Updated on December 10, 2021
This week’s “minorities in cartoons” entry is the comic strip “La Cucaracha,” written and drawn by Lalo Alcaraz.
Background
A political strip, its name is Spanish for “the cockroach.” In this case, one of the main characters is a six-foot (1.8 meters) tall anthropomorphic, clothed cockroach named “Cuco Rocha.” Cuco shares an apartment with his best friend, Eddie. Other recurring characters include:
- A taco cart guy (no name given beyond that).
- A pair of elderly men who spend all their time sitting on a park bench. Similar to the Muppets’ Statler and Waldorf, they tend to be sarcastic, and occasionally out of touch with modern culture.
- A pair of babies at a daycare center who run an “anchor baby” newscast.
- Vero, Eddie’s girlfriend, who works as a school teacher. She’s forced to spend too much time dealing with the negative aspects of modern education (budget cutbacks, obnoxious new curriculum additions, etc.).
- Eddie’s parents, including his conservative father, who’s a big Rush Limbaugh fan (regardless of conservative radio’s regressive views on immigration, etc.).
As expected, current events are heavily remarked upon. Issues affecting Latinos (and to some extent, African-Americans/other minorities) are also covered. A recurring gag is the strip being done as a parody of “The Boondocks.”
Besides “La Cucaracha,” Alcaraz also engages in some political activism, including delivering speeches and doing other political artwork. Alcaraz also draws political cartoons for weekly Los Angeles paper “LA Weekly.”
(Updated 11/15/16)
