The Rock and Blue Demon

Recently, The Rock went to México to promote the opening of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island aka El Viaje 2: La isla misteriosa. While there, he took a photo with my favorite luchador chaparrito, Blue Demon!

La Roca y El Blue Demon

I've read a few websites that have mentioned a possible new Blue Demon film. Maybe The Rock could come and make a cameo, or is that too big of a dream?

Lucha Key Chain Toppers

This is what every inspiring luchador needs! Lucha Key toppers!

 Puedes prestarme tu carro por favor?

I believe the company that makes these is PerpetualKid.com, but I'm not certain. They are available at all sorts of novelty shops, and I must order a set! My girlfriend has a set of owl key toppers, so I have to match her with something even more cool!

You simply slide the masks over the top of the key, then slide them back on your key ring, and you'll be set for a battle royale! Neither faces are copyrighted characters sadly, but they are pretty fun! Could you imagine a set of Santo, Blue Demon, y Mil Mascaras keys?

Los Luchadores Exhibit at the Mexican Cultural Institute of Los Angeles

"Los Luchadores" hits the Mexican Cultural Institute of Los Angeles from
From June 11 through July 23. They will be featuring the photography of Richard Ehrlich, consisting of a series of 40" x 50" photographs of masked wrestlers.

The mission statement of the MCI is:  "The Mexican Cultural Institute is committed to being a leader in providing education, programs, resources, and presenting historical, cultural and contemporary arts of Mexican heritage, and to advocate for Mexico-United States social, cultural and historical art preservation as an important part of strengthening Los Angeles’ communities."

Considering that lucha libre has been a major part of Mexican culture, being a favorite sport of the people, this is a wonderful exhibit for the MCI. If you are in the area, check out the gallery!

An artist reception, screening of classic luchador films and music program to be announced! I'm very excited to hear what they plan on screening. I love to spread the word on lucha films being screened all over, it's a fun opportunity for everyone to enjoy some lighthearted action!

Exhibit runs from June 11 - July 23, 2011
Gallery Hours: Noon-6PM, Thursday -Sunday

125 Paseo De La Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213)624-3600
http://mexicanculturalinstitute-la.org/
E-mail:  info@mexicanculturalinstitute-la.org 

Link to the facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135823219825895

They also forwarded me a few preview images for you all to see! They are truly a spectacle, my favorite is of Tinieblas!!

The Collection

Here's my dvd collection, with only a couple not stacked here, or even loaned out:

I've been collecting dvds since I received my first dvd player in 1999. I'm not even sure number of movies here, but it's a ton. Some friends call it "Mini Blockbuster." It's a huge collection, but it's also a part of my lifestyle. I enjoy drawing or painting while a movie is playing. Plus I don't have cable, so I watch films instead.

Let's get down to what I own in the lucha libre category:

Lionsgate Nuestro Cine Clásico-

Santo vs Las Lobas / Santo vs El Espectro del Estrangulador
Santo en El Museo de Cera / Santo y Blue Demon en El Mundo de Los Muertos
Santo contra Blue Demon en la Atlántida / Santo y Blue Demon contra Los Monstruos
Blue Demon Destructor De Espías / Pasaporte a la Muerte

Collección México en Pantalla-

Arañas Infernales

Rise Above Entertainment Santo Collection -

Santo en Atacan Las Brujas

Santo en Tesoro de Drácula
Santo y Blue Demon contra Drácula y Hombre Lobo
Santo y Blue Demon contra el Doctor Frankestein
Santo en La Venganza de la Momia
Santo y Mantequilla Nápoles en la Venganza de la Llorona

El Santo Collección (This series looks like a copy of Rise Above's series)-

El Tesoro de Moctezuma

Various-

Santo contra la Magia Negra
Santo: Infraterrestre
Mil Máscaras vs the Aztec Mummy

Santo Contra Los Zombies

Santo en Las Momias de Guanajuato

El Super Seis Los Luchadores Invencibles (six pack):

• Los Vampiros de Coyocan
• La Mansion de las 7 Momias
• Los Campeones Justicieros
• El Castillo de las Momias de Guanajuato
• Misterio en las Bermudas
• Vuelven Los Campeones Justicieros

Documentaries -

Lucha Libre: Life Behind the Mask

Cartoons-

Mucha Lucha: Heart of Lucha

Mucha Lucha: The Return of El Maléfico

El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera (This is actually on my iPad through iTunes.

Currently in the mail, heading my way-
Santo contra Las Mujeres Vampiro
Santo en La Venganza de las Mujeres Vampiro
Santo contra La Hija del Frankenstein


I've been wrangling my way into getting these at the best deals. I'm continually checking Half.com, eBay, Amazon, iOffer (watch the authenticity of dvds on iOffer, it's rampant with burned dvds), and now I'm using Santo & Friends for the harder to find films. Also, Super Strange Video has been recommended to me as well, but I haven't tried them yet. If you have a great recommendation for places to find these treasures, hit me up! jesse.acosta at gmail dot com !

I'm still on the hunt too. At first I really liked the Rise Above Entertainment series because they had a nice menu, subtitles, and overall were easier to find at first. But I started favoring the Lionsgate Double Feature discs more, simply because they had two films on one disc for fairly cheap. The dvds through the other various companies seem to cost quite a bit more. I've heard from some people that they find the Lionsgate discs at their Walmart, but I haven't found any myself.

Lucha films I'm looking for:

• Mucha Lucha dvd with the episode starring Blue Demon Jr.
• Poder Satanico
• Santo y Blue Demon contra Los Monstruos (a color version)
• Chanoc y Hijo del Santo contra Los Vampiros
• La Furia de Los Karatecas
• Mil Máscaras vs Las Vampiras
• Blue Demon en La Mafia Amarilla  
• La Mujer Murcielago
• Blue Demon y Zovek en La Invasión De Los Muertos
• Blue Demon En La Sombra Del Murcielago

If you see one available, especially at a decent price point, please send me a link!

The Plight of a lucha dvd collector...

Like any lucha collector, we run into the difficulty of finding a vendor who has these sacred films. Lord knows I've used eBay, Half.com, Amazon.com, iOffer, and Santoandfriends.com to find the best prices, and specific editions of the dvds (some films are in color, while other companies have a copy in black and white, many don't come with subtitles). It's a long, arduous journey to get these sacred relics of lucha film.

This brings me to my latest purchase, through a third party seller on Amazon.com. Remember, make sure your orders are through Amazon specifically, or you know people who have had good experiences with the third party seller. Check ratings and reviews always.

So, I've been looking for Santo en La Venganza de las Mujeres Vampiro (Santo in the Vengeance of the Vampire Women). The company I dealt (LATINOS DISCOS MOI) with on Amazon sent me Santo en La Venganza de la Momia (Santo in the Vengeance of the Mummy). That's fine, simple mistake, I imagine they have an organized wall of films, and these of course are alphabetized next to each other. So I email him back, telling them of the mistake. I also refunded the order, and asked if they had the correct dvd in their stock. They took a week to respond to me, a big no no. He stated it was "lost" in his inbox. Annoying. He still hasn't mentioned if he had the movie I wanted or not. That's fine, in the week long wait I not only requested a refund through Amazon, but I also ordered the correct dvd through Santo And Friends.

Now, since I'm a little annoyed at the moment due to the recent email stirring up this week long brew of unresolved issues, I want to play a game with you all. Can you see a difference between these two movies?

 

Mujeres Vampiros and Momias... Two very distinct differences in these creatures of the night. Vampire women are sexy, and seductive. Mummies are generally oatmeal faced zombies who played way too much with the toilet paper.

*update 4/11/11 noon* He emailed me back saying "So, you want the momias movie?" How much more explicit do I have to be with you? Here's what I said back lastly, since this seemed to be going in circles:

This is getting confusing, I ordered mujeres vampires, but I received momias....  Prefieres español? Yo compré la película con las mujeres vampiro, pero me mandaste la película con las momias. Ahora, quiero saber si tienes la película con las mujeres vampiro en mano. Avisame.

I'm hoping the Spanish might help this situation. Either way, this email exchange has lasted too long. Save yourself some headache and avoid DISCOS LATINOS MOI on Amazon.com at all cost.

Anyway, I'm done using my blog to vent. Back to the regularly scheduled programming.

New friends and New Links

Yesterday, I emailed the owner of DRACULAND to gush with excitement about how interesting his resource blog on all things Dracula. He also likes what I'm doing at my lucha blog, and shared with me a couple website of interest. They are French, but with Google Translate and some raw instinct, I think you can get a lot from these:

http://www.deadlicious.com (Official Website)
http://www.itsdeadlicious.com (Blog)
http://www.serious-publishing.fr (Serious Publishing Web)

The blog is a lot like mine, random collections of links of all things bizarre, fun, and even lucha! The Serious Publishing publishes some bizarre books, some are Lucha inspired. Their website, they sell "Hand made rock-and-roll pastries to die for..." Mmm! One set of chocolates are lucha inspired, and the other is calavera (Mexican skull) inspired:

 

These look... AMAZING!

 I highly recommend ordering me a box when you have some free time!

Santo Sketchcard on Etsy

I feel weird tooting my own horn, but what the heck, this is my blog, right? Well, for those that don't know, I have an Etsy Shop. I sell a lot of my artwork on there, and currently I'm doing a series of horror sketch cards. But villains and monsters aren't anything without their heroic counterparts. So today I produced this Santo ACEO sketch card:

ACEOs (Artist Card Editions or Originals) are small originals created by artists. Perfect for collecting or trading! This is a 2½" × 3½" PSC ACEO Sketch Card of world famous luchador El Santo enmascarado de plata aka Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (September 23, 1917 - February 5, 1984).

El Santo has been in over 52 films, and has been featured in comic book and cartoon adaptations. He started his lucha libre career in the early 1930s, only to start slowing down by 1980. His son, Hijo del Santo, continues to wrestle and dons his father's mask.

Drawn in pencil, inked, then colored with prismacolor markers. On Canson heavyweight sketch cardstock.
ACEO sketch cards are shipped with archival sleeve, plus protected with cardboard.

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled programming... I just received Mondo Lucha A Go Go in the mail today, and last week I received Lucha Noir by Rafael Navarro and From Parts Unknown. Lastly, after being borrowed for what seemed like half an eternity, I finally got Santo y Blue Demon Contra Dracula y Hombre Lobo back from a friend. One of these will be reviewed within the next few days. I'll keep you posted!

Strongman Volume 1 - Review

Next up on the docket for review is STRONGMAN Volume 1, by Charles Soule & Allen Gladfelter, published by Slave Labor Graphics (SLG):

Cover to Strongman Volume 1

This book is just something I happened to discover while googling (I find using Google as a verb still odd, how about you?) comics based on lucha libre. It was published not too long ago either, I'm surprised it snuck passed my radar.

El Tigre is essentially a has-been Santo. Once famous, hailed as a hero in México, but now resides in New York, alone, drunk, and bloated, with a horrible anger management issue with his apartment door. But someone who knows his stories find him, in need of help, and this plea reinvigorates his motivation to get back in action and feel needed again by his people.

Panel layouts are clear and concise. El Tigre packs a wallop!

El Tigre sporting a collared '70s tee.

Stats:
Page Count: 120
Year: March 2009



Favorite Quote: My favorite quote is actually an entire scene: Maria: He told me you took your liver, Now you will take his. Tigre: But you are not a doctor. How will you know which it is? Maria: Yes.. Then I will take it all.


The Ratings:
My rating system is out of five stars, and consists of six categories, then an overall score.

• Story:
  The story has it's high points and low points. I really had a gut feeling that this wasn't researched well enough, from the Spanish littered throughout to the lucha libre genre. Some of the dialogue felt as though they thumbed through a Spanish dictionary, or found a "Spanish Curse Word Bible" to litter the word balloons. Also, what is Bujo supposed to be? Is he supposed to be an owl? Well, that word is búho, pronounced (Boo-O). There's a certain feeling to the lucha genre that is moralistic and wholesome, while this story gets heavy with the profanity, nudity, and other mature themes. I like the overall overall arch with the hero, but I wish he stood on his own without being a cookie cutter luchadore in the shadow of Santo.
• Art:
  The art is clean, tight, well rendered, and easy to follow. But it also feels a bit stiff from time to time, I think this is because of the artist's photo reference technique. In the last pages of the graphic novel, they show that he would spend the time making mock-up scenes out of foam-core boards and shoot the angles. While this is kind of neat, I feel like it's taking time away from just drawing. I listened to an interview once with an artist on the Side Bar Nation podcast, who used a 3D modeler to render simple backgrounds for his pages to give the scene more depth, then he'd redraw it. After a while, he was spending more time at the computer modeling ridiculous scenes, and not enough time just behind the art table drawing. It was Jim Lee who told him "Why do all that effort, don't you just like to draw?" So I feel as though this model making scene can be useful, if it gets too tedious then it might turn the art a little dry. Also, I noticed in the scenes where Tigre would go to wrestling matches and play rudos for income, one panel shows him wearing and incorrect mask. His rudo (bad guy) mask covers his chin like a traditional luchador mascara. But on page 17, you see a side shot where his chin is open, like his técnico mask.
• Bizarre Factor:
  This is relatively a straight forward story with one bizarre factor: The rich villain feeds his rich guests organs of poor Mexicans from the streets. WTF? Very weird, and out of left field. Normally I don't mind that, but this is sort of gross.
  
• Horror:
  Again, the cannibalism and organ stealing is a bit much.
  
• Action:
  Like any good lucha story, there is a good amount of rumbling.
  
• Camp:
  Some of characters feel cookie cutter, from our hero El Tigre, to the villains. Then the end scene where I get my favorite quote from is really cheesy. Maria snags all the villain's organs because she can't distinguish the liver from the rest? Really? You have two lungs, a heart, two kidneys, a stomach, and... a liver. It's not terribly difficult to find. Also, you can't just show up at a hospital with an improperly retrieved organ on ice, and ask to have it put back in. I should know, I work at a hospital, and deal with organ donors quite a bit.
• Nudity:
  There is quite a bit of sex, nudity, and one of the minor villains runs a strip club. The profanity is pretty high as well. Not suitable for younger readers.
  
• Overall:
  Again, I enjoyed the overall story of El Tigre in Strongman volume 1, but there are some quibbles I had to pick at. I know I'll be picking up volume two, which is currently available as well on Amazon. If this sounds like your cup of tea, definitely make an order at Amazon, links below!

 

The Legendary Lucha Wall!

So, this is it! You finally get to see my legendary lucha wall! Click on the photo for a much larger size :)

A rundown of the images:

Pasaporte a la Muerte original Lobby Card for the 1968 Blue Demon film
Sketch of Santo by Humberto Ramos
Santo contra los Monstruos print
Two envelope sketches by Rafael Navarro
Lucha VaVoom postcard flyer
Santo sketch by Matt Kaufenberg

I've linked to the movies, prints, artists, and events so you too can get similar work!

P.S. Yes, to the left of the lucha wall is a box of comics, and to the right is an overpowering stack of dvds...