“With vibrant perspectives, depth, and tons of heart, From Cocinas to Lucha Libre Ringsides has something for everyone.” —Ngozi Ukazu, New York Times–bestselling creator of Check, Please!
“Best thing since tacos.” —José R. Ralat, taco editor for Texas Monthly
“Like my fave breakfast-of-champs dish, menudo, these graphic vignettes of food and sports warm the soul with their mix of savory, earthy, and zesty adventures. Each one packs an unforgettable kick, celebrating the rich diversity of our shared heritage and community.” —Matt García , farmer, historian, and author of Eli and the Octopus
“Santo cielo, luchadores! This high-flying, knock-out Latinographix collection on food and sports goes straight to the heart of lucha cultura. It’ll leave you in awe, like a ringside fan, and wanting muchos más. ” —Kevin Kleinrock, writer, publisher, producer, and president of Masked Republic
“Holy pozole! This powerhouse team of Latinx creatives dishes out vibrant, word-drawn biographical stories that celebrate our splendorous cultural heritage—from our mesa de cocinas to fútbol fields, baseball diamonds, wrestling rings, and beyond.” —Melissa Castillo Planas, award-winning author, scholar, and former restaurant worker
“A menudo—or is it a mofongo? or a combo plate? or a sancocho? or matambre?—of humor, pathos, fabulous illustrations, and everything us Latines love in our cuentos.” —Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times columnist and author of Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America
“Comic stories about Latino food and sports? I’d like a dozen, por favor! This comics anthology has made me hungry for both autobiographical comics and all the delicious Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Latin American food depicted in its stunning visual buffet. Consuming page after page of amazing artwork and intimate food and sports tales will stir your soul and nourish your panza. From childhood food memories and first bites to gripping tales of lucha libre, fútbol, and fandom, these stories come together like a graphic pozole of flavor explosions. Another serving, please!” —Lalo Alcaraz, nationally syndicated cartoonist, graphic novelist, and screenwriter
In this comics anthology full of humor and heart, writers and artists from across the US pay tribute to the ways food and sports endure as touchstones in the Latin American diaspora. In the vein of Frederick Luis Aldama’s bestselling anthology Tales from la Vida, creators offer slice-of-life comics in an array of styles to capture common threads that bind this dizzyingly diverse community. From a simple quesadilla eaten hot on the way to school, to a Puerto Rican grandmother’s offering of guineitos en escabeche, to a homesick Chicano punk’s reverse-engineered tamales, food is a gift from elders to children, a marker of continuity and togetherness amid a dominant culture that may dismiss its flavors. Sports, too, provide a path to friendship and connection across national and language barriers, anchoring fans and participants in a sense of identity and place, whether through the perseverance of the Mayan game pok ta’ pok, the unifying surge of lucha libre or soccer fandom, or a father and daughter’s shared love of horse racing. Together, the creators collected in From Cocinas to Lucha Libre Ringsides share a mosaic of stories that vividly portray Latinx identity and life today.
Contributors: Aleasha Acevedo, José Alaniz, Frederick Luis Aldama, Julio Anta, Charlene Bowles, David Bowles, Adrian Carrillo, José Cabrera, Valerie Martinez Cabrera, Mauricio Alberto Cordero, Jaime Crespo, Celeste Cruz, Ernesto Cuevas Jr., Chris Escobar, Rolando Esquivel, Tim Fielder, Dustin Garcia, Eric J. García, Jorge Garza, Oscar Garza, Lucas Gattoni, Blas Goncalves-Borrego, Estella González, Carina Guevara, Aaron Guzman, Javier Hernandez, Sam Jimenez, Eric Kittelberger, Alberto Ledesma, Pablo Leon, Darren López, Patrick Lugo, Jarred A. Luján, Eliamaría Madrid, Miguel Martinez, Paloma Martínez-Cruz, Carlos Meyer, Marisol Meyer Driovínto, Paul Meyer, Rosie Murillo, Rafael Navarro, Daniel Parada, Stephanie Nina Pitsirilos, Jazmin Puente, Raúl the Third, Anna Maria Richardson, Hector Rodriguez III, Theresa Rojas, Rafael Rosado, Andrea Rosales, Justin Rueff, Irma Ruiz, Angela M. Sánchez, Serenity Serseción, Javier Solórzano, Josh Trujillo, Cayetano Valenzuela, Diana “Dianita” Vargas Sampieri, Andrés Vera Martínez
Frederick Luis Aldama, a.k.a. Professor Latinx, is an award-winning author and editor of dozens of fiction books, comics, animation shorts, and scholarly books, including the anthology Tales from la Vida and the picture books The Adventures of Chupacabra Charlie and Con Papá / With Papá. The series editor for Latinographix, he is the founder and director of the Latinx Pop Lab and holds the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin.
Angela M. Sánchez is a writer, cartoonist, magician, staff writer for Disney TVA, and author of the series Scruffy and the Egg, which addresses single parenthood and homelessness.
Contents
Foreword
Estella González, “Brown Soul Nourishment”
I: Cocinas
Decolonizing Destructive Lived Legacies
Jorge Garza, “Elotera”
Valerie Martínez Cabrera and Andrés Vera Martínez, “Lamesa”
Eliamaría Madrid, “Churros”
Stephanie Nina Pitsirilos and Aaron Guzman, “It Ain’t This But That”
Serenity Serseción, “Tengo Hambre”
José Cabrera, “Limburger”
Eric J. García, “Tamale Man Origin Story”
Angela M. Sánchez, “Nopal”
Building Bridges, Building Community
David Bowles and Charlene Bowles, “Cocinando”
Jaime Crespo, “Quesadilla”
Paul Meyer, Carlos Meyer, and Irma Ruiz, “The Piñon Pickers”
Marisol Meyer Driovínto, “The Three Sisters”
Irma Ruiz and Paul Meyer, “Comfort Food”
José Alaniz, “¡Cabecita!”
Rosie Murillo, “Caldo de Pollo”
Rafael Rosado, “El Limber”
Justin Rueff, “Holiday Tamalada”
Pains, Pleasures, and Wellness
Diana “Dianita” Vargas Sampieri, “Mi Desayuno Favorito”
Rafael Navarro, “A Battle in the Bulge!”
Adrian Carrillo, “Ascension”
Hector Rodriguez III, “El Menudo”
Chris Escobar, “Escobars & Álvarez”
Patrick Lugo, “The Lechón That Almost Got Away”
Rememory, Healing, and Reconquistas
Theresa Rojas, “Sense Memory”
Ernesto Cuevas Jr., “Los Meanie Tacos”
Cayetano Valenzuela, “Tamales for the Cure”
Blas Goncalves-Borrega, “Chalice Time”
Josh Trujillo and Aleasha Acevedo, “Arturo’s Puffy Taco”
Daniel Parada, “Tamales”
Jarred A. Luján, Andrea Rosales, and Lucas Gattoni, “Good Flavor”
Frederick Luis Aldama and Angela M. Sánchez, “The Great Chile Stand-Off”
II: Sports y Locura
Our Struggles . . . Our Lucha
Josh Trujillo and Celeste Cruz, “Pok Ta’ Pok”
Javier Solórzano, “Nuestra Lucha”
Sam Jimenez, Miguel Martinez, and Anna Maria Richardson, “Greatest Sport in the World”
Javier Hernandez, “¡Lucha Libre de Campeones!”
Raúl the Third, “El Ring”
Tim Fielder, Oscar Garza, and Rolando Esquivel, “The Final Four!”
Belonging . . . Dolor y Alegría
Jazmin Puente, “I Dislike Soccer”
Julio Anta and Pablo Leon, “The Beautiful Game”
Carina Guevara, “Off to the Races”
Mauricio Alberto Cordero, “Libres Para Luchar”
Dustin Garcia, “What Is Sport?”
Darren López and Eric Kittelberger, “Kings of the Diamond”
Alberto Ledesma, “Lessons from the Undocumented Foul Line”
Afterword
Paloma Martínez-Cruz, “Porras for Cocinas to Lucha Libre Ringsides”
List of Contributors
“Sports, food, and locura—I love them all. Sitting on my porch basking in the Dodgers’ World Series glory, I remember how, each offseason, my friend Fred Willard and I would grab a sportsbook to make spring games come faster. Now, with Fred Aldama, we have that book. It’s a game-changer. Dig in. Enjoy. ¡Vámonos! ” —Peter Murrieta, award-winning author, producer, showrunner, and deputy director of the Sidney Poitier New American Film School
“Gorgeous and empowering, this collection celebrates two pillars of Latinx culture and identity: food and sports. Welcoming readers from all backgrounds—whether deeply rooted in or entirely new to the Latinx comics scene—its spectrum of creatives invites us to gather at kitchen tables and cheer loudly from sports arenas. Inspiring and joyful, From Cocinas to Lucha Libre Ringsides is sure to be an indispensable go-to for generations to come.” —Ignacio Sánchez Prado, Jarvis Thurston and Mona Van Duyn Professor in the Humanities, Washington University
“These all-star Latine creatives blend vibrant art with heartfelt vignettes to celebrate the cultures, histories, and myths shaping the rich ways it means to be Latine in the Americas. A bases-loaded triple with a walk-off homer, From Cocinas to Lucha Libre Ringsides knocks it out of the ballpark.” —Jennifer Domino Rudolph, author of Baseball as Mediated Latinidad
