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Glossary and Character Taxonomy  Breakdown by Country of Origin   Bibliography   Table of Contents    The Best of the Encyclopedia

Adelita. Adelita was created by the Mexican creator Jose G. Cruz (Brenty, Juan Sin Miedo, Letty Lou, Gerald Meldrick, Monje Negro, Nancy) and appeared in the comic strip “Adelita y Las Guerrillas” (Pepin, 1939-1958).

During the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), Adelita, an independent and headstrong young Mexican woman, and her best friend Nancy, get involved in a wide array of adventures: Adelita’s father is killed by bandits of Pascual the Frog; and Adelita falls in love with Juan Sin Miedo, who defended Adelita’s village from the bandits; Juan leaves, becomes a famous bullfighter, returns, and is kidnapped by Chinese pirates; Adelita encounters Lost Race Aztecs; Adelita fights (and then becomes the lover of) Monje Negro; Adelita and Nancy are kidnapped by a leprous Mad Scientist who tries to kiss them and infect them with his leprosy; Adelita is knocked on the head and are rendered amnesiac; Adelita joins an Interpol-like international police force and helps Nancy fight the agents of the Scarlet Band; Adelita fights the forces of the dictator Huerta, especially his adventuress, the Tigress of the Bajio; and so on, in the big cities of Mexico and in the rural areas, from the deserts to the jungles to the swamps.

In 1940 Adelita and Nancy have their lives saved by Superman, who catches their car when it falls off a cliff. 

* I've included Adelita in the the Best of the Encyclopedia category because Adelita was, during her heyday, an iconic character, someone whose influence on Mexican culture extended beyond just the comic strip. As well, the storylines of "Adelita y Las Guerrillas" was colorful and imaginative enough to count, in my mind, as containing ideasplosions. And not to be discounted is how Adelita was the foremost character of a universe of linked characters, all created by Jose G. Cruz. Plus Adelita is just neat. 

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