The Genesis of Animan--Tijuana Bibles

When I was about 5, I lived in San Diego. One night, my dad and his pals went across the border to Tijuana, the Mexican-American border town. He came back with the usual souvenirs of the day--little wicker chairs painted with Mexican motifs for us kids, marionettes, and a bottle of tequila.

My older brother who was 8, had been looking in my parents' dresser after that, and found some little 8-page booklets. Later, I learned that they were "Tijuana Bibles". I was fascinated with the artwork, which ranged from sexy and well-drawn (see the drawing above), to poorly scrawled.  The stories were 99% heterosexual--homosexual scenes were included sometimes mainly to ridicule gays. Also, the drawings of jews or black characters were pretty grotesque. Some of the books seemed very old--as if they had been drawn in the 1930's and 1940's, so there was a strong racist element, as well as some super narrow-minded ideas about sex.

Although they were in English, I was too little to read them, so I had my brother read them out loud to me. But the male characters in the booklets all had these big things poking out of their pants, and I couldn't figure out what those could be. They couldn't be penises--I was 5 and I thought all wieners were as small as mine! Suddenly, my brother wouldn't let me see them anymore, so I went to complain to my mother. When I mentioned "little books", her face became white as a sheet--her expression changed into one of panic, and she got furious at my big brother.  And I came away from the experience a changed boy.

When I became a teenager, I started fantasizing about how cool it would be if those booklets could become animated cartoons, with an all-male cast. The forbidden, deliciously-naughty feeling I had when I first saw those books is something I have never forgotten, and I always try and infuse that excitement into my work. 

For more information, you can Google "Tijuana Bibles".