Title

Zambo Dendé

Subject

Bodies

Description

Image 1:
The page is divided in four horizontal panels. Each panel shows a dandelion against a blue background, slowly floating down into a light-brown-skinned hand. Each panel has a text that reads, consecutively:
“Like a dandelion, hope rests on the oppressed...”; “...Who seek the path to a hidden and uncertain truth”; “Prostrating itself before the chosen one, the committed one rushes forward so that with his hands he can bear the weight of the legacy...”; “...A legacy of blood and race. Today is another night of revenge and disastrous memories...”.
As the dandelion falls gently into the palm of the hand, the hand closes up, clasping the dandelion, adopting the shape of a fist. In the bottom panel, a frame is inserted showing the profile of a muscular, light-brown-skinned young man, with angular facial features, his eyes covered by shadows, his head wrapped in a turban. This is Zambo Dendé. The corners of his mouth are turned downwards, looking very serious, maybe angry. The man is staring at the dandelion clasped between his fingers.
Image 2:
A black-and-white high-contrast drawing with, on the left, menacing gods and goddesses, a cloak-wearing death-figure and men with swords (probably conquistadors), in an attacking attitude. They are confronting a group of men and women on the right side of the page, one of whom holds a baby in her arms. Some of the men are wearing feather headdresses—possibly resembling Indigenous people. They all look worried and scared. Behind this group of people there are pre-Columbian objects - a temple-like building and a monumental stone sculpture of a pre-Columbian deity. At the front of the group, in the foreground of the page, stands Zambo Dendé, wearing hoop earrings and a pectoral. He is very strong, with big, defined muscles. He has a chain wrapped around his left arm and is confronting the sword-bearing men. Running down the middle of the page, nine speech frames deploy the following texts:

“The ancient legends of Latin America recount that, at the beginning of time, Bah-Chuệ, the supreme deity, conceived the cosmic gods, Karak-Quasim, Malak-Boaki, Waji-Ela and Sulai-Maka, to rule over all life in the universe from the sacred temple of Etherea. / Malak-Boaki gave shape to humanity and endowed it with the freedom that the gods enjoyed. This sparked the wrath of Karak-Quasim, the youngest and most despotic of the brothers, who felt that it would jeopardize the supremacy of the gods; he responded to the threat by creating the demigods, so that they could control and subjugate humanity. / The dark forces gave shape to the Unholy One, a man who would execute the vehement plan of the god Karak and in whose hands lay the full power of an onslaught that sought the destruction of all existing nature. / Legends also say that Malak-Boaki, aware of the situation, chose the man with the purest heart, full of courage and kindness, to become the protector of humanity. / From his emerald blood, Malak extracted his own amanola, the purest divine energy, and with it bestowed upon the chosen one the omnipotent gifts of the creator. / A rumour spread among the tribes of a pure man who would protect them from the evil of the invaders, the mercilessness of the demigods, and the wrath of the supreme creators./ Everyone baptized him as The Immaculate One and many say that he came to face the infinite power of the cosmic gods./ However, the conflict unleashed the anger of Bah-Chué and triggered his attack against the planet. / Now, the time of the last prophecy has begun and the destiny of humanity is in the hands of a mysterious heir.”

Zambo Dendé: La revelación del heredero

Zambo Dendé: Colección uno

Country

Colombia

Format

Comic strip

Creator

Nicolás Rodríguez, 1977

Link to social media

Zambo Dendé: Instagram

Date

2020

Related Bibliography

Ortega Domínguez, A. (2022) The mestizo gaze: visualizing racism, citizenship, and rights in neoliberal Mexico, Ethnic and Racial Studies 45:14, 2609-2630.

Wade, P. (2010). Race and Ethnicity in Latin America. Pluto Press.

Wade, P. (2017). Degrees of mixture, degrees of freedom: Genomics, multiculturalism, and race in Latin America. Duke University Press.