Between absurd humor and violent laughter: Tía Vicenta magazine and the most recent Argentinian Dictatorship (1977-1979)

Abstract

We analyze the second era of Tía Vicenta, the Argentinian satirical magazine founded and edited by Landrú (Juan Carlos Colombres). The magazine had a groundbreaking first period of publication between 1957 and 1966. The second era of the magazine spanned from November 1977 to July 1979, during the most recent military dictatorship of Argentina, the  self-appointed “Process of National Reorganization”. We reconstruct its publishing history alongside the general shape of Argentinian graphic humor in the seventies. Through the analysis of Landrú’s links to the military, his ideology, and the images and texts that appeared in it, we isolate two coexisting points of view within it: a respectful position regarding the dictatorship’s project of order and political oppression, and a heavy critique regarding its economic program. The explanation for this lies both in the personal politics of Landrú as well as in the context in which the magazine appeared. We conclude by stating that the same type of absurd humor and impartial political position that had allowed Tía Vicenta to prosper in the sixties was anachronic and even reactionary in the changed landscape of seventies’ Argentinian graphic humor, which may explain its demise and erasure from most recollections of the period.