Book Review: El Mestizo

Book Review: 'El Mestizo' by Alan Hebden and Carlos Ezquerra

2 / 5 Stars

'El Mestizo'(64 pp) was published by Rebellion in November 2018. It's part of the 'Treasury of British Comics' imprint, which - as its name implies - features graphic novels that compile comic strips that appeared in children's papers and magazines in the UK during the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

'El Mestizo' ran from June to September 1977 in the British Boy's digest 'Battle Picture Weekly', a very popular title that was published by IPC Magazines from 1975 to 1988.

Even as 'El Mestizo' appeared in the pages of Battle Picture Weekly, artist Ezquerra also was illustrating 'Judge Dredd' stories in another IPC title, 2000 AD. And writer Hebden would of course go on to create memorable stories in 2000 AD, like 'Harry 20 on the High Rock' and 'Meltdown Man'. 

'El Mestizo' not only channeled the Spaghetti Western vibe, but broke from the traditional depiction of western heroes by featuring a half-black, half-Mexican lead character.

Unfortunately, Rebellion apparently was obliged to use scans of printed comics, rather than the original art pages, and the result is predictably disappointing. Given that 'Battle Picture Weekly' was offset printed on newsprint-grade paper, the scans simply can't capture sufficient detail, and as a consequence the panels have a murky, barely legible character. It's a shame that the original artwork wasn't available for scanning, as Ezquerra's artwork certainly was of a high quality.

As for the writing, for a series that was published in three-page installments, there obviously wasn't sufficient page length for more elaborate narratives. Given these constraints, Alan Hebden did as well as anyone could in terms of coming up with stories that could be standalone in each installment, while adhering to a larger story arc. 

Summing up, unfortunately, the inability to access the original artwork makes this compilation of value only to those who are firmly dedicated to collecting reprints of British comics from the 1970s.