Here I analyze three different versions of the character El Pantera. Since his original appearance in comic form Pantera has been adapted into two novels and a television series. I will address each of these versions briefly here and provide close readings of these adaptations later in the chapter. As noted previously, El Pantera originally appeared in the publication Super Mini in 1971. Daniel Muñoz created the character and during this period El Pantera was illustrated by Juan Alba. From this early version Pantera's distinguishing visual characteristics were established: dark hair with an iconic white streak, dark skin with indigenous factions, and green eyes. By 1980 Pantera was given his own weekly comic series by Editorial Vid and the artist Alberto Maldonado took over as illustrator. While Maldonado illustrated the stories of each issue, the artist Guillermo Peimbert produced the cover art for the comic during its fifteen years of publication. Thus the most recognizable and iconic images of El Pantera should be attributed to the Peimbert & Maldonado team. Maldonado maintained much of Juan Alba's original character design but increased his musculature and height, and created a consistent facial structure that emphasizes Pantera's indigenous traits. In the weekly comic series Pantera is identified as a ranchero that visits Mexico City to fight crime. He often works for the General Porfirio Alaya who requests that Pantera infiltrate criminal organizations in the city. In other issues of the comic Pantera becomes involved in various adventures to help his friends or in the pursuit of women. The majority of these stories are self-contained within one issue of the comic and do not maintain an overarching narrative. The comic version of Pantera has been the iteration of
the character that has had the most impact culturally, and this is primarily due to the more than fifteen-year length of its publication run. The Alberto Maldonado and Guillermo Peimbert vision of Pantera is considered the purest version of the character amongst commenters on Pantera fan pages and blogs.
Near the end of the weekly comic's publication by Editorial Vid, Daniel Muñoz published a novel exploring Pantera's backstory. The 1994 novel was aptly titled El
Pantera and developed the history of Gervasio Robles before he began his comic book
adventures. Without Alberto Maldonado to illustrate the streets of Mexico City, Daniel Muñoz shines as a pulp novelist in his ability to describe the urban settings, cabarets, and brothels of the 1970s Distrito Federal. Muñoz clarifies Pantera's indigenous heritage: "Mi verdadero nombre es Gervasio Robles Villa. Nací bastardo, hijo de un norteño, un regiomontano, pues, y de una india oaxaqueña. Por eso soy un indio de ojos verdes: heredé los de mi padre" [“My real name is Gervasio Robles Villa. I was born a bastard, son of a northern from Monterrey and an Indian from Oaxaca. That’s why I’m an Indian with green eyes: I inherited them from my father.” (El Pantera 26). At the beginning of the novel Pantera confronts his possible death and as his life flashes before his eyes Muñoz explains how Gervasio Robles Villa came to be known as El Pantera. The novelistic version of Pantera explores the character's connection with Mexico City, the police, organized crime, and how he came to be an urban hero prior to the adventures shown in the comic series of the 1980s. The narration of the novel is told through Pantera's point of view and thus he becomes a more robust individual with ideas about the role of Keynesian economics in Mexico, the preservation of Mexico's cultural heritage, and the part the Mexican military
should play in dealing with organized crime. Muñoz's 1994 novel culminates in Pantera defeating the Mexico City crime boss Bella Diana with the assistance of General Alaya and the Mexican military. In the novels Muñoz proposes a solution to police corruption, drug trafficking, and prostitution which I will discuss in more detail in this chapter. After the publication of El Pantera in 1994 Daniel Muñoz wrote another Pantera novel in 1997 that explored machismo, lucha libre, and the dangers of feminism to Mexican society titled El Pantera, en: el misterio de la Amenaza Negra. This second novel is a type of
comedia de enredos that tells the story of Pantera's investigation into the disappearance of
a singer who ran away from his nagging wife and took on the disguise of a famous luchador. While this novel presents ample material for critical analysis I will not be discussing this text as its connections to the comic and television version of El Pantera are extremely limited. I think it is sufficient for this introduction to the character to say that this novel does not significantly develop Pantera as a character but rather, in my opinion, was Daniel Muñoz's exploration into writing a comedic story that involved the world of wrestling.
In 2007 Televisa brought Daniel Muñoz's Pantera to television. The series, produced by Rodolfo de Anda and Alexis Alaya, ran a total of forty-one episodes over three seasons. The series reimagined El Pantera in a contemporary Mexico City and paid homage to the character's comic book origins with animated scene transitions, unique lighting techniques, and stylized editing, which will de analyzed in detail later in this chapter. The first season of the television series loosely follows the origin story of Gervasio Robles Villa as told in the 1994 novel, but by the end of the season the writers had moved the story in a completely original direction and seasons two and three represent storylines
that deal more with current events in Mexico (international drug trafficking, cartel wars, and DEA agents) than with the type of adventures Pantera had in the comics or novels. One of the most significant changes brought to the character was the image of Pantera himself. The enduring Maldonado and Peimbert image from the comics and even the covers of the novels was revamped causing longtime fans to reject the Televisa version of the iconic hero. Televisa cast the Puerto Rican actor Luis Roberto Guzmán, best known for his work on Mexican telenovelas, as El Pantera. The changes to the temporal setting of the series as well as the casting of a non-indigenous person in the role of Pantera caused significant changes to be made to the entire narrative of the first season and to many of the characters in the series. The impact of these changes will be discussed in this chapter as well.
In 2015 the English author Warren Ellis and Universal Cable Productions in collaboration with Televisa USA announced that they will produce as US adaptation of El
Pantera (Hipes). While few details are currently known about the North American version
it has been reported that the action will be moved from Mexico City to a fictional US/Mexico bordertown where a recently appointed chief of police will help a friend fake his own death in order to become El Pantera and to rid their town of crime. This version of Pantera will surely play a part in my future research and writing as the shifts in language, location, and race will inevitably bring about new circumstances that will be fruitful for analysis. The multiple versions of Pantera that these adaptations have produced bring about questions in relation to the identity and subjectivity of the protagonist as he has changed from a comic book illustration into the Puerto Rican actor Luis Roberto Guzmán.