Leticia Neria PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

good diet, and hippies, among others. Rius used one of the characters to ask about the
topic, and the ‘wiser’ citizens then discuss the answer. However, with the passage of
time, and as the comic gained popularity, Rius began changing the format. He
introduced a technique which later would become his hallmark. From 1971 onwards 37
he used a collage technique, pasting images which were not related to the story and
adding balloons making the images say whatever he wanted them to say: ‘frequently,
the character belongs to a distant time and place, but his balloon is filled with slang and
Mexicanisms’. 38 The images were usually used during the explanation of a topic and
would not have later relevance in the narration. Thus, the stories in Los Agachados
became less narrative and more didactic. In some issues, the usual characters would not
appear at all, 39 and the comic became ‘less recognizable as a standard historieta’ 40 and
looked more like ideological pamphlets or bulletins. In 1977, Rius abandoned the
comic 41 and started writing and illustrating books known as Para principiantes, in
which he discussed some of the issues he had previously discussed in Los Agachados. 42
He never worked on a comic book again.
Comics and Mechanisms of Humour
Incongruity
In chapter one different theories regarding the role humour plays in helping us
understand the political content of Mexican comic books and films from 1969 to 1976
37
Bob Agnew, ‘¡Viva la Revolución!...’, p. 15.
38
Paula K. Speck, ‘Rius for beginners: a study in comic book satire’, Studies in Latin American Popular
Culture, 1 (1982), pp. 13-35 (p. 118).
39
Issue 269 and 277 are good examples about this.
40
Bob Agnew, ‘¡Viva la Revolución!...’, p. 16.
41
Bob Agnew. ‘Eduardo del Río (Rius) & Los Agachados’
[accessed 20 May 2009] The author
adds that between 1978 and 1981 the comic book was reissued. In 2004 the publishing house Grijalbo
Mondadori published a book containing 8 number of Los Agachados from different years selected by the
author.
42
Bob Agnew, ‘¡Viva la Revolución!...’, p. 2.
90