Rius

Eduardo del Río (born June 20, 1934 and better known by his pen name "Rius") is a famous Mexican political cartoonist who was born in Zamora, Michoacán.

One of the most popular Mexican cartoonists, Rius has written over a hundred books that remain widely popular, especially amongst his Mexican readers. Rius is a fierce political activist, and his progressive and left wing point of view is often present in his writings, accompanied by a strong criticism about neo-liberal Mexican doctrines and U.S. Government policies.

In the 1960s he began cartooning in magazines and newspapers, sometimes regarding political themes. He made two famous comics," Los Supermachos" and "Los agachados", which were a humorous criticism of the Mexican government. After his successes with these, he made many books, all illustrated and written by hand by him and covering a range of topics on politics, vegetarianism and religion. His books have become popular mainly because of their humor, which attempts to reach the general reader, as well as for their simplicity. They give an overview of their theme without becoming difficult. His political tendencies are leftist, and he used to be an open advocate of the Cuban revolution.

In 1970, the first English edition of Rius's book "Cuba para principiantes", a humorous comic strip presentation of Cuban history and revolution, was published in the United States as "Cuba for Beginners". The book became an international bestseller and kicked off the "For Beginners" series of books from Writers' & Readers' and later Icon Books. In 1975, Rius published the book "Marx for Beginners", a humorous comic strip representation of Karl Marx's life and ideas.

In the 1990s he participated in two political humor magazines: "El Chahuistle" and "El Chamuco" (named after an insect plague and the devil, respectively, because they were harsh on politicians).

His success and long career have made him a reference point to the newer generations of political cartoonists in Mexico.Mexican director Alfonso Arau made a movie based on characters appearing on "Los Supermachos" in 1973.

Selected bibliography of Rius's books (free translation of the title)

*"Filosofía para principiantes (Desde Platón hasta hace rato) (Philosophy for Beginners: From Plato up to a little while ago)"
*"La panza es primero (The Belly First)"
*"Marx para principiantes (Marx for Beginners)"
*"Puré de Papas" (about the history of the heads of the Catholic Church) "(Pope/Potato Mash)"
*"500 años fregados pero cristianos (500 Years Screwed but Christian)"
*"ABC Che" (about Che Guevara)
*"Kama Nostra" (Bed Nostra)
*"Cuba para principiantes (Cuba for Beginners)"
*"La Biblia: Esa linda tontería (The Bible: That Cute Nonsense)"
*"La deuda externa y cómo no pagarla (The External Debt and How Not to Pay It)"
*"Manual del perfecto ateo (Manual of the Perfect Atheist)"
*"Mis supermachos (My Supermachos)"
*"La Iglesia y otros cuentos (The Church and Other Tales)"
*"Lástima de Cuba (It's a Pity, Cuba)"
*"Los Panuchos" (history of the National Action Party or PAN)
*"Machismo, feminismo y homosexualismo (Sexism, Feminism and Homosexualism)"
*"Pequeño Rius Ilustrado (Small Illustrated Rius)"
*"Rius para principiantes (Rius for Beginners)"
*"Herejes, ateos y malpensados (vol. I y II) (Heretics, Atheist and Disingenous)"
*"Cómo dejar de comer (mal) (How to Stop Eating... Bad Things)"
*"La mamá del Quijote (Quixote's Mum)"
*"Cristo de carne y hueso (Christ of Flesh and Blood)"
*"Jesús alias el Cristo (Jesus Alias the Christ)"
*"Filatelia para cuerdos (Philatelia for Sane People)"
*"RecetaRIUS: 100 propuestas para salvar lo que queda de México (RecetaRIUS: 100 Proposals to Save What is Left of Mexico)"
*"Con perdón de Doré (y de la Biblia) (Forgive me, Doré (and Forgive me, Bible))"
*"Su Majestad el PRI (His majesty PRI)"
*"El católico preguntón (The Inquisitor Catholic)"
*"Osama Tío Sam (Osama Uncle Sam) [Also meant to be read as Os Ama Tío Sam (Uncle Sam Loves You)] "
*"El libro de las malas palabras (The Book of the Bad Words)"
*"El fracaso de la educación en México (The Failure of Mexican Education)"
*"Marihuana, cocaína y otros viajes (Marijuana, Cocaine and Other Trips)"
*"Diccionario de la estupidez humana (Dictionary of Human Stupidity)"
*"El supermercado de las sectas (The Supermarket of Sects)"
*"Trukulenta historia del capitalismo (The Tricky History of Capitalism)"
*"Los panuchos (The Panuchos)"
*"La revolucioncita mexicana (The Little Mexican Revolution)"
*"Filosofia para principiantes (Philosophy for Beginners)"
*"TodoRius (AllRius)"
*"Votas y te vas (Vote then leave)"
*"Horóscopos, tarot y otras tomadas de pelo (Horoscopes, Tarot and other Frauds)"
*"Atlas para niños y niñas (An Atlas for Children)"

External links

* [http://rius.com.mx/ Official Rius website] (in Spanish)
* [http://www.vinculando.org/papa_caliente/ Rius' recent works] (in Spanish)
* [http://www.vinculando.org/papa_caliente/ Current articles from Rius] from Vinculando.org (in Spanish)
* [http://www.fotolog.com/e_rius Pictures from Rius' books] an unofficial Rius Fotolog (in Spanish)
* [http://supermachos.toliro.com/ Webpage about issue #1 of comic book "Los Supermachos"] from Los Supermachos Remasterizados (in Spanish)
* [http://elchamuco.com.mx/ El Chamuco] , official web site of "El Chamuco", a comic magazine about Mexican politics and critics founded by Rius (in Spanish)

Rius is amazing