José Luis Pescador (Mexico City, 1979), is, in every sense of the word, a comic and visual artist. In 2019, with the help of the Grijalbo publishing house, he published book 1 of The fall of Tenochtitlána kind of record of “the story of the conquest of Mexico Tenochtitlán as it had never been told.” For 2022 came book 2, the following year book 3 and, most recently, in October, book 4 was published.
It is the latter – in which the Cholula massacre is narrated, in visual and iconographic conjunction, the future after the sadistic encounter that concludes in the meeting between Motecuhzoma Zocoyotzi and Hernán Cortés― the reason for the conversation that the archeology fan also gave to this medium.
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“I would like to start by asking you what it has been like to work on this big project, pandemic in between, and which I imagine will not end here,” I ask.
“It’s true: it’s not going to end here,” the author responds through a phone call. The idea is that it will come out in six books, it is the editorial decision, and with that we tell the entire art of the fall of Tenochtitlán. It is a complex topic, it addresses a bit of the military strategy of the sides and also the betrayals and enigmas, so… it also tells the story of Tenochtitlán from its foundation. And we are following hand in hand with various historical and other fictional characters, such as Atoctliwho is our protagonist, a boy who is a tlacuilo and at the same time tlachiquero (those who make pulque), and well, we see the whole event. In this number four, the book talks about the Cholula massacre, which is a crucial event in this story and took its time to narrate it in all its rawness.
―You talk about complexity, and regarding that I wanted to ask you the following. It seems to me that the story itself is complex and it is complex to continue innovating to tell that story that we have been told many times and in many ways. Regarding this, how can we innovate in ways so that we continue to be interested in these stories? ―I propose―.
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―I believe that the graphic novel has a very predominant place in current culture ―the artist asserts―, somewhat accustomed to rapid consumption, but the comic is consumed or read at the pace that each reader wants to give it. So, I don’t think it’s such a complex story… Come on, it’s a story that can be seen from many angles and that will never be completely finished, so it always presents interesting aspects, It is one of the great epics of humanity and I think we are not going to get tired of telling ourselves the same story over and over again, even if it is from different angles. Besides, we Mexicans love history, whether we know it or not, we are passionate about the subject and we give our opinions and participate.
―The graphic novel as a genre. It is not always so well received or taken so seriously. How to balance it, with the seriousness that the story requires, and also not take that non-serious side? ―I question―.
“In Mexico there is the idea that comics are for children,” the author says, “or there was that idea. I think that products like the graphic novel, this one and others, balance that perception.. I think one of the achievements of this is that it interests audiences who like history and audiences who are interested in archeology and who have never opened a comic, so that can change our perception little by little. In fact, he confesses, bookstores don’t put them next to comics, you don’t know where to put them: it’s always among the novels, among the research books, or among the children’s books, because you don’t know where to put it, so it’s just I think it’s very good because it generates new readers. And yes, comics have tremendous potential for any type of story.
― You were talking about how much we Mexicans care or are interested in knowing these types of topics, whether they are called Conquest or History in general, but what do you think is the importance of continuing to tell this? -asked-.
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“That we can always see a different angle to each event, and also a different interpretation of the facts,” says the author. In the 19th century, the fall of Tenochtitlán was seen as a romantic aspect, since now we can see it as the beginning of globalization, racism and the current economic order. So, there are always many angles and we can tell them, that is very interesting: telling the stories over and over again, and debating them, too! Apart from the fact that they are always exciting and, curiously, even though 500 years have passed, people take sides in one way or another. The same does not happen with the War of Independence or the French Intervention, but this one here because it is a founding event. However, the comic does not get into those discussions at all, but instead aims to tell a story seen at field level, with the feelings of the characters who are there, trying to make them as human as possible and for us to see up close. the drama that meant this violent encounter of two worlds and two ways of seeing life.
—That’s why we call it a novel, right?
-Yeah! ―he asserts―. And it is a graphic novel because each character is explored from a deeper novel, with all its elements. Suddenly there are so many characters, because everything is also very brutal, that they could get lost there in the stimulus. And then, also, the drawing is quite baroque, and well, that also makes it complex. There I think it is very clear that it is not for lazy readers, but rather an invitation for readers to take a look at the drawings, look at them slowly and also read them in another way.
―We live in an era of the immediate, the fast, and many times we do not stop to observe in detail, we look lazily. And you point out that this novel is not made for weak readers. What reflection deserves you or how to deal with the idea that you have of your drawings, in the face of the world out there that many times no longer likes to reflect?
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― It can be an antidote to speed ―answers as a reflection―. Forcing them to stop at each frame is an antidote to the speed of searching. That’s why I say that each reader can have their own rhythm. Although it can be read very quickly or people can consume it quickly, they are going to miss everything else. It’s like forcing them to look, a little.
― Finally, who has inspired you in your work? Not only in this series, but in your entire career.
“Precisely… Francisco Haghenbeck, a writer who is no longer with us, but he encouraged me a lot to finish it, to advance it, because this project was encapsulated like many other projects for almost twenty years, and he encouraged me. Another very important artist, archaeologist and architect was Iker Larrauriwhich also at the beginning gave me more interesting points of view that put me on the right path. And all the artists, friends and colleagues who are always working, their work is also very inspiring. I think we are living in a very interesting time for the graphic novel, because everyone basically does what they want and touches on the topics they want and they don’t mind printing it and taking it and selling it themselves. So that also motivates me a lot, that very creative moment that we are experiencing in Mexico, of self-publishing – concludes the Mexican cartoonist -.
DG