Malcolm Venville's photos of 150 Mexico City wrestlers are on display at Equator Books in Venice (Los Angeles area) through the end of November. Link to gallery info. The photographer appeared on NPR "Day to Day" (disclaimer: I'm a contributor) today, Link to archived audio. I'm guessing he did not show up for the interview taping in a luchador mask, but one never knows, do one? These photos, and the characters behind them, are wonderful. These guys have names like Astro Boy, Super Pinocho 3000, Raziel, Super Porky and Coco Verde ("green coconut"), the green clown. (Thanks, Michael Doig)
Reader comment: David Gallardo says,
Lucha libre seems to be getting a lot of press lately. Maybe it's some sort of zeitgeist thing? The first recent mention I heard of it was at a friend's small El Paso-based publishing company, Cinco Puntos Press, late last year or early this year, when I noticed they had a book under production at the time called Lucha Libre: The Man in the Silver Mask. They specialize in regional (US/Mexico border) books and bilingual (Spanish/English) books for kids, Lucha Libre being one of the latter. It came out a few months ago & it's terrrific. My 5 year old son loves it. Link to book info.
(BTW, I don't have a financial interest in Cinco Puntos, just a fan & friend. They're a really great small publishing company publishing really interesting, timely multicultural books. You might have heard of them when they made the front page of the NY Times a few years; they published a children's book by Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatista Army in Chiapas and had their NEA grant for the book yanked retroactively.)
Reader comment: Greg Howell says,
There’s also the Cartoon Network series called “Mucha Lucha.” It’s been on the air for over a year, and is generally entertaining to the young folks at home (boys under 10 yrs). Link
Reader comment: Jesse Irwin nos escribe,
"La Arena" is a rich online resource for Lucha Libre history, featuring detailed profiles of about 300 luchadors. Link.
Reader comment: Y el Sr. Bali Hai nos dice:
You recently updated your post on Lucha photography to include a link to Mucha Lucha on Cartoon Network. You may be interested to know that the show's creators, Eddie Mort and Lili Chin have their own, excellent, pop-culture weblog: Link
