While he was living in El Paso, Texas, writer Jack London became interested in the war raging south of the border. He soon wrote “The Mexican,” a short story based on true events that appeared in a 1911 issue of the Saturday Evening Post. Its protagonist, Juan Fernandez, is based on real-life figure Joe Rivers.
Fernandez is the prolabor son of a printer living in Veracruz, Mexico, who publishes stories favorable to striking workers. After escaping a strike where federal troops kill many workers, he changes his name to Felipe Rivera and travels to Baja California and Los Angeles. He ends up in El Paso, where he turns to his talents as a boxer to raise money for Junta Revolucionaria Mexicana, a group of revolutionaries living in exile. Hearing that $5,000 is desperately needed to buy guns for frontline fighters in Mexico, he promises to raise the money in a few weeks by taking on a highly favored boxer from New York. In a tale of unbridled passion for his revolutionary cause and drama within the boxing ring, Fernandez wins. “The Mexican” is a story about the complex balance of individual interest and commitment to a larger cause.
This graphic adaptation by Argentine cartoonist Edu Molina captures the conflict within a nation’s social and political revolution made personal by those who feel both desperate and empowered. The illustration style mirrors the story’s tone, bringing its classic historical themes to life for a new audience.
