimately forced many publications to close down. Tombstone Label 1: Mella, no. 205, 1962 Palante, no. 40, 1978 Tombstone Label 2: Zunzún, no. 1, 1980 Bijirita, no. 1, 1985 Cómicos, no. 1, 1985 C-Línea, no. 1, 1973 Tombstone Label 3: El Pionero, unnumbered, undated. Zig-Zag, no. 1967, 1959. Label 2: Creators, Characters, and Creative Characters Most of the comic artists in Cuba at the time of the revolution were opposed to the Batista regime, and many were supporters of the new government. Artists like Robe, Juan and Ernesto Padrón, and Virgilio Gaínza were eager to support the new leadership through creativity. They turned their humorous and adventurous comics into a new arm of the Cuban propaganda machine that was entertaining and easily digestible by the general public, especially children. Characters included native people, revolutionaries, anthropomorphic animals, and futuristic explorers. Page 3 of 6 With the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the American embargo in place, the creators had to be inventive to continue producing their art. They obtained materials from friends in other countries, scrounged for scraps, and even made their own materials from natural resources. Crisis, it turned out, bred more creativity. Tombstone Label 1: Roberto Alfonso Cruz (Robe), Historietas de Naoh, 1985. Roberto Alfonso Cruz (Robe), Yarí, 2004. Tombstone Label 2: Juan Padrón Blanco, Historietas de Elpidio Valdés, 1985. Tombstone Label 3: Virgilio Martínez Gaínza, Historietas, Supertiñosa, 1988. Virgilio Martínez Gaínza, Las Aventuras de Cucho, 1984. Tombstone Label 4: Ernesto Padrón Blanco, Aventuras de Yeyín, undated. Page 4 of 6 Case 3: Heroes and Anti-Heroes Cuban comics used satire to roast many of the people and policies that were in contradiction to the Castro government. Popular targets included U.S. presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy; pre- revolutionary targets even included Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. However, they were also careful to shed a positive light on leaders such as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Other figures lauded for heroism or espousing socialistic ideals included Cuban historic figures Julio Mella and José Martí, and Soviets such as astronaut Yuri Gagarin. In the Cuban context, heroes were adventurous, brave, and (most importantly) of the people. Tombstone Label 1: Fidel Castro in Mella Suplemento, no. 64, undated. Fidel Castro in Playa Girón, 1961. Fidel Castro in Palante, 1986. Tombstone Label 2: John F. Kennedy in Mella, no. 202, 1962. Tombstone Label 3: Nikita Khrushchev and Dwight D. Eisenhower in Zig-Zag, no. 1079, August, 1959. Tombstone Label 4: Che Guevara in Cuando Che Era Ernestito, especial, 1983. Julio Antonio Mella in Mella, no. 202, 1962. Yuri Gagarin in Gagarin Conquistador del Espacio, 1961. José Martí in José Martí, ése soy yo, 2005. Page 5 of 6 Case 4: A Future Despite the Present Due to numerous issues, the comic genre is not as popular in Cuba today as it used to be. Material shortages and other factors contribute to a lack of readership. Without this continued exposure to comics, a generation of readers, particularly children, did not develop the same interest in comics. To compound this, comics in Cuba are still associated with youth, rather than adult, audiences. Despite economic and cultural upheavals, the Cuban publishing community is resilient and resourceful. Many well-known titles have continued to publish through the 2000s. Other titles have moved to the digital sphere. Scholarship around comics continues to grow as the academics recognize the cultural importance of this medium. The members of the Cuban comic community show a spirit of survival and endurance. They frequently win international awards and have earned the respect of other countries with their views of the world stage and their place on it. They look with measured optimism toward an uncertain future despite the difficulties of the present. Tombstone Label 1: Revista Latinoamericana de Estudios Sobre la Historieta, no. 31, vol. 8, 2008. Zunzún, no. 300, 2012. Supervivo, 2017. Guillermón Moncada. El gigante de Oriente, 2017. Pionero, no. 137, 2010. Rebelión, 2009. Pablo, un Hombre de Acción, 2006. Dedeté, no. 74, 2014. Page 6 of 6 .
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