Made In Mexico: Kaliman
Mar. 21st, 2010 12:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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scans_dailyWell, here's one of those projects I've been thinking of doing for quite a while now.
As the majority of everyone who reads this community knows, I'm Mexican. And Mexico has had a LOT of good... and bad... and obvious ripoff... comics over the past 75 years (or more).
And I want to show many of them here. I still have to dig up many of my old comics from storage... most of my comics were Mexican Spanish reprints by Editorial Vid, but I still managed to get some rare and uncommon comics from the late 90's / early 00s (before I stopped buying comics altogether in 2002-2003). Sadly, my collection does not include most of the truly landmark comics that were from before my time, but I hope to find some issues of those books in the future so I can post about them. :)
That said, welcome to...
I'm going to talk a bit about Kaliman: El Hombre Increíble. It began as a radio drama which first aired on September 16, 1963 and continues to be broadcast to this day. It became so popular that the creators decided to expand upon it and create a WEEKLY comic book that was printed every week for 26 years.
But who is Kaliman? He is a man who has chosen to spend his time fighting evil and injustice in the world. Adoptive heir to a Hindu king, he was abducted and abandoned in the wilderness by a jealous relative who wanted to take the throne for himself. He spent 21 years living on his own, through the wilderness, a Llama monastery, Mongolia, a pirate ship, and Africa - where he finally decides to go back and reclaim what is rightfully his.
When he returns, the relative that abducted him kills his adoptive mother - but then HE is killed by a cobra. Kaliman then gives away all his riches to his fellow countrymen, and turns the castle into a temple of sorts. He returns to the Llama monastery and spends four years learning the secrets of mind control over other people and his own body.
Some of his powers include telepathy, telekinesis, incredible body flexibility (contortion), "actus mortis" (fake death) and many others. While he prefers to try and reason with evil, he will not hesitate to lay the smackdown on anyone who won't listen to reason.
He also has a sidekick, Solín, a young boy who is descended from Egyptian Pharaohs.
And now, the obligatory scan: Any similarity to any existing character is pure coincidence, really.
(The text bubble reads: "Tremble, Kaliman, for you face Crazy Red.")
Yeah, remember when I said there were lots of ripoffs in Mexico? I wasn't kidding. I have no idea who made this particular cover, I found it on the internet, but it's not photoshopped. This is an actual cover. WTF.
These days, the classic issues are reprinted and sold on newsstands... or at least somewhere, because almost nobody sells Mexican comic books in my hometown anymore. :( I'm keeping my eyes open to see if I can find some of these reprints and post about 'em here.
(Special thanks go to Ricardo Jimenez Todd D., the owner of Kaliman.net, the character's official website, for most of the information posted here.)
Suggested tags: medium: cover, series: made in mexico
As the majority of everyone who reads this community knows, I'm Mexican. And Mexico has had a LOT of good... and bad... and obvious ripoff... comics over the past 75 years (or more).
And I want to show many of them here. I still have to dig up many of my old comics from storage... most of my comics were Mexican Spanish reprints by Editorial Vid, but I still managed to get some rare and uncommon comics from the late 90's / early 00s (before I stopped buying comics altogether in 2002-2003). Sadly, my collection does not include most of the truly landmark comics that were from before my time, but I hope to find some issues of those books in the future so I can post about them. :)
That said, welcome to...
I'm going to talk a bit about Kaliman: El Hombre Increíble. It began as a radio drama which first aired on September 16, 1963 and continues to be broadcast to this day. It became so popular that the creators decided to expand upon it and create a WEEKLY comic book that was printed every week for 26 years.
But who is Kaliman? He is a man who has chosen to spend his time fighting evil and injustice in the world. Adoptive heir to a Hindu king, he was abducted and abandoned in the wilderness by a jealous relative who wanted to take the throne for himself. He spent 21 years living on his own, through the wilderness, a Llama monastery, Mongolia, a pirate ship, and Africa - where he finally decides to go back and reclaim what is rightfully his.
When he returns, the relative that abducted him kills his adoptive mother - but then HE is killed by a cobra. Kaliman then gives away all his riches to his fellow countrymen, and turns the castle into a temple of sorts. He returns to the Llama monastery and spends four years learning the secrets of mind control over other people and his own body.
Some of his powers include telepathy, telekinesis, incredible body flexibility (contortion), "actus mortis" (fake death) and many others. While he prefers to try and reason with evil, he will not hesitate to lay the smackdown on anyone who won't listen to reason.
He also has a sidekick, Solín, a young boy who is descended from Egyptian Pharaohs.
And now, the obligatory scan: Any similarity to any existing character is pure coincidence, really.
(The text bubble reads: "Tremble, Kaliman, for you face Crazy Red.")
Yeah, remember when I said there were lots of ripoffs in Mexico? I wasn't kidding. I have no idea who made this particular cover, I found it on the internet, but it's not photoshopped. This is an actual cover. WTF.
These days, the classic issues are reprinted and sold on newsstands... or at least somewhere, because almost nobody sells Mexican comic books in my hometown anymore. :( I'm keeping my eyes open to see if I can find some of these reprints and post about 'em here.
(Special thanks go to Ricardo Jimenez Todd D., the owner of Kaliman.net, the character's official website, for most of the information posted here.)
Suggested tags: medium: cover, series: made in mexico
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Date: 2010-03-21 08:02 pm (UTC)Yeah, I'm gonna be slapped later for that...
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Date: 2010-03-21 08:03 pm (UTC)Also, I'm taking Spanish, so I need the practice. XD I've been trying to track down Spanish-language comics and Spanish-language heavy metal (hey, it worked when I took German).
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Date: 2010-03-21 08:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 08:18 pm (UTC)QUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?????
¡Gravemente, más súper héroes españoles!
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Date: 2010-03-21 08:22 pm (UTC)¡Más probable de lo que crees!
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Date: 2010-03-21 08:30 pm (UTC)And oh boy, do I have a stack of old 70's Mexican comics of people with yoga powers of the body and mind taking out criminals. I'd scan them but I'm afraid they might crumble.
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Date: 2010-03-21 08:30 pm (UTC)SAQUESE
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Date: 2010-03-21 08:37 pm (UTC)NAO.
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Date: 2010-03-21 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 09:21 pm (UTC)Mexico is definitely in my top countries that produce supers/comics--probably the top 10, jockeying for 3rd with the Philippines.
So feel free to gush about the heroes/comics Mexico has produced!
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Date: 2010-03-21 09:31 pm (UTC)I would love to see some more cracktastic Mexican ripoffs, and some good original Mexican comics too
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Date: 2010-03-21 09:37 pm (UTC)I wonder where he put those comics.
Por alguna razón, ver algo como esto, no me sorprende...
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Date: 2010-03-21 09:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 09:49 pm (UTC)I'll post them later. XP
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Date: 2010-03-21 09:49 pm (UTC)http://www.againwiththecomics.com/2008/01/mexican-spider-mans-super-sexy-bikini.html
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Date: 2010-03-21 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 09:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 09:59 pm (UTC)I remember seeing many covers were just made out of random panels from different issues... But all the ones on that page were from way before my time.
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Date: 2010-03-21 10:10 pm (UTC)Me too! I'm also always willing to share the Franco-Belgian comic love. :)
I have some scans of a comic from India. Our next theme week should totally be "international comics" or something like that.
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Date: 2010-03-21 10:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 10:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 10:29 pm (UTC)Colour me extremely impressed that there's a comic produced in Mexico about the heir to a Hindu king. His life sounds really epic! :D
Like I said above to
(Once again reposted for major HTML fail. Sorry!)
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Date: 2010-03-21 10:35 pm (UTC)Por lo menos me uní tiempo despues, je.
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Date: 2010-03-21 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 11:30 pm (UTC)Texas Board of Education Rep: Tecks-us, leest wer higher'n Aluh-bamuh!
Alabama: Hey!
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Date: 2010-03-22 12:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 02:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 02:40 am (UTC)Kalimán necesita un revamp por Grant Morrison :P
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Date: 2010-03-22 02:47 am (UTC)¡Ya encontré la revista de la que provino esta portada! Y no tiene a Galactus adentro. :(
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Date: 2010-03-22 03:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 03:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 03:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 03:56 am (UTC)I googled the name and that was published by the same company that also did Hermelinda Linda - a book I REMEMBER buying a few times back in 1985-87!
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Date: 2010-03-22 04:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 04:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 06:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 06:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 07:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 07:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 01:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 07:11 pm (UTC)It's more along the lines of "rich king goes around the world fighting crime and injustice." Although he does go to Mexico in at least one storyline.
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Date: 2010-03-22 09:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-23 07:02 am (UTC)