This handsome large-format book brings together a selection of comics from a very important period in Peru, book-ended by the process of disintegration of the government of the armed forces (1968–80) and the first years in power of Alberto Fujimori from his election in 1990, till his self-coup in 1992. This was a particularly fertile time for the production and publication of comics in Peru. The book focuses on the main illustrators and their impact as well as on the society that made their emergence possible.

It is not often that comics such as these are reproduced accompanied by academic studies, as well as by interviews with the main comic-makers. The first essay, by Alfredo Villar, takes a chronological sweep setting the context in 1978 with General Francisco Morales Bermúdez facing the crisis that led to the calling of a Constituent Assembly. Taking advantage of a law that allowed the revival of old publications, Nicolás Yerovi, grand-nephew of Leonidas Yerovi, the original director of the subversive satirical graphic magazine Monos y Monadas, published in the early twentieth century, relaunched it with the support of an assorted group of artists and illustrators. This became the training ground for a whole generation of cartoonists, some of whom are still active to this day.

The historical analysis is divided into three chronological periods: the transition from 1978 to 1980; the period from 1980 to 1985 (Fernando Belaúnde's second stint in office), dubbed ‘first farce, then tragedy’, in reference to Belaúnde's first government and the growing threat of the Sendero Luminoso; and the period 1985–92, which is referred to as ‘the comedy of power’ (Alan García's government, 1985–90) and ‘the laughter of deceit’ (the beginning of Fujimori's rule, 1990–2). Throughout the period 1985–92 many other publications saw the light of day, albeit some for a very limited time, but it was mainly the same illustrators and comic-makers who dominated the scene, with some new names being added to the more established ones. The links between journalism and comics are explicitly made as the book is mainly interested in this aspect of comic-making. The rise of violence and the increasingly precarious situation of the medium, linked to the worsening economic crisis, are also set into context.

Although comic-making was particularly male dominated in this period, at least two important female illustrators emerged, and one essay – that by Carla Sagástegui – is dedicated to analysis of the work of Marisa Godínez. Her work concentrates on the female body and the social roles given to women as spouses and mothers. Sagástegui looks at this in detail, from Godínez's beginnings in Monos y Monadas, where she was employed because she was the spouse of another illustrator, to her increasingly overtly feminist work – particularly comic-making – within feminism. It is a pity that no examples are provided of the other female illustrator, Maroé Susti, who was also the partner of an illustrator from Monos y Monadas. Interestingly no other women emerged in this period and both Godínez and Susti later abandoned political cartoon-making.

The bulk of the book is made up of reproductions of cartoons from those deemed the most important auteurs, using their noms de plume, from Dare, through to Carlín, Juan, Polar, Alonso, Alfredo, Heduardo, Marisa and Canabis. This is an extremely varied and interesting look at an era, as having all of these images in one place makes it possible to recreate a whole period of Peruvian history through a very specific lens. The final section of the book includes interviews with Carlín, Dare, Marisa, Alfredo, Juan, Omar, Alonso and Chillico, allowing them to articulate their opinions of what making cartoons meant to them in the period in which they made them, and to put across their views on political humour.

This is an excellent addition to the literature on cultural studies in the region, where there is an increasing discussion of the role of cartoons and political humour. It would have been interesting to have more comparisons with the rest of the region; welcome too would have been more reflection on the history of this kind of political humour in Peru, in respect of both the period pre-1978 as well as of younger cartoonists working today, some alongside the auteurs discussed in the book. Having said that, this is a very important contribution to the understanding of Peru in the difficult 1980s and it helps shed light on one of the most violent and conflicted periods of the twentieth century.