Not much has been written in the comic press about El Chismoso Valiente, a self-published comic written and drawn by Ignacio “Nacho” Chazin in the early 90s. He eschewed the glossy full-sized comic book form for the 4.25″ x 5.5″ zine. Given his constant crossing the Mexicali border, this more properly could be noted as the size of Mexican comics such as Fantomas and the Santo photo-fumetti he would have grown up on, with much of the same draftsmanship.
Or perhaps it was merely the cost of folding over copied pages once they were printed and stapled himself. I have tried to confirm that he used the Kinko’s in El Centro as his primary print shop, but any records they held were lost when it burned to the ground in the early 2000s.
Próximo mes, el super-sized issue 50. Will el Chismoso Valiente overcome the dreaded tomcat fakeout of la Chancla Poderosa? Or will his reputation be ruined? Will his secret identity, Rigoberto Guapa reveal his true feelings at last? Who is watching the red chili?
Guest starring la fabulosa Gloria Trevi.
Chazin’s art was a throwback to the 60s and 70s in an era largely populated by the muscular aesthetics popularized by Image Comics. You can see a Frank Robbins influence on the fluidity of his figures, counterpointed suddenly with a Pete Morisi pop of flattened characters across muted backgrounds. And yet, there would be, especially in the antagonists like la Noche Roja, such delicate precision in the dress, the draping of boxed shoulders like Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce, the stiletto heel framed perfectly in the front panel, all of the stitching inlaid as if a real shoe.
And his protagonist, the androgynous el Chismoso Valiente, clothed in sleek tight fitting jodhpurs and billowy blouses, evokes the sensual pencils of Guido Crepax dipped in the late-60s sensibilities of Mike Sekowsky, alternating thin brush strokes across the thighs and hips with a sudden thick line of raised eyebrow and pouty lips.
This is expressed rather crudely in the earlier issues, but Chazin quickly finds his footing by issue seven. And much like the alter ego discussion that permeates Bruce Wayne/Batman of who is the man and who is the mask, and all the underlying sexual tensions therein, the same could be asked of Rigoberto Guapa, the genial playboy in the height of sartorial, who oft comes off more fashion cypher than a man. Only alive as el Chismoso Valiente.
Próximo mes, en issue 4, el Chismoso Valiente follows the steps of a missing husband…a husband holding the keys to a corporate kingdom. La Jefa holds the answer to this and more…if only Rigoberto Guapa can wrap his head around her lies…her thighs…
Guest starring the incomparable Isele Vega.
Sadly, much of the delicate detail in Chazin’s panels is only hinted at, varying copy to copy even of the same issue, the softness of the reproduction muting the pencilwork. As though viewed through an antique mirror, or as if someone had smeared Vaseline on the damned copy machine. I’ve often wondered if this was a deliberate choice by Chazin.
I once came across a purported Chazin original piece at Comic-Con in 2001. The line is similar to what you see in the early cruder issues, but there was no provenance from the dealer. It was a Lorena Velázquez pinup piece. Nothing I could tie to any issue. I paid $75 for it. Later I found out the seller was arrested for forging Jack Kirby sketches. I now presume the Chazin was drawn from the same well. Who did pencil my Chismoso Valiente? It’s actually an interesting piece. A little reminiscent of Reed Waller’s work.
Próximo mes, en issue 16, el Chismoso Valiente travels into the high desert chasing a lost girl, a punk rock bus, and…aliens? Who is el Extranjero Gris? An extraterrestrial? A masquerading como Rigoberto’s lost schoolyard crush? Chismoso must fight the heat…the fear…the desert.
Guest vocals from the incomparable Alice Bag.
Chazin’s use of a guest star in each issue affords the title some cult cachet outside of the comic book realm. Especially in the world of classic Mexican film. Certainly, more than his pencils or storylines. The free form inclusion of actors and pop culture figures owes a debt to the Santo comics of the 70s with their liberal poaching of all manner of characters on the covers. But in the 90s, the threat of intellectual property gigantes was very real. DC threatened to sue to prevent the Wonder Woman appearance in issue 62. In many ways, this foreshadowed the death knell for the book.
Próximo mes, en issue 62, el Chismoso Valiente opens a mysterious capsule and time trips to the groovy 60s. What does Gory “el Che” Guevera hope to accomplish in changing Chismoso’s future? Rigoberto Guapa straps on the go go boots and dives into a world of communistas y free love.
Guest starring la fabulosa Diana Prince, Wonder Woman.
Later issues came to be filled with text as much as comic artwork, in many ways mirroring Steve Ditko’s self-published work from the 70s on. It’s unclear if Chazin was influenced by Ditko at the time. When his Brawley apartment was finally opened by the police on a welfare check, there was nothing but a cot bed and a fridge filled with Jarritos soda. Mandarin y Piña. Everything else had been cleared out. His desk, file cabinets, todo, had been removed, leaving only marks on the cheap plastic linoleum sheets. A partially torn envelope in Ditko’s files does have Chazin’s return address on it, creating circumstantial evidence they were in contact.
Próximo mes, en issue 73, el Chismoso Valiente confronts the…
Guest starring…no one. The issue never saw print. Chazin simply disappeared.
Rumors persist around Chazin and his fate. He lives in Juarez and works on bootleg Fantomas books. He does erotic Blue Demon pinups under a false name. More darkly, they hint at cartel unhappy with background characters that appeared to be mock them and their lifestyle. Hence the lack of files, the lack of body…the lack of anything.
And of course, there are the chupacabra tales. But we all know those couldn’t possibly be real…
Próximo mes, en issue 22, el Chismoso Valiente finds himself caught in a nightclub web of backbiting, backstabbing…and corridos? Abandoning his mask, as Rigoberto Guapa he must navigate pasties and panties as he chases down la Noche Roja, the Red Night.
Guest starring la Tigresa, Irma Serrano.
Joe Hilliard. Writer. Luddite. Teller of Tales. Grew up as a teen in Los Angeles on a diet of Blue Demon, Doc Savage, Philip K. Dick, the Circle Jerks, Mildred Pierce, Judge Dredd, and 50s science fiction films, on the fringe of 80s Hollywood. Graduate of the University of Michigan, which only added Kawabata, Krazy Kat, and William S. Burroughs to the mix. Marks time as a paralegal in sunny California. Going back to his noir-tinged youth, The Bride Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich for him is the ultimate revenge tale…bleak, getting bleaker. And that ending!
