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The Next Generation of Comics Scholarship

Sandino and Other Superheroes: The Function of Comic Books in Revolutionary Nicaragua
Brain Draper

Introduction
Most people don't associate comic books with revolution, but does this cultural form -- traditionally the territory of superheroes and talking animals -- have the potential to transmit radical ideological content? In seeking to answer that question, this paper will analyze comics produced by the Sandinista government in Nicaragua from 1979-1990. Despite their marginalization as "low" artistic and literary cultural productions, comic books are an extremely popular medium -- especially in Latin America -- and are often quite artistically and ideologically complex. Governments and other important political, economic, and social actors have recognized the power of comic books as a medium for intormation, education, and ideology, and have produced them in great numbers with various motives (including, of course, profit). In Nicaragua, numerous comic books were created directly under, or financed by, various agencies of the Frente Sandinista de Liberaci6n Nacional (FSLN) government during its decade in power. This phenomenon presents a remarkable case study of the multiple potential functions of popular art and literature in a radically transforming revolutionary state. The new revolutionary government which took power in 1979 inherited the problems of the Somoza dynasty it had toppled and the contradictions of maintaining a newly democratic state in the face of U.S. interference and internal opposition. Why would such a government produce and distribute comic books? What place did such a maligned art form -- treated with condescension by the cultural elite of most societies -- have in the revolutionary transformation of Nicaragua? My engagement with these questions will be organized as follows: First I will introduce the theoretical and methodological foundations that will guide the case study, which forms the body of this work. The primary theory is Antonio Gramsci's hegemony, a contested concept from which I will distill a useful framework for understanding the role of the Sandinista comic books. Then, I will discuss the excellent comics scholarship of Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart -- specifically, their book Para Leer al Pato Donald (How to Read Donald Duck), which provides the precedent for and methodological backbone of my study. This section will conclude with a note on methods, which will lay out my approach IJOCA, Fall 2009

137 and its relation to these theoretical and methodological tools. Next I will provide a targeted historical overview of the Nicaraguan situation leading up to the FSLN takeover, concentrating on factors relevant to the comic book content which will be discussed. Thus situated, the case study will proceed in two interwoven parts. First, I will describe the Sandinista ideology, the FSLN's transformative social programs, and the governmental structure as it evolved from the revolution until the FSLN's electoral defeat in 1990. The second part will take the form of a qualitative content analysis of the comic books -- armed with historical understanding and the above-mentioned theoretical and methodological tools -- an approach I will explain further in the methods section. This content analysis will link the comic books to the FSLN ideology and political structure, and the material reality of Nicaragua during the 1980s. Finally, I will attempt to synthesize the results of this case study into a cohesive explanation of the role the literary and artistic products of "low culture" can play in the processes of revolutionary transformation and cultural progress.

Theory
The major goal of this paper is to demonstrate the hegemonic function of state-produced comic books through an analysis of their content. As such, the paper requires a theory of hegemony which explains the use of popular culture media for the formation of ideology (and why the state should deem this important), and a methodology which can identify the ideological content of the comic books.

Hegemony Antonio Gramsci's theory of hegemony provides a strong basis for understanding political power in modern times. As a nuanced adjunct to Marxian historical materialism, it accounts for the role of ideology in the control of populations and the stability of the state. Hegemony can help explain how an oppressed class remains subjugated without the use of force by the ruling class. To illustrate the concept, in The Modern Prince, Gramsci invokes "Macchiavelli's centaur -- half-animal and halfhuman. They are the levels of force and consent, authority and hegemony, violence and civilisation..." (Gramsci, 1970:170). These levels of force and consent vary depending on the material conditions, but there is always an element of consent. That is, Gramsci is arguing that people agree to and participate in their own oppression to some degree. This understanding of the relationship between force and consent is a IJOCA, Fall 2009

138 part of Gramsci's reinterpretation of Marx's historical materialism. While Marx privileges the (economic) base and views the (ideological) superstructure as its consequence, Gramsci sees the ideological side as determinant as well. Gramsci's fundamental project was to theorize a process of revolution more in line with the realities of 20th Century parliamentary democracies-- in particular, Italy. The objective material (that is, economic) conditions were not inevitably spawning the class-consciousness of the proletariat, as predicted by orthodox Marxian interpretation. Nor did Vladimir Lenin's specific brand ofvanguardism, which had successfully fomented revolution in Russia, seem appropriate for the situation of Italy. There had to be both an explanation for and a solution to the problem -- the gap between the material conditions in the base and the proletariat's understanding of those conditions. Why wasn't revolution a natural consequence of growing class oppression? Gramsci posits that the proletariat remains subjugated because it accepts, as its "common sense," the ideology of the bourgeoisie. The way to overturn this order is for the various "subaltern" groups, which comprise the working class, to create (and unite under) a new ideology -- one that is in line with their common class interests and legitimizes revolution. Doug Brown (1990:43) calls this process "democratic hegemony," in order to distinguish it from Lenin's vanguardism, in which the party imposes its ideology from above (he calls this "authoritarian hegemony"). Brown, following Laclau and Mouffe, argues that Democratic hegemony "is not a process of molding diverse groups' interests and tasks into conformity with what have been imputed to be those of the working class" (44). He further contends that the leadership of the FSLN during the Nicaraguan revolution' lies on a spectrum between democratic and authoritarian hegemony, but much closer to the former, adding that "To understand Nicaragua's revolution it is necessary to view it as a hegemonic process that is not only situated but also moves along this spectrum between the two poles" (45). The main focus of this article is situating Nicaragua's political pluralism in relation to the first-world "rights discourse," but what is useful here is the "democratic hegemony" concept.2 The idea of a "democratic hegemony," as applied to Nicaragua by Brown, is problematic in the way it isjuxtaposed against an artificial foil -- dictatorship. He claims that "With respect to Gramsci's distinction between rule by coercion and rule by hegemony... Sandinista Nicaragua is the latter. In other words, it does not have the character of a totalitarian, military dictatorship" (45). This seems to be a false dichotomy if the discussion is about different gradients of hegemony. It goes without saying that Gramsci's conception of hegemony is incompatible with the pure force of a military dictatorship -- a real measure of a hegemonic rule would be between its democratic and authoritarian forms. The very essence of Gramscian hegemony is consent,' so if Sandinista Nicaragua were a dictatorship, the concept would not even come into play. This conflation of the "authoritarian hegemony" of Lenin with military
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139 dictatorship proper confuses the matter. Disregarding this error, the authoritarian tendency should be understood as the hegemonic leader's subordination of the pluralistic interests of the subaltern classes to the "party will," which is represented as the interest of these disparate groups. This is done by consent, but it is a consent achieved through indoctrination toward narrow party interests. When seen in this light, Gramsci's own notion of hegemony falls somewhere in the middle of the democratic/authoritarian spectrum, as outlined in The Modern Prince:
the most political phase lot the "relations of forces" in hegemonic transformation] ...creatles] the hegemony of a fundamental social group over a series of subordinate groups.. the dominant group is coordinated concretely with the general interests of the subordinate groups, and the

life of the State is conceived of as a continuous process of formation and


superseding of unstable equilibria (on the juridical plane) between the

interests of the fundamental group and those of the subordinate groups


-- equilibria in which the interests of the dominant group prevail, but

only up to a certain point, i.e. Stopping short of narrowly corporate


economic interest (Gramsci, 1972:181-182).

Gramsci here is describing the potential hegemonic function of an ideal Italian Communist Party in the building of revolution, and its role in governance. This is neither Lenin's total subjugation to the party line nor the radical pluralism which Brown advocates.' For Gramsci, the "party" is empowered to articulate the "greater good" and negotiate between this bottom line and the needs of subaltern groups. Comic books produced by a revolutionary state represent an even more nuanced form of hegemony theory than those discussed above. Hegemony can be viewed as a spectrum, with Lenin's authoritarian version on one end, Brown's radical pluralism on the other, and Gramsci's original conception in the middle. Along this spectrum, the kind of hegemony represented by the transmission of ideology through comics is located somewhere between the models of Brown and Gramsci. The FSLN-produced comic books are part of the consent half of Machiavelli's centaur, but a consent forged from above. This is not an imposition by the hegemonic leader (in this case the FSLN), but an attempt at forming a broad coalition amongst the "subaltern," with party goals and ideology in the foreground.

Duckology The seminal work on ideology in comic books is Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart's How To Read Donald Duck. It is a unique piece of scholarship for numerous reasons: it was published in Chile during Salvador Allende's short reign as president; it is unabashedly polemical and antiIJOCA, Fall 2009

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imperialist, and it achieved mass circulation within Chile and globally. It was produced within a revolutionary state declaring its independence from U.S. domination -- a brief opening for anti-imperialist critique in a history of exploitation and repression: A situation, in these terms, roughly similar to Nicaragua in the 1980s -- a Latin American nation in open revolt. The main thrust of How to Read Donald Duck is stated clearly in the subtitle to the English edition: "Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic." The book is an examination of the subtle indoctrination carried out by the seemingly innocent Disney comic books. Such a study is in direct contradiction to the tradition of comic book criticism which precedes it, and most work
since: [Recent comics scholarshipl trie[s] to determine whether cartoons and comics can qualify as great art, using methodologies pivoting on canon formation, inspired creation, and transcendent aesthetic qualities. Denied consideration are those issues that Dorfman and Mattelart raised 20 years ago: the place of popular culture within the context of global
capitalism and domestic and international politics (Smoodin, 2001).

Dorfman and Mattelart find, in Disney's depiction of children, animals, "savages," the third world, sex, and economic relations, evidence of procapitalist bourgeois ideology (Dorfman and Mattelart, 1991).1 Part of the reason for this is described as such: "In its entertainment, [the bourgeois class] automatically generates certain myths functional to the system. It is altogether normal for readers experiencing the conflicts of their age from within the perspective of the imperialist system, to see their own daily life, and projected future, reflected in the Disney system" (96). But the Disney comics are not consumed solely by members of the first-world bourgeois class. In 1972, one year after the publication of How to Read DonaldDuck, the Chilean edition of Disney comics sold 800,00 copies per month (Kunzle in Dorfman and Mattelart, 1991:15). U.S. bourgeois cultural products were being -- and continue to be -- consumed at a great rate by members of all classes in the third world -cultural products which carry the values and ideology of the dominant nation and class. The contribution of Dorfman and Mattelart then, is to reveal a new way of seeing comic books: a critical method which is less interested in the formal elements than the content -- and content here does not mean the literary value or cleverness of characterization and plot. It is the ideology presupposed and invoked by the relations between those characters; the moral found in the resolution of the clever plot. Dorfman and Mattelart proceed panel-by-panel through 100 Disney comics, extracting the meaning from every speech bubble and visual metaphor. This critical method does not come from a detached academic neutrality, and the conclusion is suitably partial:

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Power to Donald Duck means the promotion of underdevelopment. The daily agony of the Third World peoples is served up as a spectacle for permanent enjoyment in the utopia of bourgeois liberty. The non-stop buffet of recreation and redemption offers all the wholesome exotica of underdevelopment: a balanced diet of the unbalanced world. The misery of the Third World is packaged and canned to liberate the masters who produce it and consume it. Then, it is thrown-up to the poor as the only food they know. Reading Disney is like having one's own exploited condition rammed with honey down one's throat (Dorfman and Mattelart, 1991:98).

Clearly, this was active scholarship, proposing a problem and anticipating a solution.

The Chilean Example Chile's Quimantu, the same state publishing house (re-appropriated under Allende) which assisted in the publication of How to Read Donald Duck, sought to remedy the cultural imperialism guaranteed by Disney's sales dominance. Meanwhile, according to Allen Woll (1976:1042), "The newspapers of the Right which opposed Allende viewed ParaLeer al Pato Donald as a concrete threat to the most sacred heroes of their culture," for obvious reasons. In 1971, Quimantu embarked on a project to produce, among others, the comic book La Firme, which "strictly followed the ideological lines of the Allende government," a venture undertaken "in order to counter the Disney propaganda" (Woll, 1976:1042). Woll, following Quimantu's inversion of the Disney paradigm, applies Dorfman and Mattelart's methodology and focus to these socialist state-produced comic books. He finds that the comic series explained and justified Allende's social and economic policies, provided public health information, and attacked U.S. government and corporate interference in Chile. Similarly, David Kunzle's "Chile's La Firme Versus ITT" explored the comic's treatment of the monopolistic American telephone company, finding a pedagogical and ideological function (1978:119-133). Clearly, La Firme served a basically overt ideological function for Allende's Popular Unity government. How To Read was not the first piece of scholarship to recognize the ideological function of comic books. As early as 1944, it was recognized (with specific reference to comic books) that "every medium, perhaps even when it is used 'only for entertainment,' is likely to carry doctrinal or sectarian implications" (Gruenberg, 1944:208). Furthermore, the specific power of comic books as a vehicle for ideology and education was noted:
[Comics are] more easily apprehended by people of all ages than political speeches or sermons or the most popular of newspapers or fiction.,-they constitute a social force .... For better or worse, they are more potent than many of our other instruments for influencing people's understanding

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and attitudes, The instrument itself need no longer be judged as good or
bad, whether in taste or in morals: it is importunt because it is potent.

[...] The comics can serve the educator as well as the propagandist, the missionary as well as the advertiser (Gruenberg, 1944:208).

Comic books are important because they are potent. That is the fundamental conceit of How to Read, but this unprecedented work took the notion of comics' potency a step further. The scholarship of Dorfman and Mattelart, as the culmination of that understanding and its radical synthesis with a critical anti-imperialist view, made possible the very conception of a project of radical comic books such as La Firme. Thus this work is integral to my case study as both a historical progenitor of the Sandinista comics themselves, and a guidebook to the analysis of their ideological content.

Method The lessons from Dorfman, Mattelart, Kunzle, and Woll provide the basic outline for my investigation of the Sandinista comic books. The critical content analysis explored in the three papers noted above (with an eye for ideological content) will be suitable, almost without modification, for this case study. My analysis will weigh even more heavily on content and function, as opposed to measurable effects, for two reasons. The first reason is practical: Simply put, there has been almost no scholarship on state production of comic books in Nicaragua under the FSLN. There are no reliable figures for production, distribution, or consumption, and no studies on the results of this consumption. If the data exist, it has not reached the secondary literature. The second reason is the relationship of this small Sandinista enterprise to the overall project. Some extrapolations can be drawn from the available data, but not enough to closely link comic books as sole cause with any appreciable effects. They were part of a multi-faceted state-supported artistic and literary transformation (the "democratization of culture") (Cardenal, Martin, and Franks, 1989:128) from which the specific effects of the Sandinista comic books are inseparable. Instead of quantifying "results," I will demonstrate that the FSLNproduced comics were ideologically aligned with fundamental Sandinista concerns (just as Donald Duck is aligned with the bourgeoisie, and La Firme with Popular Unity socialism). The idea, in part, is to show how the ideology of a hegemonic power trickles into artistic and cultural production, which is an important asset in the legitimation of that power. I will introduce the basic tenets of Sandinista ideology, policy, and strategy as they arise in relation to the content of the comics. The study will consist of a mostly qualitative content analysis. Besides the lack of quantitative data on effects, a quantitative approach is not feasible because the number of primary sources can not begin
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to approach the 100 Disney comics of Dorfman and Mattelart's study. The content will be drawn from a selected sample of the comic books produced by the Sandinistas. The main primary sources will be two comic books which closely resemble the U.S.-style adventure comic book. Numerous other types were produced, but many of these were more practical guidebooks or had clearly defined pedagogical purposes -- journals of public health, education, etc. These types will be referenced occasionally to supplement the analysis where relevant. The two comic books I am focusing on are presented as actionpacked "true histories," and they are of more interest for the way they use a cultural product of the imperial state for the purpose of consolidating the revolution. I will extract the key ideological content, historical interpretation, and mythologizing, as well as aesthetic concerns where relevant. These will be examined to uncover their function relative to the Sandinista pedagogical and ideological projects -- their actual informational content and their contribution to Sandinista hegemony. Hegemony theory will be employed throughout as an explanatory tool which will establish the link between the comic content, the Sandinista ideology, and the formation of consent.

Historical Context The Sandinista period, and thus its comics, can not be understood without at least a cursory grasp of some key elements of Nicaraguan history. The most important historical threads to understand are 1. American interference since independence, 2. the bloody reign of the Somoza family and their GuardiaNacional,and 3. Augusto Cesar Sandino's war against the U.S. Marines and his place in Nicaragua's mythology. I will treat the events of the 1979 Sandinista revolution and the FSLN reign over the next decade within the body of the case study.

American Interference The mid-19th Century saw the real onset of U.S. engagement in Nicaraguan affairs. In 1838, Nicaragua proclaimed independence from Spanish colonial rule, which was followed by regional power grabs and foreign speculation by nations (primarily England and the United States) interested in a trade route across the Central American isthmus (Walker, 2003; 13). In 1850, competition for control between the British-backed Conservatives and the American-supported Liberals was briefly decided in favor of the Liberals in 1854, with the assistance of William Walker,6 an American mercenary (Walker, 2003:13-14). By 1856, Walker had taken over the presidency, introduced a series of unpopular policies (including the reintroduction of slavery), and IJOCA, Fall 2009

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caused an eclectic coalition of Nicaraguan and foreign groups to seek his ouster, which took place the following year (Walker, 2003:14-15). During the early 20th Century, Washington was complicit in a major political coup (Walker, 2003:18), after which U.S. Marines were sent in to successfully suppress an uprising against the U.S.-favored forces. The Marines would remain in Nicaragua almost continuously from 1912 to 1933, withdrawing briefly in 1925.1 During the second occupation, the U.S. allowed Nicaragua's Liberal Party to take nominal power through elections, finally withdrawing U.S. troops for good in 1933, but leaving behind a military presence nonetheless.
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The Somoza Dynasty The real instrument of U.S. domination for the next half century was the Guardia Nacional, an initially U.S.-trained and armed domestic military force that worked hand in hand with the Somoza dynasty to maintain power in Nicaragua. The union between the United States, the Guardia and the Somoza family was established in the sequence of events that began with "the departing marines turn[ing] over to [Anastasio Somoza Garcia] the command of the National Guard" in 1933 (Walker, 2003:25). By 1937 he had fully asserted Guardia
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Fig. 2. Old lady: "No, no! That's my son! He's not involved in anything. Let him go!" Author Unknown. Malagalpa: Insureccion De Agosto! Managua: Ministerio de Cultura, 1980.
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power and usurped the presidency. The character of American control of Nicaragua during over 40 years of Somoza rule did not require direct intervention or overt puppeteering -- instead, each successive family member who took power intuitively understood that aligning with U.S. interests was integral to political survival (Walker, 2003:26-30). That is to say that the Somozas, and not the U.S. government or military, genuinely dictated the course of the state, but unfailingly deferred to U.S. policy regardless of real Nicaraguan interests. By the 1970s, with the third consecutive Somoza in IJOCA, Fall 2009

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power, the dynasty's corruption was evident and public discontent was increasing. Anastazio Somoza Debayle's financial and political exploitation of a 1972 earthquake and his National Guard's brutal response to early FSLN actions were just two of the more visible signs of the family's disregard for the Nicaraguan people. By 1978, even internal bourgeois interests and the U.S. State Department recognized the immanence of "Somocismo's" collapse, quickly aligning to create a centrist alternative to the radical opposition which was forming all around Nicaragua (Benjamin, 1989:3-4). The leading example of this radical opposition was the Frente Sandinista de Liberaci6n Nacional (The Sandinista Liberation Front).

Fig. 4. The silhouette of Sandino looms behind the figure of assassinated La Prensa editor Pedro Chamorro. Author Unknown. Malagalpa: Insureccion De Agosto! Managua: Ministerio de Cultura, 1980.

Sandino
Augusto Cesar Sandino is the foundational figure of Sandinista mythology and ideology. He is revered for his campaign of military harassment which forced the U.S. Marines out of Nicaragua in 1925. Sandino's early political philosophy has been described as "a combination of nationalism and a messianic mysticism" (O'Baylen, 1951:395). His persistent campaign to rid Nicaragua of the Marines is the subject of controversy, with some scholars legitimizing the U.S. State Department's castigation of Sandino as a "bandit," while others consider him a revolutionary (405). The latter reading of history IJOCA, Fall 2009

147 is the basis of"Sandinismo," the FSLN party ideology. Sandino's execution at the hands of Anastasio Somoza Garcia in 1934 cemented his status as a symbol of Nicaraguan martyrdom.
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According to Steven Palmer (1988:94), "Sandino was already a symbol of student and armed opposition to Somocismo before the FSLN appropriated his legend," but the FLSN's Carlos Fonseca created a new Sandino in his construction of Sandinismo:
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The point to be emphasized is that the written, verbal, and visual representations of Sandino omnipresent in Sandinista writings, speeches, and banners are not simply representations of 'Sandino, glorious hero of Nicaraguan history' nor even the FSLN's interpretation of that figure. These images embody a metahistorical conception of Nicaragua that is indivisible from the ideology of the FSLN and ultimately represent not Sandino but the FSLN itself as the culmination of Sandino's path (Palmer, 1988:101 ).

Sandinos significance to the Sandinista ideology is as a historical touchstone, utilized partly for his actual actions and ideology, but additionally as a malleable figure with great cultural resonance -- a historical precedent for resistance to Nicaraguan subjugation. This link was solidified in 1979 with "the successful revolutionary overthrow of the Somoza dynasty by the Nicaraguan people and the FSLN, and the adoption of Sandino as the symbol of the insurrection by virtually all who participated" (Palmer, 1988:105).
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Case Study Identifying Sandinista ideology within the comic books presents a problem: The principles, strategies, and policies of the FSLN are so heterogeneous that they can not be pinned down in a cohesive doctrine. Part of the Sandinista project was to create a revolutionary strategy which combined elements of traditional left theory, Nicaraguan nationalism, and economic pragmatism. This held true once in power, as explained by FSLN Defense Minister Humberto Ortega: "We cannot in a voluntaristic way give drastic and profound blows to forms of basic production, to forms of social accommodation, to private productive sectors which give strength to the
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149 country, in the name of mechanical, orthodox criteria. We must definitively

base our perspectives on the actual world, the world from which we cannot escape" (Hoyt, 1997:28). Guided by this logic, the Sandinista government took a number of progressive steps, but eschewed the more radical policies of Latin American revolutionary forebears like Cuba: they confiscated and nationalized or distributed some large land holdings, but mostly limited this to Somoza family property (Benjamin, 1989:77); they nationalized some industry, but maintained a "mixed economy" (Walker, 2003:89-92); they governed by revolutionary junta, but promised political pluralism and free elections (Hoyt, 1997:22); they were rooted in Marxist theory, but remained non-aligned, even in the face of overt U.S. aggression (Coraggio, 1986:96).
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Fig. 8. "Barricades of paving stones and sacks of fertilizer were placed, controlling several street entrances." Author Unknown. Matagalpa: Insureccion De Agosto! Managua: Ministerio de Cultura, 1980.

Furthermore, it is historically unclear whether these pragmatic measures were geo-political camouflage, tactical necessities, strategic decisions, or rooted in deep ideological concerns. This uncertainty must necessarily trickle down into my analysis. However, the maintenance of hegemony requires mass consent to all of these levels of government policy -- from the deepest core principle to the fleeting political promise. Thus, the case study will treat the various ideas, found in the comics, in proportion to their emphasis on those pages rather than the pages of FSLN theory. The comic books will be assessed for their ideological content, as well as their reading of historical and current events, which is central to ideological construction. The main symbolic, ideological, and policy threads I have identified are the following: Sandino and nationalism; the U.S. and imperialism; mass organizations, populism, and "the people"; the Somoza dynasty, "Somocismo," and the Guardia Nacional;
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and the FSLN's leadership. I will treat these concepts, and their subordinate categories, in that order.

Sandino and Nationalism Augusto Cesar Sandino, as historical figure and national symbol, is found throughout the Sandinista comic books. The inside cover of Las Milicias en Accion, an action comic about the Sandinista Popular Militias (M.P.S.), is a full-page portrait of Sandino, wearing his iconic hat (Castro, 1982:inside cover).' The story which follows takes place halfa century after the death of Sandino, but the author clearly means to associate his guerilla struggle with the actions of the M.P.S. Large text above the hero's portrait exhorts the reader, "While there are men in Nicaragua who love her as much as I do.... Nicaragua will be free!"' The implication is Sandino's endorsement of the M.P.S. and their valorization in the proceeding storyline. The "men in Nicaragua who lover as much as I do" are the brave volunteers of the militias.
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Fig. 9. "Noisy gunfire and the explosion of concussion grenades rang out around the place where the genocidal guard attacked." Author Unknown. Matagalpa: Insureccion De Agosto!' Managua: Ministerio de Cultura, 1980.

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151 In another of the more narrative, action-oriented comic books, Matagalpa...Insurreccionde Agosto, there is similar use of Sandino. The cover depicts armed guerillas in a war-torn town, their faces covered by bandanas. Behind them, graffiti scrawled onto the exterior walls of a house reads, "Viva el F.S.L.N!!" and "SANDINO VIVE."'' This juxtaposition of Sandino and the FSLN is repeated later in the same book. A portion of a panel giving historical background on the Somoza dictatorship reads, "the masses have begun to stir with more force, seeking justice and fully supporting the Frente Sandinista de Liberaci6n Nacional (FSLN), which represents its libertarian ideals" (Matagalpa,1980:7); in the background, silhouetted in white against the red and black stripes of the FSLN, stands Sandino. This panel stands out for its stunning use of composition to evoke the dynamics of the situation the text describes. Sandino is in the background, over the left shoulder of Somoza who stands front and center. To Somoza's right is a sub-panel depicting a memorial to Pedro Chamorro -- a catalyzing martyr of the revolution (Walker, 2003;34-35)" -- and to his left and in the middle ground the stirring masses protest. This panel employs a two-part logic. First, it claims that the FSLN represents the ideals of the Nicaraguan masses (in the text), and then by the visual composition, and the invocation of Sandino, suggests an association between the FSLN and Sandino himself (along with the graffiti from the cover). Simply put, the FSLN are the rightful heirs of Sandino and the representatives of the people.

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Fig. 10. "I-it's th-that...c-commander...what's happening is th-that the students h-have w-weapons...." Author Unknown. Matagalpa: Insureccion De Agosto! Managua: Ministerio de Cultura, 1980.

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The U.S. and Imperialism The history of American intervention and corporate exploitation runs deep in Nicaragua, and is only the most recent chapter of its imperial subjugation. The rhetorical power of anti-imperialism resonates throughout Latin America, and the Sandinistas utilize it effectively throughout the comic books in concert with their aims. Setting the stage for the introduction of the M.P.S., Las Miliciasbegins with a brief historical explanation of foreign control and intervention in Nicaragua. The text box inset over an illustration of Marines landing on a shore, with helicopters overhead and a warship in the background, reads, "With its expansionist doctrine and pretensions of world domination, imperialism seeks to exterminate the people's eagerness for liberty and independence", a portion of the next panel, against a backdrop of successive calendar pages in a sea of guns, warplanes, and explosions, reads, "for over a hundred years our homeland has been trampled and robbed" (Castro, 1982:2). Here imperialism itself is given agency, but elsewhere, it is clear that the imperialist actor in question is none other than the United States.
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Fig. I1. "Those are our boys!" Author Unknown. Matagalpa: Insureccion De Agosto!

Managua: Ministerio de Cultura, 1980.

A panel from Las Hilicias illustrates U.S. interference, using El Salvador's U.S.-backed military junta as an example. As the hands of two unknown men exchange money, applause ("Clap, clap!") is audible in the background -- a thought bubble from the "giving" hand reads, "Umm... With this loan we are ensuring at least ten years of exploitation... Why, these people should not be able to raise their heads...." Meanwhile, the announcement is made: "At this moment the Salvadorean junta receives a great economic help .... The
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153 omniscient text box reads, "Yankee imperialism uses thousands of tricks to achieve its objective of domination" (Castro, 1982:3). Under Ronald Reagan, the United States gave economic aid and military assistance and training to the Salvadoran dictatorship, partly as a prop against the spread of Nicaragua's revolution.12 A later panel reads "One powerful arm of imperialism is the economic aspect. The famous '65 million' [American dollars]"3 had tried to function as a nexus of dependency but their attempts have not met their objectives"; beneath this text, Reagan is shown writing at a desk, positioned between an American flag and a large safe emblazoned with a huge dollar sign, saying "Umm... these Sandinistas already know our little game..." (Castro, 1982:4). The Sandinista interpretation is quite accurate in perceiving 'aid' to El Salvador as an attempt to exert control over the political developments of the Western hemisphere -- U.S. officials had admitted as much, couched squarely in cold war terms (Hoffinan, 1983:World News sec.).
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Fig. 12. "The blood of our brothers will not be spilled in vain!" Author Unknown. Matagalpa: Insureccion De Agosto! Managua: Ministerio de Cultura, 1980.

Fig. 13. "Long live the popular insurrection!" Author Unknown. Matagalpa: Insureccion De Agosto! Managua: Ministerio de Cultura, 1980.

Unlike El Salvador, Nicaragua was not to receive Reagan's "aid." Imperialist aims are identified in the United States' terms for economic assistance, as explained in Las Milicias through a text box and the voice of FSLN leader Daniel Ortega. The text box reads, "Seeing the unyielding attitude of our government not to allow any sort of 'negotiation' that brings, as a consequence, interventionist purposes unrelated to [Nicaragua's] interests, the government of the United States has cancelled all kinds of aid to Nicaragua" IJOCA, Fall 2009

154
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Fig. 15. "While there are men in Nicaragua who love her as much as I do... Nicaragua will be free!!" J. Castro. Las milicias en acci6n el pueblo y Fig. 14. Author Unknown. Malagalpa: su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Insureccion De Agosto! Managua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Ministerio de Cultura, 1980. Matagalpa, 1982.

Fig. 16. "The militias in action." J. Castro. Las milicias en accitn el pueblo y su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

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155 (Castro, 1982:5). Ortega says, "The Yankee government, led by Mr. Reagan has sought false pretexts to cut aid to Nicaragua, aid that should justly help repair so many decades of exploitation of our people.... This single panel ties together the present manipulative use of foreign aid with "exploitation" -perhaps U.S. support of the Somozas and U.S. corporate exploitation of Nicaragua's laborers and resources -- suggesting a U.S. responsibility akin to financial reparations. Of course, this runs counter to the logic of imperialism. Thus, by the Sandinista reasoning, "once imperialist, always imperialist," U.S. interference is just a continuation of past policy.
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Fig. 17. "With its expansionist doctrine and pretensions of world domination, imperialism seeks to exterminate the people's eagerness for liberty and independence." J. Castro. Las milicias en acciin el pueblo y su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

Las Milicias extends its critique of imperialism to cover domestic enemies as well. From the dawn of the revolution, the FSLN leadership hoped to utilize the support of Nicaragua's opposition bourgeoisie in order to prevent the stagnation of industry during the revolutionary period. The capitalist class, even if they opposed Somoza, had much to lose from nationalization of industry, appropriation of land, and their "alienation" as a political class (Coraggio, 1986:75-77); the FSLN hoped to retain their favor, eschewing the outright expropriation seen in the Cuban revolution. This policy of accommodation of the capitalists left open a window for bourgeois political and economic obstructionism (Benjamin, 1989:33-41). Reflecting this conflict, a panel from Las Milicias reads, "The main friend that imperialism has internally is the bourgeoisie who sell the homeland, and minority elements that are not in accordance with the revolutionary process and seek by all means to disrupt
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156 and destroy the Sandinista revolution" (Castro, 1982:4). The panel shows class members of the bourgeois (identifiable by their caricatured clothing) shouting "We want to live like in the past!" and holding a sign which reads, "We want elections already!" The reference to the past suggests the alignment of bourgeois interests with the old system of imperialist exploitation. As for elections, Thomas Walker's Nicaragua(2003:156-157) sheds light:
Even prior to their victory, the Sandinistas had indicated that their country's governmental institutions would ultimately be based on free elections. In the wake of the Triumph, they talked of holding elections almost immediately. At that point, opposition groups complained that to do so would be unfair... in August 1980, the Sandinistas announced that elections would be held in 1985...the opposition complained that 1985 was too distant [.. .1 .. In December 1983, the Directorate announced that the election would be moved to 1984.... This time, the Nicaraguan opposition and official Washington decried the fact that the election -- still ten months away -- was being scheduled too soon,... CJUTAN;) M4IGROAS P^K^ A

Fig. 18. "In the towns that have been released from this yoke of slavery and exploitation based on bloody and unequal wars, imperialism doesn't rest from plotting, stalking and executing maneuvers to strangle them in its claws." J. Castro. Las milicias en acci6n el pueblo j, su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

Thus, while the Sandinista policy of political pluralism counted on a cooperative bourgeois class, presuming national or humanitarian interests would come to overpower narrow class interests -- the election foot-dragging was just one counter-example. Las Milicias claims bourgeois interference beyond mere obstructionism, though vaguely identified: "Internally state security has thwarted many attempts at counterrevolution actuated by the
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157

bourgeoisie looking in vain for ways to weaken the revolutionary government" (Castro, 1982:6). The internal bourgeoisie may not be a direct arm of U.S. imperialism, but, according to this comic, they clearly share interests which threaten the revolution.

Fig. 19. "The Yankee imperialism...." J. Castro. Las militias en accidn el pueblo y su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

Over and above the critique of imperialism, the overt aim of Las Milicias en Accion is the promotion of the Popular Sandinista Militias, which were primarily designed as a defense against the internal insurgency of the "Contras," Nicaragua's counter-revolutionary guerillas (Castro, 1982:6-7). However, the comic identifies the Contras as anoher(and the most dangerous) arm of imperialism in Nicaragua. U.S. funding of the Contra was constant during the Reagan presidency, both covertly (Hoffman, 1986:1 )14 and openly, a fact which supports this notion. One panel shows armed soldiers in training; presumably these are Latin Americans, but the location is the United States, as the text box reads: "Shamelessly, based in the United States,' 5 gangs of mercenaries, Somocistas and Cuban exiles are prepared militarily to attack our newly liberated homeland" (Castro, 1982:5). Because the Contras are a force of U.S. imperialism, and the M.P.S. are a line of defense against the Contras, the MPS are by extension anti-imperialist militias. The comic book thus utilizes the broad malaise associated with "imperialismo" in order to proselytize in favor of the M.P.S. The theme of "imperialism" was important to the hegemonic project of the Sandinistas. Besides being ideologically inseparable from national liberation, anti-imperialist sentiment held great sway among Nicaraguans, as noted in 1976 by Daniel Ortega: "Anti-imperialism...has become deeply rooted in the Nicaraguan popular consciousness.."(Hale, 1996:91). References to
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imperialism are both theoretically accurate and rhetorically powerful. The association of FSLN obstacles (the United States, the bourgeoisie, the Contras) with imperialism is tactical relative to Sandinista hegemony. If the aim of FSLN party leaders is to be able to govern Nicaragua by consent, the people themselves must oppose these groups, and one step in this process is identifying them as imperialist. This is done in the Sandinista comic books loosely through ascribing imperialist-style aims (as in the case of the bourgeoisie), or directly through association with the U.S. government (the Contras, the Salvadoran junta, the U.S. itself). Thus, anti-imperialism is ideologically central to Sandinista hegemony.
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Fig. 21. A depiction of U.S. President Ronald Regan: "Umm...these Sandinistas already know our little game..... J. Castro. Las milicias en acci6n el pueblo y su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

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159 Populism, "The People," and the Mass Organizations The Sandinista ideology has been described as "socialist populism" (Brown, 1990:39), and many Latin American leaders, both right-wing and leftwing, have been called "populist," but I am using the term here in a broader sense. For the purposes of this paper, populism refers to popular democracy, grassroots activism, and appeal to "the masses." This is the tendency within Sandinismo which claims to represent "the people," divorced from "ideology," Marxist or otherwise. Populism within the FSLN ideology is central to Sandinista hegemony and descends directly from the work of Sandino (Coraggio, 1986:35).
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Fig. 22. A depiction of the Nicaraguan bourgeoisie, "the main friend that imperialism has internally." J. Castro. Las milicias en accitn el pueblo y su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

Fig. 23. A depiction of an FSLN leader: "The Yankee government, led by Mr. Reagan, has sought false pretexts to cut aid to Nicaragua...." J. Castro. Las milicias en accitn el pueblo y su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

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I include the "mass organizations" within this section because they are conceptually linked. The mass (or "popular") organizations are a specific institutional feature of revolutionary Nicaragua which had various levels of autonomy versus top-down control from the FSLN. Some of these organizations predate, and were instrumental to, the revolution itself. They can be thought of as popular civic groups, with various aims, which function as the substantive manifestation of the rhetoric of populism. At their most autonomous, the mass organizations are "the people" acting on behalf of "the people" without government mediation. The contradiction between the vanguardist and populist aspects of the FSLN are analogous to the relationship between the state and the popular organizations:
[T]he central problematic boils down to the question of how to resolve the need to articulate the popular camp in order to guarantee the defense of the revolution and the continuation of the revolutionary process and, on the other hand, the need to guarantee the autonomy of the mass organizations to make a substanti%e democracy possible (Coraggio, 1986:4).

However, regardless of the real level of bottom-up democracy in Nicaragua during various points in the FSLN reign, the mass organizations were an important concrete example to anchor the populist rhetoric. As such, the language of populism and the promotion of the mass organizations figure centrally in the Sandinista comic books. One aspect of the loosely unified aesthetic found in these books is indicative of Sandinismo's appeal to "the masses" -- the depiction of human beings. Matagalpa, Las Milicias, and Vidas Ejemplares all take a basically realist approach, avoiding superhero cliches or villainous monstrosities." The cover of Matagalpa is a case in point: Six bandana-clad guerillas are shown interspersed between an overturned car, the wreckage of a building, and assorted rubble (Matagalpa,1980:cover). Each of these figures wields a gun or grenade and is poised for defense, but none assume compositional or functional centrality. In fact, as the cover blurb -- "A record of the valor of a heroic town" -- maintains, Matagalpa is not a story of individual heroism or the leadership of the FSLN, but the collective heroism of the townspeople. This is reflected aesthetically with each character given equal level of detail and occupying equal space, located similarly in the middle distance. Equality and realism in depiction of humans is crucial to a "people's" comic. The aesthetic populism of the comic books can also be seen in the use of crowd scenes. In Matagalpa alone, there are 15 crowd scenes, which accounts for a substantial proportion of the 32-page comic's panels. Many of these scenes are of mass protest" or public oratory.' Aside from the mass organizations, the crowd is the primary form which gives agency to "the people" as subject. Thus, it is an important visual representation of Sandinista populism. IJOCA, Fall 2009

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This visual representation ofcommon people is characteristic throughout the comics. People, whether Somoza (Matagalpa, cover), Reagan (Castro, 1982:4), Sandino (Castro, 1982:inside cover), Ortega (Castro, 1982:5), or anonymous townsfolk, are almost always depicted with a basic realism. Though the comic books follow the narrative format of American narrative comic books, they eschew the exaggerated physical features and individualist bent associated with the Marvel and D.C. stalwarts. This aesthetic egalitarianism is not absolute. On page 22 of Las Milicias, a dynamite-wielding Contra is depicted somewhat grotesquely. Furthermore, martyrs and historical heroes are lionized where they appear, such as Sandino's portrait inside the cover of Las Milicias, and a tribute to Comandante Ezequiel Alvaro Diroy Mendez on the back cover. But Sandino's portrait is the backdrop to an invocation of people power, and Comandante Ezequiel's can be seen as simply a payment of respects in a public medium. These exceptions do not unrealistically depict the men they represent or disproportionately emphasize the actions of individuals.

Fig. 24. J. Castro. Las milicias en acci6n el pueblo y su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

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Fig. 25. "The people, organized in the popular Sandinista militias, strengthern the defensive capabilities of our homeland...." J. Castro. Las milicias en acci6n el pueblo y su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

Fig. 26. "...revolutionary and progressive forces under the wise direction of the FSLN vanguard .... J. Castro. Las milicias en acci6n el pueblo y su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

The focus on "the people" in the comic books goes beyond mere plot emphasis and visual representation to include the language of narration and dialogue. The text is saturated with various populist formations. "El pueblo" has various translations in English, but primarily means "the people," "a town," or "the common people" (Hunt, 2006:93), and generally maintains its populist IJOCA, Fall 2009

163 feel across its various meanings. This phrase appears 12 times each in both Las Milicias and Matagalpa. This is an expression of the populist character of Sandinismo. If this text had a rigidly Marxist imperative, we would see the phrase "the workers" or "the working class," but "the people" is not classexclusive, reflecting the coalition-building approach of the Sandinistas, and it has resonance with the masses, regardless of "class consciousness." Marxian language is used as well in these comics, but populist language is favored, in line with the populist socialism of the FSLN.

Fig. 27. J. Castro. Las milicias en accitn el pueblo y su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

Another trend within the Sandinista comics is the emphasis on the broadbased and grassroots nature of the mass organizations. These include Sandinista Workers' Federation (CST), the Luisa Amanda Espinoza Nicaraguan Women's Association (AMNLAE), the National Union of Farmers and Ranchers (UNAG), and the Sandinista Defense Committees (CDS). High-level government policies are not seen as determinant, nor are the professional military or elected officials given special agency relative to the events depicted. Instead, these comic books celebrate the actions -- spontaneous or organized -- of regular people acting within their own spheres of influence, though often within the framework of the mass organizations. Under the Sandinista project, the mass organizations are the civil society link between the public and the party vanguard, with an emphasis on the former's exercise of power. Thus, the Popular Sandinista Militias, primarily recruited through the CDS (Gorman, 1981:147), (M.P.S.) are "nothing more than the people organized to defend their homeland" (Castro, 1982:8).
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The Somoza Dynasty and the Guardia Nacional The Sandinista comic books do not have to do the work of demonizing the dictators of the Somoza family or those who held power alongside them. The regime which the FSLN had helped to topple was so patently corrupt and detrimental to the Nicaraguan populace that there was little sympathy for the family and those closely tied to them. However, this pre-existing animosity provides a strong foil against which to contrast Sandinismo and the FSLN party leadership. Each reference to the Somozas serves as a reminder of how bad things were before and a sort of bulwark to stave off claims made against the Sandinistas.

Fig. 28. A Contra ambush. J. Castro. Las milicias en acci6n el pueblo y su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

Given this, it is not surprising that some formulation of "Somoza" or "Somocismo" is mentioned six times inLaMilicias,and 12 times in Matagalpa. If Somoza's Guardia Nacional is taken into account, the invocations of Somocismo stretch to several dozen between these two comics. Much of Matagalpa is dedicated to explaining the background for the city's uprising, including the long dictatorship of the Somozas. Las Milicias delves into this background as well, but the specter of Somoza must also be raised to explain the purpose of the popular militias. The militias were ostensibly established to defend against the counter-revolutionary "Contras," and these are described in Las Milicias as such: "The thirst for blood and terror of the Somocista guards settled in Honduran territory is insatiable" (Castro, 1982:21). It is important within these comics to tie the anti-FSLN opposition with the Somoza regime, and this charge is largely accurate, according to David Close: "Who are the Contras? Originally just the residues of the National Guard and Somocista politicians and hangers-on" (Close, 1988:165). As most Nicaraguans
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165 accept the Somoza regime as an unmitigated evil, linking opposition forces with this old guard necessarily taints the opposition. The visual depiction of the National Guard (G.N.) in Matagalpa is probably the most clear-cut example of the use of images for demonization in the comics. In the introduction to the story of the Matagalpa uprising, the G.N. soldiers are described as likely to be "confused with rabid dogs," and they are depicted as such -- oafish, snarling, and vicious (Matagalpa, 1980:3). In the succeeding pages, they are depicted as trigger-happy (Matagalpa, 1980:4), and abusive: in one scene a bestial "guardia" callously strikes a feeble old woman (Matagalpa,1980:5). The G.N. soldiers go on to arbitrarily arrest and viciously beat a suspected "bomb-thrower" (Matagalpa, 1980:6-7). Like the linkage between the G.N. and the Contras, this portrayal of the Guardia is essentially fair. During the entire reign of the Somozas, the National Guard served as their personal army, with virtually no political independence from the ruling family, and "because of its corruption and brutality, the National Guard was feared and hated by much of the populace" (Hoyt, 1997:10). The demonization, then, is almost necessitated by the historical reality.

Fig. 29. "The counterrevolutionary 'Dimas' had established contact with officials of the defunct Somocista guard...." J. Castro. Las milicias en accitn el pueblo y su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

The use of Somocismo and the Guardia Nacional in the Sandinista comic books is a sort of double movement. It is at the same time an (almost unnecessary) attempt to cast the ex-dictators and their army as an enemy of the people and to use the pre-existing associations with this nefarious group in order to lend credence to the Sandinista ideology. If the Somozas and the G.N. are evil, and the FSLN cast themselves in opposition to the G.N., then the FSLN must necessarily be good. Of course, the reality is not so simple, but IJOCA, Fall 2009

166 this is the effortless rhetorical effect. In order to form consent to FSLN leadership, it is necessary to establish the enemy of the Party as the enemy of "lel pueblo" (the people).

The FSLN as the Leaders of the Revolution The final thread running through these pages is the most important ideological goal of the comic books. The role of the FSLN as the legitimate leadership of the revolution has been alluded to in the previous sections -- it is their source and telos all in one. The other symbolic and ideological functions of the comics all serve this higher goal, the consolidation of FSLN hegemony through an acceptance of the party leadership's ideology -- they point out its enemies, laud its strengths, claim it is rooted in the people, and foreground the party's role in national liberation. But the comics also more explicitly promote the FSLN, its leaders, and Sandinismo in general. I will now turn to this most direct aim of the Sandinista comic books.
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Fig. 30. "Free homeland or death!" J. Castro. Las milicias en acci6n el pueblo y su defensa. Matagalpa. Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

The comics' support for the Frente Sandinista de Liberaci6n Nacional could not have more obvious evidence than the cover of Matagalpa. Just below the caption "a record of the valor of a heroic town [or people]," a bit of graffiti is visible on a wall in the background -- it reads "viva el FSLN!!" ProFSLN graffiti can be seen five additional times throughout this comic book. Promotion of the FSLN through graffiti is the perfect antidote to any notions of vanguardist elitism. Graffiti is a communication medium of"el pueblo"-- the city walls are their political forum. So the crude "viva el FSLN" inscribed in the
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167 crumbling facades of urban buildings simultaneously props up the party and roots it in the people. If graffiti is a symbol of the people, the flag is surely the symbol of the party. The FSLN flag appears only once in Matagalpa and twice in Las Milicias. That the flag appears with less frequency than the graffiti likely indicates the balance the producers of the comic wish to indicate between the party's self-promotion and its support among the people. That said, the flag is flown with pride. The first time it is displayed in Las Milicias, it is flying behind a triumphant Daniel Ortega, cementing his place as the true leader of the party (Castro, 1982:5). His body overlaps both the FSLN flag and the traditional national flag of Nicaragua, suggesting that his leadership extends beyond the party to include the whole nation. This physical connection also indicates the continuity between nationalism, the revolutionary party, and its leader. The next place where the FSLN flag appears is on a half-page panel adjacent to an enormous raised fist and a marching column of soldiers (Castro, 1982:13). Here the looming text box explains significance of these linked images: "The heroic and revolutionary struggle of our people has taught us that only when we achieved a high organization and discipline of all revolutionary and progressive forces under the wise direction of the FSLN vanguard, was it possible to defeat the Somocista dictatorship." The meaning could not be more clear.

Fig. 31. "An attempt to sabotage the plant 'Centroamerica' perpetrated by some thirty 'Contras' was completely annihilated by the popular militias and the forces of the state." J. Castro. Las milicias en accion el pueblo y su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

Beyond these symbolic invocations of the party -- graffiti, the FSLN flag -- the comic books also contain more literal expressions of the importance of the Frente Sandinista de Liberaci6n Nacional. One such passage, describing
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168 the political climate of 1978, states that, "the masses have begun to stir with more force, seeking justice and fully supporting the Frente Sandinista de Liberaci6n Nacional (FSLN), which represents its libertarian ideals" (Matagalpa, 1980:7). Importantly, this passage suggests broad support for the party among the public. Another passage describes the role of the party as revolutionary instigator: "The Sandinista front, through its clandestine radio station, 'Radio Sandino' and communiques of its newspaper'Trincheras,' made calls to insurrection..." (Matagalpa,1980:10). Perhaps more significantly, a text box from Matagalpagiving historical background gives the FSLN credit for the fall of the Somoza family: "Success in getting the national strike, combined with the FSLN's military action of taking the national palace to release all political prisoners, makes the foundation of the dictatorship begin to crack" (Matagalpa,1980:11). The overthrow of the tyrannical ruling family and its National Guard is the most momentous and tangible gain of the revolution, and to be the party responsible for this action is to be the party responsible for the liberation of the homeland.

1NMR1TELALAJ I-XPLOTACJW'N eco"?OMIC,, DISC.RitMINACtdN 5OIGJNACsdN MW^Y6rd1A C",E 'IDAMPONO DE L. L'ENUESOTtPVn8.LO.//

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Fig. 32. "To the militia, all the people willing to defend the sovereignty and independence of our homeland, and definitively liquidate economic exploitation, social discrimination, neglect and marginalization of the majority of our people!" J. Castro. LaN milicias en acci6n el pueblo y su defensa. Matagalpa, Nicaragua: Junta de Reconstrucci6n de Matagalpa, 1982.

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169

Both the symbolic and literal endorsements serve the same purpose -they posit the Frente Sandinista de Liberaci6n Nacional as the authentic leaders of revolutionary government. The unique visual format of the comic book allows for the juxtaposition of images which suggest the strength and valor of the party, while associating it with established symbols such as Sandino and the national flag. The use of text enables the direct argument in favor of the FSLN. These twin tactics combine to create an air of inevitability about the party's position as de facto head of state in the immediate post-Somoza period. Nowhere is it said outright, "The FSLN should be in charge of revolutionary Nicaragua." Instead, by referring to the historical role of the party, its significant triumphs, and its identification with the people of Nicaragua, the impression is molded, in the mind of the reader, that having Sandinistas in power is a natural outgrowth of the same forces which caused the country to be free.

Conclusion With the toppling of the Somoza regime and the rise of the FSLN, Nicaragua saw perhaps the most radical change to the society since the Spanish conquest. Decades of dictatorship and centuries of colonization were overturned in 1979; the significance of the revolution for the people of Nicaragua can not be overstated. The FSLN found themselves in a position of immense power and responsibility, with the weight of the whole revolution resting on the shoulders of the party. Perhaps the most important facet of this responsibility was the necessity of forming a strong consensus among the people, in order to consolidate the gains of the revolution. Without imitating the Somocista methods, the party could not long maintain control of the state without the consent of the majority. Furthermore, establishing the clear consent of the governed was necessary to stave off any criticism of the revolutionary junta as anti-democratic, and to garner the votes which would allow the FSLN's Daniel Ortega to win the first free presidential election in the nation's history. If the goal is to create democratic hegemony then, as Gramsci theorizes, it is necessary to make the ideology of the party become the ideology of the people. This means that the people must identify with the party - see the party's enemies as their own, see the party's goals as their own, believe in the party's worldview. As the FSLN had taken great initiative in the revolutionary struggle, part of this work was already done through the "propaganda of the deed." But deeds alone do not transmit the message. Thus, the party employed a widespread articulation of ideology across various media, including books, radio, posters and unsurprisingly, comic books. That the state should articulate its ideology through comic books is unsurprising because of the incredible utility of this particular medium for the IJOCA, Fall 2009

170 spread of ideas across various classes and literacy levels. This explains why comic books have been used in this manner by the C.I.A. (as a training manual for Nicaragua's Contras [United States, 1985], and as an apologia for the 1984 U.S. invasion of Grenada) (Langdon, 1984), as well as the governments of Chile, China (Chesneaux, 1973), and likely many others. Furthermore, comic books have a special ability to reach audiences in Latin America where they have gained such incredible popularity, and where much of the population is illiterate or semi-literate. 9 In countries recovering from brutal dictatorships, the majority of the people may not be able to read a newspaper or be wellversed in political philosophy, but comic books are almost universally accessible. The scholarly tradition of How to Read Donald Duck, along with the concrete examples of Chilean and Nicaraguan comic book production represent a revolutionary transformation of a medium typically seen as crude but benign. Dorfinan and Mattelart pointed the comic book out for what it is -- a medium of popular education, socialization, and ideology formation. This medium, for so many years imported from the United States into its client states, has been reclaimed and revamped, playing on those strengths which How to Read DonaldaDuckidentified. Instead of a tool for justifying and naturalizing imperial subjugation, the Sandinistas used the comic books to create support for their unprecedented challenge to the great superpower. The exact extent of the comics' influence on the Nicaraguan population is unclear, but their function has become clear: In the revolutionary state, comic books are a tool for building consensus.

Endnotes Brown's article was published in Spring 1990, and likely written close to a year before the FSLN's 1990 electoral defeat. 21 will not evaluate Brown's claims regarding the level and type of hegemony at play in Nicaraguan politics -- his elaboration of the "democratic hegemony" concept is the relevant matter, and his use of Nicaragua as a case study is merely a (didactically useful) coincidence. Gramsci does, however, acknowledge what he calls the "moment" of force -- its omnipresence in the background of state power relations. Incidentally, Brown finds the Sandinista government in a similar place.. .not fully pluralistic, but mindful of diverse interest groups. ' For analysis of Disney's depiction of children, see 30-32, 41-47; animals, 4142; "savages" and the third world, 48-60; sex, 33-40; and economic relations can be found throughout. " Walker was not officially acting on behalf of the U.S. government in Nicaragua, but his nationality must be seen as both practically and symbolically important LIOCA, Fall 2009

171 to the way he is viewed in Nicaraguan history. 7 This withdrawal was substantially a result of guerrilla warfare carried out by Augusto Cesar Sandino, discussed below. I Referred to hereafter as "Las Milicias." All citations are for this edition. All translations are mine. ' Las Milicias, inside cover. It is unclear whether this is intended as a direct quote from Sandino. A 1985 poster from Nicaragua featuring the iconic Sandino silhouette expresses a similar sentiment: "While Nicaragua has sons who love her... Nicaragua will be free." " Matagalpa:InsureccionDe Agosto! (Managua: Ministerio de Cultura, 1980). Referred to hereafter as "Matagalpa" All citations are for this edition. Translations are mine. " Pedro Chamorro was editor of the opposition newspaper, La Prensa. He was assassinated in 1978, leading to a massive general strike which was arguably the first major step toward revolution. 12 Library of Congress. Country Studies. "El Salvador." Chapter 1 -- Historical Setting -- "The United States Takes a Hand"; available from <http:// lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/svtoc.html>; Internet; accessed 27 March 2008. 13"Los famosos '65 milliones"' (from the original Spanish) may refer to the proposed amount of U.S. military aid to El Salvador for the year 1984, designed to support suppression of leftist guerillas. 14 Also see any newspaper from December 1986. 11 Contra military leaders were trained by U.S. military personnel at the (since renamed) School of the Americas in Florida. 16 The definition of populism indicated above is important here. The demagogic "savior" brand of populism lends itself to omnipotent heroes in the style of American comic books, but Sandinista populism insists on the agency of "the people." ' 7 For example, MIDA: 7,8, 12,27. For example, MIDA: 1,2,9, 13,31. I* Interestingly, the Sandinistas were responsible for "perhaps the single most impressive undertaking in the field of literacy campaigns," reducing literacy from 50.2 percent to 15 percent within the first nine months of the regime. See Arnove, 1981:244-260.

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Bram Draper has a BA in interdisciplinary studies from University of California, Berkeley. He is applying for Ph.D. study in anthropology this year. His research interests are the relationship between art, language, media and power; Latin America; U.S. foreign policy; modes of social control, and state violence. This paper was submitted for consideration by David Kunzle, professor emeritus,UCLA.

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TITLE: Sandino and Other Superheroes: The Function of Comic Books in Revolutionary Nicaragua SOURCE: Int J Comic Art 11 no2 Fall 2009 The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and it is reproduced with permission. Further reproduction of this article in violation of the copyright is prohibited. To contact the publisher: http://www.ijoca.com/IJOCA.htm

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