CUCURUCHO #5 - Back Cover

Here's a nicely restored version of the back cover of CUCURUCHO # 5, published in 1975.

CUCURUCHO - The Llera Covers

Forty seven years ago, I was hired to do some comic stories for a kiddie magazine in Mexico. The magazine was titled CUCURUCHO and it ran for 20 issues. My job was to provide some comic pages between the fun activities like coloring, origami folding, puzzles, read aloud stories, word games, and other kiddie related material.

 

 

I came up with three different titles for the mag: "Cucurucho, The Magical",  about a boy who had magical powers and lived in a little box; "Gavin, The Cowboy Mouse", about four rodent rustlers in the Old West;  and "Hector and the Detective", about a gangster's ghost who lives in an old revolver owned by a private eye.  Pretty exciting stuff, eh? 

I managed to do the cover art on 14 of the 20 issues released. The rest were done by the editor of the magazine, Checo Valdez and the late Eduardo del Rio (RIUS), the celebrated Mexican political cartoonist.

By the end of 1975, after very faulty promotion and some bad economic choices by the

 publishing staff which resulted in rather poor sales, CUCURUCHO was finally discontinued.

Beginning 1976 after my 12 month hiatus, I was back at Editorial Novaro, doing

 THE PINK PANTHER and  BEEP BEEP THE ROAD RUNNER for the Hispanic markets.

However, even today, I still get comments from children who read the magazine back in 1975, and remember it fondly for its original content and who thought highly of the effort poured into the project by all the people who collaborated jointly in helping the magazine to flourish briefly during their childhood. 

I have revisited the pages of CUCURUCHO lately and, although it is obviously a product of its time, it still holds up well in terms of originality and humor. Kids nowadays would find it naive and out of step with the era of social media and internet gamers but on its day, it was a worthwhile and entertaining publication for children of the 70s.

These were the last two issues of CUCURUCHO.  I don't think my grandchildren would appreciate them as much as the kids from four decades ago so I guess I'll put them back into my personal archives and let the memories hover around for a little while before going on to something else.

Happy Holidays!

Christmas is just around the corner but I don't want to miss the opportunity to wish all my family and friends a great Yuletide and happy New Year in advance!

 

The LLERA Cartoons Collectible Merchandise!

Some of my favorite original drawings are now available as collectible merchandise. You can find tote bags, scarves, accent pillows and more at
https://shopvida.com/collections/ferllera1951

                                                                        

https://shopvida.com/collections/ferllera1951

The INTERNATIONAL BOOK OF COMICS - 1984 Edition

The International Book of Comics by Dennis Gifford and published in 1984 by the Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd., featured one of my comic book covers from 1975: "Cucurucho No. 11"!  - Nice to see your name and artwork included in research books from abroad!

And this is the original cover featured in the book. Sadly, both the book and the comic are now out of print.