Drawing, Comics, Animation and Pedro Eboli

original posting, May 10, 2008
updated, October 18, 2012

With much of its focus on stereotypes and ethnic American theories of subjectivity, it's easy to forget that a fair chunk of Tex[t]-Mex looks at the history of Warner Brothers animation teams--in particular, it's third chapter, "Autopsy of a Rat," pries into the work of Isadore, I, Friz Freleng and Robert McKimson, whose efforts on Speedy Gonzales are memorable to say the least.

Dan DeCarlo's Latina spy femme fatale.
source: http://cartoonsnap.blogspot.com/2010/01/yardbirds-by-dan-decarlo.html

Before I was ever a writer, I was a cartoonist--thrilling to the sweet, sordid lines of Basil Wolverton (right), Bill Elder, Al Jaffee, Don Martin (Splorf!), Sergio Aragones, Wally Wood, Harvy Kurtzman, Curt Swan, Murphy Anderson, Jim Aparo, Mort Drucker, Antonio Prohias, and Dan de Carlo (above, center), just to name a few. So while the motivation for my autopsy of Speedy Gonzales in the book might have been to out "the man" for making miserable "Mexican" mise-en-scènes, the desire to root out the workings of animators also belied my Walter Mitty dream of working on the Pixar "back-lot." Here's a page of crude pencil sketches I did in 2003:

And, here, in splendid profile, an india ink and watercolor rendition of "dawg," my "signature" alter-ego who is tagged in dive bar bathroom stalls from San Diego to London, from Paris to Austin--this particular version is a screengrab from the colophon of The Hurt Business: Oliver Mayer's Early Works [+] PLUS:

Lastly, here, a page from my graduate school notebook.

All of this as a preface to a well-wrought piece of animated delight from the eyes, mind, pen, and computer of a Mr. Pedro Eboli snagged from drawn.ca:

My Lost, Would-be Life as a Scientist: David Ng and Chewbacca

When I was in high school, I knew for sure I was going to be a research scientist--in biology to be specific (an oncologist, to be hyper-specific). An ungodly awful brush with organic chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin did me in, however, and the rest, as they say, is history. But every now and then I run into something that makes me pine away for the fitted white lab coat, makes me wallow in nostalgia, reverie, (and envy) for a world of microscopes, beakers, and white rats. David Ng is that present something--I stumbled upon him on Boingboing.net; here's a great piece on the scientific method:

Old School! Autobiographies at La Frontera from 1988 in Americas Review

original posting: 5/21/08


In 1988, when I was still a wee young thing, finishing my dissertation in Comparative Literature at Cornell and working as an assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut, I published my first essay in a journal called Americas Review (née Revista Chicano-Riqueña) edited by Nikolás Kanellos and published by Arte Público out of Houston. It's really a shame that the journal, now defunct, has not made its way online through google booksearch or the like. In any event, I recently scanned my piece from its special issue on autobiography and am making it available here as a downloadable .pdf document. Here's the full reference:

Nericcio, William A. "Autobiographies at La Frontera: The Quest for Mexican-American Narrative." The Americas Review 16.3-4 (1988): 165-87.

Also scanned and archived here from that remarkable issue is Tino Villanueva's classic interview with Hollywood icon, Anthony Quinn:

Villanueva, Tino, "Autobiographical Disclosures: Tino Villanueva Interviews Anthony Quinn," The Americas Review 16.3-4 (1988): 110-42

Selena Now Like Casper! Latina Espantos Speaking to Us From Beyond the Grave....

thanks to daphne strassmann for the tip!

George Lopez on Comedy and Autobiography