Margarito Garza: Judge by Day, Radical Comic Book Artist by Night
Description:
The Mexican American Experience, a radio program produced by the Longhorn Radio Network, includes interviews, music, and informational programs related to the Mexican American community and their concerns. Program summary: Interview with Margarito Garza, an attorney from Corpus Christi, TX who is also the creator of the Chicano comic-book super hero, Relampago. Relampago is a product of the South Texas barrios who magically receives his super powers through the aid of a bruja, and finds himself using his power acting as a defender of justice for Chicanos. Margarito Garza discusses his comic book character Relampago, a Chicano superhero, and the message he hopes to spread through his comics. Garza's comic book combines elements of South Texas folklore and Mexican history: the hero, Marcos Zapata, a petty criminal, is the grandson of Emiliano Zapata and turns into a superhero after a curandera saves his life. Marcos leaves his life of crime and uses his powers to stop villains. Garza explains why he created a Chicano superhero. He talks about the connection between his comic books and Chicano social struggles. He believes that many young people who do not have the finances and opportunity to succeed turn to crime because they think it will be easy money. Garza says that the Relampago comics show that all criminals do have to pay eventually. Garza then describes some of the characters and plotlines of his comic. Garza explains that Relampago is one of his fantasies: as a judge, Garza wished he had the strength to deal with young kids who think crime and drugs are the solutions to their problems. He wants Relampago to be a role model for Chicanos, and so his hero does not drink, cuss or smoke. Garza explains that when he was young he looked up to Mexican celebrities like Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete, and Chicano youth today need similar role models with which they can identify. Garza would like his comic to be distributed nationally, but he has been unable to find backers because publishers find the comic to be too local. Keywords: Activist Art, Alternative Media, Barrios, Bishop Raymundo Pena, Brownsville, Brujas, Brujeria, Catholic Church, Children, Comic Books, Corpus Christi, Tx, Crime, Criminalization, Cultural Worker, Culural Nationalism, Curanderas, Drug Abuse, Drugs, Education, Emiliano Zapata, Folklore, Gladys Porter Zoo, Graphic Art, Hazel Bazemore Park, Heroes, Jim Nelson, Jorge Negrete, La Llorona, Manuel Seguin, Marcos Zapata, Margarito Garza, Margarito Garza, Marvel Comics, Mexican History, Montage, Pedro Infante, Police, Priests, Regional Culture, Relampago, Robstown, TX, Role Models, San Antonio, South Texas, Spiderman, Superheroes, Syncretism, Visual Culture, Witches. Broadcast date: 1980-08-07.
Creator/Contributor:
Longhorn Radio Network (creator), Fregoso, Rosa Linda. (host), and Garza, Margarito C. (interviewee)
Date Created/Date Issued:
1980-04
Owning Repository:
Benson Latin American Collection, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, The University of Texas at Austin