BOOKS
A Comic Bridge to Understanding
Carlo Quispe’s art, stories engage queer, immigrant politics
BY GARY M. KRAMER
Carlo Quispe is a Peruvian
born out gay comic
book artist and author.
His books and characters
include “Carlito,” about a 10-yearold
gay boy, the Latinx superhero
of “Supermanuel,” and “Political
Will,” about a queer activist. He
has also published “Uranus Comics”
and “WW3 Illustrated,” as well
as “Hairy Tales,” about a gay werewolf,
which Pablo Oliverio turned
into a terrifi c animated short fi lm.
On September 19, Quispe will
kick off his appearance at the 2019
New York Art Book Fair — held at
MoMA PS1 in Long Island City —
by creating a live drawing, During
the fair, which runs through September
22, he will present the latest
editions of “WW3 Illustrated” and
“Uranus Comics, Vol. 2” as part of
its “Friendly Fire” program. In his
appearance, he will premiere the
“Creature of Uranus,” he explained
in a recent phone interview, tittering
at the name and warning, “It’s
coming to invade Planet Earth!”
The artist draws on his life for
his work. He grew up in Lima but
also spent time in Madrid in the
1980s as a young boy. His family
moved the US in the summer of
1991, when car and letter bombs
posed a threat to his family in Peru.
Emigrating to America and winning
protection through political
asylum, Quispe eventually ended
up on Long Island with his mother,
following his parents’ divorce.
It was as a child that he fi rst discovered
comics.
“I think that comics helped me
learn colloquial English,” he said.
“Marvel would phonetically spell
accents, and that helped me acclimate
to living in the US, so comics
were important to me... My dad
would get humor comics for himself
and I would read them. It was
something my dad and I had in
common.”
Quispe read adventure comics
and adaptations of classics such as
Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.” After
arriving in the US, his reading
became “Spiderman” and “X-Men.”
“Supermanuel” is Carlo Quispe’s superhero comic that has a decidedly political bent.
At 16, he also discovered, in a
comic shop that had a gay section,
Howard Cruse’s collection “Wendel,”
which was life-changing.
“It was my fi rst exposure to homosexual
life outside of Hollywood
and porn,” Quispe said. “I’m a Latino
Wendel!”
Quispe acknowledged that his
character, Political Will, is a “more
radical version of Wendel.” The artist
features gay characters and gay
sex unapologetically in his work
and explained he was inspired as a
teen by “The Joy of Gay Sex,” a gift
from his 17-year-old boyfriend.
“The book opened with a series
of explicit illustrations. I had never
seen such an instructive and fun
book — and I was 16!,” he recalled.
“I found it more erotic than real
porn. There was a section in there
about the anus. I thought: What if
I could make a comic about this
topic? I made this little pamphlet
on how to do it for the fi rst time. I
COURTESY OF CARLO QUISPE
created my own gay character who
would stand in for me and my partner.
I tried to make it interesting
and naughty — how to lube yourself
up and douche — but I didn’t
want to do it in a didactic way.”
The comic won praise, which led
Quispe to creating gay comics with
Jennifer Camper of “subGURLZ”
fame. Camper introduced him to
Cruse, who encouraged him to do
more autobiographical work. “Carlito”
was born.
“People think it’s a cute kid’s story,
but it’s not,” Quispe said. “It is
hard for me to be open about immigration
and to capitalize on it.
But I feel like the immigrant experience
is told by Trump in a negative
way. I feel responsible to be the
antidote to that. I know the reality,
and I’m lucky to put it out there.
A US citizen since 2000, Quispe
explained, “I initially wanted to
make a comic denouncing white
savior mentality. But then I realized
I could put my argument in a
different way, and instead of making
people feel bad about this issue
or like they are part of the problem
I could make them fall in love with
my story. Instead of being aggressive,
and combative, and confrontational,
I changed my approach to
tell the story of me as a little kid
and what I know about immigration.
People are upset by kids in
cages, but I didn’t want to use that
imagery. The only way to relate
their story to mine was that I was
a kid.”
This is the strength of Quispe’s
work. He balances serious and humorous
elements to engage readers
and educate them about an issue.
“I want to make it a Platonic exercise,
where two characters can
have a dialogue and go in different
directions,” he said. “Because
I have fi ve or eight pages to tell a
story, I have to be economical and
stuff in as much content as possible
in these frames — which is
why my comics end up a bit wordy.
I have so much more I want to tell.
So, I do it in a visual detail or offhand
comment.”
Quispe is political, but his messages
go down easy because his
comics are highly stylized and
clever. They make readers laugh
and think. Quispe deliberately
presents situations where folks
can make up their own minds.
“I hope I can present a side in
a way they can understand it,” he
said. “When I make comics, I think
of the typical reader for that publication.”
Quispe also talked about broadening
the reach of comics.
“I am aware that this industry
is about appealing to white audiences,
but I am trying to expand
that readership to queer and Latin
people,” he said. “‘Supermanuel’ is
in color — that’s the only way I can
do it, because he is brown. ”
CARLO QUISPE | “Uranus Comics
#2” & “WW3 Illustrated” | New
York Art Book Fair | MoMA PS1, 22-
25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Ave., Long
Island City | Sep. 19-22 | printedmatterartbookfairs.
org
September 12 - September 25, 2 38 019 | GayCityNews.com
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