I am extremely sorry for being so late this week. I just returned a few hours ago after attending med school interviews in Toronto and Oakland, California (also why I missed the class the on Thursday).

I really loved the comics this week! Especially the little comic strips. I think comics are an excellent way to highlight and incite debates over a wide spectrum of issues: nationalism, feminism, popular culture, politics, etc. They have often served as a forum for biting political and social satire and driver for changes in social roles and landscape. One reason why comic books are such a popular medium for communication political and social ideas is their wide scale consumption among every section of the society – the poor, the middle class, the rich and the powerful. Another reason for their popularity is that they made weighty topics such as politics both palpable and compelling.

I enjoyed reading The Eternonaut. Oesterheld uses the comic series to engage the Southern population with the ongoing events in global politics. It’s interesting to read about the Cold War from the perspective of Latin Americans who find themselves helpless as the threat of global warfare and destruction looms over their heads. I found it especially interesting that the characters describe US’s nuclear testing in the Pacific as a “hobby”. This series was published over the years 1957-1959. But 50+ years later, nothing much seems to have changed about the US and their meddling with other sovereign countries’ issues.

That said, I definitely enjoyed Mafalda comic strips more! If I ever find myself reading a newspaper on the skytrain or the bus, the comic strips are the first thing I read myself. Some of the Mafalda strips were hilarious. But then everything is a lot funnier when read from the perspective of a little child, I guess. My favourites were Mafalda’s call for ‘world peace’ from her chair, Susanita and Mafalda pretending to be ladies like their mothers, Mafalda’s dad buying her chocolate but still ending up disappointing her and her making fun of soap operas. Many of them are very thought provoking and help you see political situations from the perspective of third-parties. Others highlight the everyday Latin American/Argentinian culture – i.e. women seem to be preoccupied with meaningless discussions during the days, possibly about TV shows; or the soap operas/telenovelas being overly dramatic (almost comically dramatic) while making barely any logical sense. They get the point across succinctly, effectively and in a much fun-ner/engaging way than historical books, and that’s amazing!