Jabaz is a magician, but his tricks don’t produce rabbits or doves. Instead, he daily produces whips, clubs, darts, and more instruments, with which he lashes the idiots, the heartless, the affected, the ignorant, the know-it-alls, those who attempt to pass themselves off as clever, those who overstep, those who behave badly (sometimes too badly). He is, so to speak, a kind of Zorro—signing his characters with his distinctive mark, the “J” of Jabaz, which becomes a stigma that can never be removed. Felipe Covarrubias | ITESO
Translations by Magalí Armillas-Tiseyra and Marcial Godoy-Anativia
José Antonio Baz Nungaray(Jabaz) is a graphic designer and editorial cartoonist working primarily with photomontage; he has contributed to the publications of the Milenio group since its inception. His work is published daily under the title, “El País del Nunca Jabaz” (Never-Never-Jabaz Land). In 2005, Jabaz was awarded the Premio Nacional de Periodismo (National Journalism Prize) for Caricature and Humor. Cofounder of the magazine Galimatías, he has also worked as editor and collaborator for the humor supplements La Mamá del Abulón (The Abalone’s Mother) and Tu Hermana la Gordota (Your Sister the Fatty) for the newspapers Siglo 21 and Público-Milenio in Guadalajara, respectively. He has also contributed to the magazine El Chahuistle, published by Posada. In 1995, he published a book with Posada titled: No se hagan bolas, todo fue una fantasia (Don’t Panic, It was All a Fantasy). His most recent book is Diario Apócrifo de Maciel el travieso (The Apocryphal Diary of Macial, the Naughty), the (unauthorized) biography of Marcial Maciel, founding (among other things) of the Legionaries of Christ.
