Toptenz.com is the “ultimate top ten list” website, ranking various topics from music, film, history and general pop culture. We recently stumbled upon a list compiled by contributor Lee Standberry entitled “Top 10 Non-White Superheroes” and Gato Negro is ranked at #10! Here’s a quick blurb from that post:

“In the world of comics, iconic figures such as Superman, Spider-man, Batman and the like; have made their indelible impression on both the mythos of heroes in general and the comic book genre specifically. Yet, there are other characters, perhaps not as well known, who nevertheless contributed to the love and appreciation we share for our heroes. These “super” heroes – often relegated to a second tier status relative to the preponderance of characters that are Euro-centric in nature – reflect the diversity that is part and parcel of the American landscape. These are the superheroes of color, many of whom inspired a generation of readers emerging out of the throes of the civil rights movement. These groundbreaking characters had (and continue to have) a significant impact on the portrayal and utilization of minorities within the comic genre. Gone are the days when characters of color were no more than a convenient backdrop in a splash panel. Their stories are our stories…”

Follow this link here to read some the flattering things Lee had to say about EGN and the other heroes who made the cut or go to http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-non-white-superheroes.php

-Richard.

Until next time,

-Richard.

We’ve lost another pioneer in the comic book industry. Joe Simon, co-creator of Captain America passed away yesterday in New York city after a brief illness. Simon was best known for his work alongside Jack Kirby after meeting him at the Fox Feature Syndicate, a publisher during the “Golden Age of Comics”. The creative duo later left Fox for work at Timely Comics (the predecessor of Marvel) where they debuted Captain America.

Feeling that they were not receiving their fair share of the profits as promised by publisher Martin Goodman, Simon and Kirby sought work elsewhere at National Comics (later DC) where they would create such titles as Boy Commandos and Newsboy Legion. In recognition for his lifetime of work in the industry, Joe Simon was inducted in the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2003, he secured an agreement with Marvel for the royalties for merchandising and licensing of the Captain America character- which also ensured he and Kirby would remain credited.

-Richard.

An online reviewer at Rotten Tomatoes by the moniker of “SonOfCthulhu” gave glowing praise to the original series in an article posted sometime in 2008 in a blog called ’the crapbox’, where he discusses lesser known (and sometimes lower quality) comic book properties. Currently, we’re having some trouble with the URL address to that particular article…but we hope SonOfCthulhu wouldn’t object to us copy/pasting his text onto the Gato-Blog (meanwhile you can view his Rotten Tomatoes profile here.):

Azteca Productions came out with El Gato Negro in 1993. A labor of love from fellow Dallasite Richard Dominguez, the book followed the adventures of one of the first Hispanic comic book superheroes. The book met with critical success, but was forced to halt publication after four (magic number) issues. After a seven year hiatus, El Gato Negro reappeared. All the resources I have show only one issue in existence of what was supposed to be a four part miniseries in 2005. Guess this cat only had two lives?

Note that in the above paragraph I stated that the book was produced in Dallas. That means that there is a good chance of me bumping into Richard Dominguez at some point in the near future. Richard was the creator, writer, artist, inker and letter on the first run of EGN, giving up only editorial duties to his wife Olga. I’ve seen pictures of Richard and even though he’s older than me, he looks like a pretty big guy. Even so I’m going to be completely honest in reviewing EGN #1. Mainly because you wouldn’t respect me if I didn’t. Secondly because, outside of a slight grammatical error or two, El Gato Negro is one of the best books in the crapbox.

El Gato Negro is a superhero tale that takes place in Hidalgo county, near the tip of Texas along the Rio Grande Valley. With a population that approaches almost 90% Hispanic, it only makes sense that any dude wearing tights in the area would be Hispanic as well. We begin our tale with two very bad “eses” who’ve just made a prison break. They are hoofing it across I-281 while being chained together at the ankles. They’ve got plans of meeting a big gang boss named “El Graduado” who will help them hide out from the cops. Which is good, since they shot one while making their escape. Suddenly a voice out of the night stops them in their tracks.

Wow! Richard has an edgy Ron Lim-look about his art without all the shiny surfaces. His figures are clean and he does a marvelous job on facial expressions. I’m in love and we’re only on page three. In addition the storytelling is textbook superheroing 101. It’s like watching the Burton Batman movie beginning with a slightly different twist. Makes for a good intro to the character. Let’s see where this action sequence leads.

Nicely done. A bit of splashy action sequence then the old monologueing to no one in particular. Can I see a show of hands of how many of you are “in” at this point? No? I need to show you a bit more? Well, ok.

Next we briefly show Officer Miguel Bustamonte of the Texas Rangers. He’s like an unsympathetic Jim Gordon who wants to bust El Gato almost as much as he wants to bust criminals. He settles for the two chain gang escapees this evening while El Gato gets away. All this has the local gang boss very pissed off at his son who is El Graduado and is currently running things. Tell me it’s not wrong to love these panels?

Meanwhile Officer Bustamonte is having breakfast with the local social worker, Francisco “Pancho” Guerrero. Francisco seems to have an unnatural interest in El Gato Negro, something is matched by Bustamonte’s in intensity if not intent.

There’s a simple plot built up so far with easy and accessible characters who are shown as realistic people instead of stereotypes. There is tons of dialogue used to flesh out the characters. The art is ultra-clean, clear and stylish without being inaccessible to the casual reader. I counted about three or four minor grammatical errors (usually a missing “a”, “an” or “the”). So WHY ISN’T THIS BOOK STILL AN ONGOING!?!?

How is it that we can suffer through so many bad books from the majors and something like EGN comes along and all of us miss it. Sure Dominguez is well thought of by industry peers, but what I’m asking is why didn’t the reading public embrace his art, story and characters? What is wrong with us? I’m only half-way into this book and it just keeps getting better. Like the montage of Francisco showing how selfless he is during his average workday.

Character building stuff there. And as any comic fan worth his weight in back issues could tell you, this is all building up to the big reveal that Francisco is El Gato Negro. But could that same fanboy have anticipated that the discovery would show that his grandfather is also Francisco’s mentor and was El Gato Negro before him. And that this would be exposed in a series of panels that defy comic book conventions the same way McFarland’s early art did? No? That’s because this book has continued surprises around every corner.

Francisco’s committed to fighting crime. In a dream sequence we see his cop brother Mario* get killed by vicious gang thugs. He spurns the advances of a hot mamacita to continue his nightly excursions. He even goes out in spite of newscasts showing renewed pressure from his friend Officer Bustamonte. And his next catwalk nets him a group of “coyotes” who are smuggling in drugs under the cover of bringing in illegals.

Look at that! It’s like poetry how nicely those panel transitions are handled. Don’t you love that middle sound effect superimposed behind the character battle? And look at the final panel, how easily those silhouettes reflect motion, character and action. I cannot gush enough about Dominguez’s art skills. Skills that go beyond just being pretty pictures but do an exceptional job at telling the story. Anyway, El Gato has a run in with one of the illegals who isn’t quite what he seems just before Officer Bustamonte shows up.

Even the use of speed lines doesn’t detract from the art. Mainly because Dominguez uses the technique sparingly and to good effect in the panels he does add them to. The phony “illegal” gets ventilated by the coyotes who were meeting this group on our side of the boarder and El Gato discovers this faux immigrant was carrying loads of drugs strapped to his chest. Bustamonte shows up before El Gato can do much else except take what could be a potential clue to where this vato came from. So some keen detective work leads El Gato to Val Tex’s warehouse where he runs into a bit of trouble.

Which is where our issue ends. There’s no ads in this book, which means it had no source of capital other than Azteca Productions and while the cover price was a bit high for 1993, the book’s contents were worth that sticker. If only more of us had picked it up. I mean how could a book that contains things like this gadget page not be worth a few more coins? The second series in 2005 did not have Dominguez as penciller or writer, only doing the inking chores. I don’t know if it was B&W like the original or if it was in color. I do know that it didn’t make it either, and for whatever reason that’s a shame. I’m looking forward to seeing Mr. Dominguez at the next convention or whenever. I’d really like to express my gratitude for the series he created, even if it was short and sweet.

-Original text credited to SonOfCthulhu

*This was in fact border patrolman Mario Bustamonte, Francisco’s best friend. -Staff

He later became a champion of creator’s rights, no doubt due to the mistreatment he received from DC comics in regards to receiving due credit or compensation, and famously helped lead attempts on behalf of creators Jerry Siegal and Joe Shuster to regain rights to Superman. In recognition for his works, Robinson was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2004.

Jerry Robinson passed away this December 7th at the age of 89. He is once again reunited with the other pioneers of the comic book industry…Bill Finger, Dick Sprang and Bob Kane…no doubt bickering like the old days in the Bat-Studio.

-Richard.

Enjoy your Saturday Gato-fans! Here’s a photo of one Richard Dominguez, age 5 (circa 1965) wearing a homemade Santo mask. This photo taken near an abandoned garage near Singleton Blvd. in West Dallas, Texas. During the Great Depression, that particular area was known as “The Devil’s Back Porch”. Even back then Richard was a big fan of masked luchadores, particularly El Santo.

The first three pages display the arsenal EGN’s utilizes in his crime-fighting. These pages were meant as a throwback to the old comic book yarns of the ’60s, where often a visual guide (usually in the final pages) was given to explain something unique to that character, book or storyline. (For example, “How Spider-Man’s Webshooters work” or “How the Human Torch catches on fire but his clothes remain intact” Etc.) Not that it has fallen out of practice, but it certainly isn’t seen as much. (Like those classic Hostess ads)

The last image is an advertisement on the back of the very first issue of Team Tejas, another Azteca Productions’ property. In the early days, Gato Negro was originally a part of the Latino superhero group of the same name. But alas, EGN’s star shined far too bright to be a supporting character. Or rather, more emphasis was placed upon his early conception and the bulk of his backstory was far too great to be a part of an ensemble group.

As you are all aware by now, my plans to revive Judge Margarito Garza’s Relampago, The Invincible Man in a “one-shot” issue retelling his origin story have been scrapped. Sadly I could not secure the permission from his surviving family, the copyright holders of the Relampago property, and have been asked not to pursue such an endeavour at this time.

Naturally I was disappointed that we could not reach an agreement, but I respect their decision in this matter and hold no hard feelings against them. I only hope that in time, my dear friend’s creation will once again grace the cover of a comic book page. I’ve been getting a few responses these past few days since putting the bad news on the Gato-Blog and I thought it best to address some of your concerns regarding the planned compilation book of the original EGN series published in the ’90s.

The fourth and (unpublished) fifth issue prominently featured Relampago in its storyline as I had, at that time, secured permission to use the character. Soon after, I took a break from self-publishing to focus on my family life, leaving the series on a cliffhanger.* In more recent years I had planned on wrapping up the storyline in the original El Gato Negro books and continuing EGN’s adventures in the Nocturnal Warrior series.

At the same time I wanted to put the spotlight back on Relampago, as I felt obligated to pay tribute my friend. Afterall, it was he who inspired me to self-publish the first issue of EGN.** Since I had not yet received the consent of the Garza family at that time, any Relampago-related projects were put on hold. Even so, I remained optimistic that we could come to an agreement, but this did not come to pass.

While this does pose a dilemma for the trade-paperback collection (which can no longer feature the fourth or previously unpublished fifth issue) it doesn’t neccesarrily mean the end of the book. At this time I’m uncertain as how to approach it…should the book contain the original three-issues of EGN alone or should I rework the last two issues into a brand-new story? I can’t say for certain at this time. But I’m determined not to let this unfortunate setback derail my plans entirely.

-Richard.

*It was also a bad time to be self-publishing comics. It was during this period that the comic book industry was in turmoil and a lot of indie publishers went belly-up. Even Marvel Comics declared bankruptcy at this time.

**I can honestly say without Relampago- without Margarito Garza- there would be no El Gato Negro. Period.

Cool Beans is a side-project I started working on between the years of 1999 through 2003 that emphasized on the lives of the Ybarra family, but more specifically their youngest son “Beans”. I eventually submitted some samples to The Washington Post as part of their “America’s Next Great Cartoonist” contest held in 2010. Unfortunately the strip didn’t win…come to think of it I never found out who won that contest…But nevertheless, Cool Beans will more than likely remain on the back-burner for now, giving me more time to focus on EGN.

-Richard.