Bolivia.
Bolivia
2002
Bolivian comics history is short and thinly documented.
Political caricature came first, with Emiliano Luján winning caricature prizes in 1932 and 1936 and José Luque Medina starting the El Mosquito supplement in 1958 and helping to found the humor magazine Cascabel. A wave of comics grew in the early 2000s around Frank Arbelo, Susana Villegas, Marco Tóxico, Rafaela Rada, Álvaro Ruilova and Joaquín Cuevas, and Periférica Blvd. (2013) is considered the first Bolivian graphic novel. The 2017 exhibition Viñetas con altura named nine gold authors of Bolivian comics.
15
14
2002
2010s
Artists from Bolivia in the archive.
Comics from Bolivia in the archive.
Crash!!, the earliest comic from Bolivia in the archive.
The decade when the most new comics from Bolivia began.
historieta
Bolivia in 3 chapters
A short history you can leaf through. Click a page, use the arrow keys, or press Turn the page to read on.
Bolivia.
3 chapters
Chapter 1
1932
to 1971
Caricature and political humor
1932
to 1971
Chapter 01
Caricature and political humor
Emiliano Luján won caricature prizes in Cochabamba in 1932 and at the National Caricature Exhibition in La Paz in 1936. José Luque Medina started the political supplement El Mosquito at the newspaper La Patria in 1958 and was a founder of the humor magazine Cascabel. A 1971 caricature aimed at the Banzer dictatorship forced him to leave Bolivia.
1997
to 2012
Chapter 02
The comics wave of the 2000s
Cuban-born Frank Arbelo settled in Bolivia in 1997, and in the early 2000s a wave of comics grew around artists such as Susana Villegas, Marco Tóxico, Rafaela Rada and Joaquín Cuevas. Outlets of the period included the magazine Crash!!, the comic supplement Bang! and the fanzine Trazo Tóxico, and the anthology 15 Historietas Bolivianos Contemporáneos appeared in 2005. The festival Viñetas con altura was running by 2006, when it invited the Argentine cartoonist Juan Sáenz Valiente.
2013
to today
Chapter 03
Graphic novels and a national showcase
Periférica Blvd. (2013), drawn by Álvaro Ruilova and Susana Villegas from Adolfo Cárdenas Franco's novel, is considered the first Bolivian graphic novel. Joaquín Cuevas has run the comic shop La Viñeteca since 2014, with branches in La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The 2017 exhibition Viñetas con altura named nine gold authors of Bolivian comics, and the 2024 festival Viñetas Rotas honored Villegas as a pioneer.
The comics to know
- Periférica Blvd.2013 · graphic novelÁlvaro Ruilova and Susana Villegas, from the novel by Adolfo Cárdenas Franco. Considered the first Bolivian graphic novel.
- Super Cholitacomic book seriesRolando Valdez. Aymara superheroine popular in El Alto.
- Cascabelcomics magazineJosé Luque Medina and others. Pioneering political humor magazine in La Paz, reactivated in 2012.
- Crash!!2002 · comics magazineDirected by Frank Arbelo. Bolivian comics magazine with contributors such as Susana Villegas.
- Trazo Tóxicocomics magazineMarco Tóxico and Rafaela Rada. Magazine and fanzine started in the 2000s.
- Boquerón2015 · graphic novelRafaela Rada. One of the best-selling comics at the La Paz International Book Fair.
The people to know
- Susana Villegas ArroyoBorn 1975Comics artist; co-drew the first Bolivian graphic novel.
- Marco TóxicoBorn 1982Fanzine maker and self-publisher; named a gold author in 2017.
- Álvaro RuilovaBorn 1981Writer and artist of classical-style Bolivian comics.
- Rafaela RadaBorn 1980Self-taught comics writer and artist who runs the Axcido label.
- Joaquín CuevasBorn 1982Comics artist and founder of the La Viñeteca shops.
- Al-AzarAlejandro SalazarBorn 1959Cartoonist from Cochabamba; named a gold author in 2017.
- José Luque Medina1937 to 2020Political cartoonist who co-founded Cascabel.
- Frank ArbeloCuban-born illustrator who directed Crash! in Bolivia.