Gonzalo Rocha explains why Posada overshadows his colleagues from the 19th and 20th centuries

Merry Macmasters

La Jornada NewspaperTuesday, February 25, 2025, p. 5

Mexico is a country rich in cartoonists. Why then has José Guadalupe Posada overshadowed his nineteenth-century and late twentieth-century colleagues for so long?, asked Gonzalo Rocha, cartoonist for La Jornada, at the presentation of his graphic novel Posada: La vida no vale nada y la hoja vuela, un centavo (Resistance Publishing House), at the 46th Palacio de Minería International Book Fair (FILPM).

The cartoonist offered several hypotheses. The first relates to his work. Unlike many of his fellow cartoonists, his work did not focus on politics . After some time, Rocha argued, the characters of this activity close to power generally cease to be memorable. We no longer understand who or what they are about, and only specialists regain interest in these graphics, while the general public today can understand the portrait of daily life, scandals, red notes and the skulls of José Guadalupe .

The second hypothesis is that Posada was not only a fine academic draughtsman, with a lot of practice and filigree, but also a printer who knew the secrets of the machines in his workshops. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he partly abandoned European influences and was able to synthesize them in cartoons with a very Mexican temperament .

A third is attributable to his appearance, since two photographs of him have existed and/or survived. “In them we can see that the appearance of this Aguascalientes cartoonist is that of a plump man, with a mustache somewhere between bushy and rainy, a belly like that of a pulquero, chubby cheeks and dark skin. A man whom we can imagine as chubby and generous as a taco maker, an appearance that links him to his work, in what we can call a 'clear Mexicanness'. This, for me, answers why Posada continues to be the hero of the pages of the books that we continue to write about him.”

At the presentation held at the Galería de Rectores, Rocha said that he made this graphic novel about the creator of the Catrina because there was not one. Of the many titles about Posada, almost all historical, analytical or artistic essay, there was no graphic novel. Comics, yes, in an educational tone. It was necessary to do something that takes us to another illustrated literature, as he is also a cartoonist .

For Mercurio López Casillas, a Posada scholar, this graphic novel "impacts from its cover to its last pages, in which Rocha gives us five wonderful portraits of the engraver. Each page is a display of talent that keeps the reader hooked, who can enjoy the dialogues, descriptions and sequences without text.

In Rocha's novel, one can see great empathy and admiration for the engraver, told from the perspective of his work in the daily press. The author deeply understands Posada; he fills his work with surprising vignettes and texts that border on poetry.

This comic is divided into four chapters: The Death of Posada, Childhood, The Chalequero and The Dance of the 41. In the last two, Rocha narrates two historical events that Posada concretized in a pair of images. In both cases, he recounts the process that led the engraver to the creation of two of his great works .

He said: In this unique graphic novel, the author uses more than 50 of Posada's engravings, but he does not copy them, but rather reinterprets them in an ingenious way, in small and large details; he resurrects Doña Caralampia and adds muscles and skin to a pair of skulls .

López Casillas pointed out that the premises where Posada's second workshop was located still exist, on Moneda Street: A plaque was placed there; however, it is now a shopping plaza. The plaque is covered with things for sale. It would be worth recovering it .

For the cartoonist Luis Fernando, who lived through the process of this graphic novel, through Posada's drawing we see Rocha drawing. So, he establishes elements of mirrors, and that also tells us how Posada could be in that world that we will never know, of course, internal, and with his opinions, joys and endings that, as sad as they may be, without knowing that his work is more alive than ever, even internationally .

At the end of the event, it was announced that Gonzalo Rocha's exhibition, which bears the same title as the book, at the Los Pinos Cultural Complex, will be extended until March 30.