Ilan Stavans's Mr. Spic (nee Samuel Patricio Inocencio Cardenas) is a man of the people. A former gang banger in East L.A., his meteoric rise to the U.S. Senate is inspired by his heroes, Abraham Lincoln, Cesar Chavez, and Che Guevara, as well as an overwhelming drive to lend a voice to the dispossessed. He will not bend to corporate or political pressure; though initially aided by bureaucratic senior senators, his ascension carries with it the unwielding policies of a true progressive. The scathing, satirizing tale about ethnic America that ensues is brilliantly illustrated in Roberto Weil's Dilbert-meets-Aqua Teen Hunger Force style - an irreverent mash-up of photos and line drawings, aligned in sweeping cinematic angles.
