GOODE STUFF: WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN ANYWAY? by Dave Goode

One of the things that surely helped to make Santo, el Enmascarado de Plata, a Mexican pop culture icon were the Santo comic books. After all before he wrestled against the "principalities and powers of darkness" on the silver screen, he fought the forces of evil in comic books.

The first Santo comics would appear in 1952. The man behind these periodicals was Jose' G. Cruz, a comic book artist/writer, and actor/screenwriter. The first series of Santo comics ran for 6 years between 1952 and 1958 producing 300 issues of serialized stories. Santo's first films Cerebro Del Mal and Santo vs. Hombres Infernales would appear in 1958 about the same time the first comic book series was ending.

In the early 1960s Cruz would produce a second series of Santo comics. This series would run up through the 1970s. And would immediately be followed by the third series. A fourth series began in 1986 and was printed in Columbia. It was the only series that didn't carry Cruz's name.

Each series used the same format. They used photos of the silver-masked
wrestler and other actors/models integrated with drawings of various surrealistic backgrounds giving the comics a nightmarish look. I never read these comics when I was a kid. But I discovered them as a teenager in high school in the 70s. It was in the 70s, about 1974, that the real Santo was replaced in these comics by a muscular model wearing trunks (not tights), wrestling boots and an imitation of the famous silver mask. But with an "S" insignia on it.

The model for this Santo impersonator wasn't another luchador. But was instead a professional bodybuilder. Mr. Mexico 1969 Hector Pliego. Pliego was a muscleman of some note. He also was a contestant in the 1977 Mr. World competition winning the lightweight class. I have to wonder if some Mexican sports promoter ever considered offering the muscleman a wrestling contract.