"La Parka", the superhero from La Matanza made into a comic

“La Parka” is the superhero from La Matanza who is in charge of providing justice in the face of the system’s ineffectiveness. The character, conceived and designed in the comics by Martín Sarlo , is inspired by San la Muerte , a popular pagan saint who represents death itself and, according to his devotees, is the protector of socially excluded and oppressed people.

After experiencing the tragedy of losing his wife and son, "La Parka" adopts his new vigilante persona and decides to save the neighbors from crime. The comic takes place in the streets and neighborhoods of the municipality, with its elements and idiosyncrasies.

The story is marketed by the publishing house “Inmortal Comic Universo” and can be purchased through their social networks @inmortal_comic . They are currently working on the universe of superheroes that accompanies “La Parka” from other parts of the country, such as “Médium” , a sorceress from Rosario and “Ave Diurna ”, a superhero who roams the streets of the City of Buenos Aires . At the same time, they are writing a story that addresses the Malvinas War.

Martin Sarlo is from La Tablada and works as a Visual Arts teacher in schools in the area. In 2018 he decided to return to some sketches he had made in his childhood and bring them to life under the name “La Parka”. “Since I was a child I was a consumer of the universe of superheroes and I had the idea of ​​seeing those characters that I consumed and that were imported to me from the United States , develop in places that were my own,” explains the author about his beginnings.

Determined to bring his childhood characters to life, he got together with a group of friends under the name “Inmortal Comic Universe” and turned the character into a darker and more fearsome being. “I redesigned the concept of the parka because at first it was a childish character with funny overtones and I wanted it to express all the darkness that the character has. Once we developed that, we decided to create the story and start moving into comic book events.”

The script for “La Parka” was written by Martin Sarlo and the illustrations were carried out by: Quique Alcatena, Carlos Villagran, Bruno Quaranta, Guillermo Villarreal, Daniel Ironfox, Dario Brabo and Ezequiel Di Savino for the cover.

In 2019, the first chapter of the comic was released in black and white and as an experimental version. In the following years, the second and third parts were released. “When we decided to do the fourth, we made a compilation of all the chapters and added a little more context to the story. We started to take what we were doing a little more seriously and not so much as a hobby,” he explains.

And he adds: “That's when we started to professionalize what we were already doing and fulfill the dream of publishing a book in 17x24 format, which is the one that one usually buys foreign comics in. We also started to introduce other characters to give the publishing house a different image.”

Martin emphasizes that with all the characters in the publishing house the goal is for the reader to find places that are familiar to them. “We tried to do with the rest of the characters the same thing we did with Parka. We have one that is located in Rosario , another in the north of Argentina , one in Flores, San Telmo, Avellaneda, the Atlantic Coast and La Pampa ,” he adds.