The Fantasmical Gothic Heterotopia in Rhode Montijo’s Pablo’s Inferno
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37536/cr.2021.16.2981Keywords:
Chicanx comics, gothic, Mexican American heritage, children’s gothic, Mexican folklore, Aztec mythologyAbstract
Rhode Montijo’s work is characterized by a distinctive blend of diverse elements converging in his “fantasmical world”. As comic book artist, he is the author of the limited series Pablo’s Inferno (1999-2000), narrating a little Mexican American boy’s travel through the underworld. Accompanied by fallen demi-god Quetzal, Pablo embarks in a quest to (re)discover his cultural roots and commit to them. Like most of Montijo’s work, the comic book series holds an intrinsic gothic mode exploiting the playful nature of the comic medium and interrogating Mexican American heritage, by means of absorption of different genres, tropes, and diegetic elements. By examining the use of the Gothic distinctive of his work, the analysis will highlight the representation of the elements the author retrieved from his strong connection with Mexican heritage and the modes of children’s gothic fiction, revealing the unique cross-genre Montijo created to convey the identity related issues peculiar to the Mexican American experience.
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