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

are richer and carry more information about the social imaginary of Mexican society
and its concerns. At the end of this chapter we will have a panorama of the issues that
were discussed through humour, and how comics helped to do so. However, it is
important to highlight the fact that the following examples and discussions are not the
only ones presented through these comics, but to undertake a complete analysis of all
their mechanisms would be an enormous work that is unnecessary for the aims of this
research. Nonetheless, in the appendix, the reader will find a chart with a list of all the
social topics present in these three comics which shows the mechanisms of humour that
were used. This will help to obtain a broader perspective of social concerns (and this is
also discussed in the conclusion of this chapter).
La bruja de la Bondojito: Hermelinda Linda, a comic book just for adults
In 1965, the publisher Editormex was struggling with financial problems. The director
and owner, Giorgio Torelli, was looking for a project which could save them from
bankruptcy, thus, the Art and Editorial Director –the artist Óscar González Guerrero-
came up with the idea of a comic book that mixed witchery and mystery. So, in that
year the first number of the comic book Brujerías appeared, which was full of intrigue
and paranormal situations, and its main character was a witch named Hermelinda.
Three years later, as Brujerías was gaining popularity, the governmental
committee in charge of regulating and censoring periodical publications considered
Brujerías to be a bad influence for the population, and therefore should be cancelled.
Óscar González proposed changing the mood of the comic book, keeping the witchery
topic but treating it with humour. He also had the idea of keeping the protagonist,
Hermelinda, but changing her image to a more caricaturised one. The representation of
Hermelinda was inspired by one of Óscar’s male colleagues, and it was portrayed as a
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