Written by Randy Gomez Africano |
BOGOTA (EFE).- Comics arrived in Colombia a hundred years ago with the publication of “Mojicon”, the first comic book character to be drawn in the country, an anniversary that the Bogotá International Book Fair (FILBo) is celebrating with its usual exhibition hall. Graphic novels, workshops and talks about this art form.
“Mogicon”, a boy wearing a black jacket, shorts, tie and hat, created by cartoonist and illustrator Adolfo Samper, first appeared, in cartoon form, on January 19, 1924 on the back page of the magazine. Bogota's afternoon newspaper, Mundo Aldea, ran for six years, until the newspaper closed in 1930.
“With this character, Colombians have learned to enjoy comics, to read comics, to associate images with texts, with ‘balloons’ (text) and also to see ourselves reflected in them,” said Pablo Guerra, of the independent publishing house Cohete Comics and leader of the “100 Year of Colombian Comics” initiative. .
To celebrate the centenary, the Instituto Provincial de Artes (Idartes) in Bogotá also invited Colombian artists to participate in the call for “Cien Mojicones,” to make their own versions of the character.
Activities for everyone
To celebrate this centenary, members of the initiative are teaching workshops at FILBo to teach children and young people about Colombian comics and their history.
“We wanted to make visible the heritage value of our comics, which is not preserved and maintained, as a token of gratitude to the creators who opened this path and laid the foundations on which we work,” Guerra explains when commenting on the purpose and locations of the celebration.
In one workshop, Guerra tells young students who are passionate about illustration and children taking part in a school visit to draw one of the country's most popular cartoon characters, he says: Copetain.
This was a blond, street-dwelling boy who appeared with his two friends on the pages of the newspapers El Tiempo and El Espectador between the 1970s and the 1990s.
The challenge for Guerra is to draw her from scratch, as the participants think and without help, and at the same time explain the character's history.
He explains that Copitén “was created by a man named Ernesto Franco (…) and through this character he wanted to represent the problem of the twentieth century, which, fortunately, had already disappeared, just as the problem of street children had disappeared.”
Colombian comedy news
The centenary celebration includes discussions on the current state of Colombian comics, with the participation of national artists and writers.
Colombia is a country where audiences consume foreign comedy productions, but national productions, according to their creators, are not well received “because they do not receive institutional support and have a weak connection with the book industry.”
Despite this, for Pablo Guerra and his team, Colombia has a “good and vibrant current situation”, with a lot of talent in the ninth art industry, even with participation in international exhibitions such as those held in Guadalajara (Mexico) or Frankfurt (Germany). ), and won awards in countries such as Japan.
This optimism is also shared by people like Heidi Moskos, who was the main illustrator of Mario Mendoza's graphic novels and who has managed to attract book consumers with these works.
“We have seen how new generations are getting closer, including many female readers who admire and follow other Colombian authors,” he explains.
Considering the accomplishments and challenges that lie ahead, comics' greatest advocates and fans hope that “when the next 100 years of comics are celebrated in Columbia, it will be a changed landscape.”
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