In the face of social inequalities, sometimes strength for mobilization can be found through laughter. It is this ethos that Ilan Stavans employs in this politically-minded graphic novel. Weaving humor with social commentary, Stavans tells a tale of a Latino man taking Los Angeles' mayoral office by storm – and refusing to stop there. Illustrated throughout by Roberto Weil, the story follows the life and political development of Mr. Spic (Samuel Patricio Inocencio Cárdenas) as he upends the political machine by owning up to and embracing his rough-and-tumble past, refusing to bend to corporate pressures, and using his influence to promote pacifism and tolerance. Progressive politics has always moved forward with the help of dedicated, singular individuals, and Mr. Spic – light-hearted as his story may be – hilariously exemplifies that model.

Ilan Stavans was born in Mexico to a Jewish family from the Pale of Settlement, lived in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, and ultimately immigrated to the United States in 1985. Upon completing his graduate education in New York City, he settled in New England where he lives with his wife, Alison, and his two sons, Joshua and Isaiah. His journey is the topic of his autobiography On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language (2001). He received a Master's Degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a Doctorate in Letters from Columbia University. He was the host of the syndicated PBS show Conversations with Ilan Stavans, which ran from 2001 to 2006.

He is best known for his investigations of language and culture. His love for lexicography is evident in Dictionary Days: A Defining Passion (2005).

Stavans's work is wide-ranging, and includes both scholarly monographs such as The Hispanic Condition (1995) and comic strips in the case of Latino USA: A Cartoon History (with Lalo Alcaraz) (2000). Stavans is editor of several anthologies including The Oxford Book of Jewish Stories (1998). A selection of his work appeared in 2000 under the title The Essential Ilan Stavans. In 2004, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Pablo Neruda's birth, Stavans edited the 1,000-page-long The Poetry of Pablo Neruda. The same year he edited the 3-volume set of Isaac Bashevis Singer: Collected Stories for the Library of America.

He has also displayed a strong interest in popular culture. Among other topics, he has written influential essays on the Mexican comedian, Mario Moreno ("Cantinflas"), the lampooner José Guadalupe Posada, the Chicano leader César Chávez, and the Tejana singer Selena, as well as a book about the board game Lotería! (with Teresa Villegas), which includes Stavans's own poems. He was also featured in one of the Smithsonian Q&A books.

Since 1993 he has been on the faculty at Amherst College, Massachusetts, where he is the Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture. He has also taught a various other institutions, including Columbia University. In 1997, Stavans was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and has been the recipient of international prizes and honors, including the Latino Literature Prize, Chile's Presidential Medal, and the Ruben Dario Distinction.

Also by Ilan Stavans

Fiction

The Disappearance

Nonfiction

The Riddle of Cantinflas
Dictionary Days
On Borrowed Words
Spanglish
The Hispanic Condition
Art and Anger
The Inveterate Dreamer
Octavio Paz: A Meditation
Imagining Columbus
Bandido
�Loter�a! (with Teresa Villegas)

Anthologies

Lengua Fresca (with Harold Augenbraum)
Tropical Synagogues
The Schocken Book of Modern Sephardic Literature
W�chale!
The Scroll and the Cross
The Oxford Book of Jewish Stories
Mutual Impressions
The Oxford Book of Latin American Essays
Growing Up Latino (with Harold Augenbraum)

Cartoons

Latino USA (with Lalo L�pez Alcar�z)

Translations

Sentimental Songs, by Felipe Alfau

Editions

Cesar Chavez: An Organizer�s Tale
The Poetry of Pablo Neruda
Encyclopedia Latina (4 volumes)
The Collected Stories of Calvert Casey
I Explain A Few Things
Rub�n Dar�o: Selected Writings
Isaac Bashevis Singer: Collected Stories
(3 volumes)

General

Love and Language (with Ver�nica Albin)
The Essential Ilan Stavans
Ilan Stavans: Eight Conversations (with Neal Sokol)
Collins Q&A
Conversations with Ilan Stavans

Ilan Stavans lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. Roberto Weil lives in Caracas, Venezuela.

Page 1 [single panel]: Los Angeles Mayor Samuel Patricio Inocencio C�rdenas in a cabinet meeting. On his desk there�s a sign that reads: �Los Angeles Mayor Samuel Patricio Inocencio C�rdenas, alias S.P.I.C. �Vato Loco!� Behind him there�s a photograph of the President of the United States, next to one of Cesar Chavez.

Page 2 [two panels]: Panel A: Spic talks to an attentive mestizo confidant. �I will not give in to oil companies. The City of Angels needs to cut down on emissions. Panel B: Spic on the phone with an adviser. �The mexicanos on this side of the divide aren�t taking anybody�s jobs. Are you ready to give up your $75,000 salary to deliver pizza?�

Page 3 [four panels]: Spic in a news conference, facing TV cameras. Among them, but lost in the crowd, is Hermenegildo Alcar�z, looking like a seventies radical.

Page 4 [two panels, a flashback]: Panel A: Spic reminisces about gang life in East L.A. Panel B: Spic and Hermenegildo are seen spray-painting a wall in the middle of the night.

Page 5 [four panels, still in flashback]: Panel A: Spic and Hermenegildo have an altercation. Panel B: A shootout outside a grocery store. Spic: ��Ay, cabr�n!� Panel C: Hermenegildo�s brother dies by mistake during a shootout in which Spic, armed with a pistol, could have defended him. Panel D: Hermenegildo and Spic in rivalry. Spic to Hermenegildo, �I tried interceding but... I could have saved your bro!� Hermenegildo to a remorseful yet defiant Spic: �No coward wanders free on my behalf.�

Page 6 [collage, still in flashback]: Spic as a Chicano college radical, trying to combine learning with activism. He�s seen at marches and sit-ins, holding signs and speaking to small crowds.

Page 7 [two panels, back to the present]: Panel A: An older Spic, again as Los Angeles Mayor, concludes news conference. �California needs to set standards in the fight against crime and pollution, as well as a welcoming place for immigrants looking for a better life.� Panel B: A female reporter asks Spic: �How do you reconcile your violent past as a gang member with your present pacifist persona?� Spic responds: �The past is our background, not our fate.� A tattoo of the United Farm Workers (U.F.W.) insignia is visible on the left arm.

Page 8 [collage]: Newspaper, TV, and Internet reports establish that California Senator Judith Liwerant has died in a helicopter crash. She�s described as �a divisive figure,� �a deal-breaker,� �a centrist Democrat,� and �a strong advocate in the building of the wall to separate Mexico from the United States.�

Page 9 [three panels]: Panel A: Spic receives news in his office. He�s shocked. He thinks: �Not the most humble lady. Death will improve her, no doubt. It always does...� Panel B: scene of the helicopter, with police, ambulances, and detectives. Panel C: Spic is talking to a TV crew: �Senator Liwerant�s tragic end is almost unbearable. Yet the pain will pass. Her views were extreme. Yet I respected her� In a democracy, it is our duty to allow everyone to express their views, no matter how xenophobic they might be.�

Page 10 [three panels]: Panel A: �Sometime later.� Telephone rings in Spic�s office. He answers. Panel B: Senator Astrid Allwyn talks to him. �Judith Liwerant�s seat is vacant. I�ve watched you over the last three years. Your radical phase is over, which is welcome news. How about moving upward in the political hierarchy? You�ve talked the talk. It�s time to switch from the local to the national stage.� Panel C: Spic replies, �Grooooooooooovy, but I haven�t finished my job in the City of Angels.� Senator Allwyn says, �In politics, the job is never truly done!�

Page 11 [two panels]: Panel A: Alone in his office, his BlackBerry at his side, Spic reads the books Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings and Cesar Chavez: An Organizer�s Tale while pondering his future. Panel B: Spic talks with his family. He says, �Senator Astrid Allwyn is ready to support my candidacy.� One of his daughters says, �I don�t want to move to Washington. There�s no good taquer�a around.�

Page 12 [single panel]: Senator Allwyn�s office. Spic says, �If offered, I�ll accept the nomination.� She responds, �Take it for granted!�

Page 13 [two panels]: Panel A: A line reads: �Months later.� In a speech on the streets of Sacramento, Spic talks to his constituency. People hold signs saying �Se�or Spic Goes to Washington� and ��Vato Loco!� He says, �Your vote in this election will fundamentally change the nature of the game. One doesn�t have to be afraid of one�s past. I was once a rambunctious agitator. I was also a gang member. I�m not ashamed of my past. I�m responsible for it. The social conditions that define Latinos aren�t pretty. Things need to change�not in a decade, not in half a century, but noooooooow! I�m known for the speed with which I challenge the establishment, but also for my efficacy. Cesar Chavez used to say that the rich have money and the poor have time. The experience I had as an adolescent enriched me� I�ll be a senator representing all Californios, young and old, black, white, yellow, mestizo and tutti frutti. It�s time to make this state more elastic, with a future not just for the wealthy and mighty but for every one.� Panel B: In East L.A., he talks in an elementary school to students, teachers, and administrators. He says, �I promise to look at the nation�s power elite en los ojos and reverse centuries of abuse and discrimination.�

Page 14 [two panels]: Panel A: Senator Allwyn listens with some discomfort to Spic�s speech on Univisi�n. Next to her are several advisers and corporate supporters, including Sheldon �Sherre� Herrington, head of SuperDuper, the largest California corporate conglomerate. Allwyn says, �I thought the old-time Spic had given up his dirty ways. Did he say tutti frutti? Choosing him might end up backfiring. Latino politicos have an incendiary message, the legacy of an era, the sixties and seventies, without any significant triumph.� Herrington replies, �After a few days in D.C., he�ll learn to play by the rules.� Panel B: Senator Allwyn says to Herrington, �It might have been simpler to choose another peon trained in good schools. Why a former gang member?� Herrington replies, �Only by taking risks will your support base be expanded!� To which Senator Allwyn replies, �Latino politics are fractured by nature. The Cuban-American lobby will detest him. He�s hyper-liberal!�

Page 15 [three panels]: Panel A: Spic arrives at Reagan Airport with his suitcases. Panel B: Sitting in a taxi (the Capitol is in the background) while talking to the Pakistani cab driver. Spic: �Many foreigners in the capital?� The cab driver responds, �No one is a native in America any more!� Panel C: Spic leaving a grocery store. Spic thinks, �No hay chiles. Las tortillas son de pl�stico. Dios m�o, why have you forsaken me?�