El Gato Negro (comic book)

El Gato Negro
Cover of El Gato Negro #1 (October 1993) Art by Dave Kramer
Publication information
Publisher	Azteca Productions
Publication date	1993 - 1996
No. of issues	4
Main character(s)	El Gato Negro
Creative team
Created by	Richard Dominguez
Written by	Richard Dominguez
Artist(s)	Richard Dominguez Dave Kramer Omar Mediano

El Gato Negro (The Black Cat) was an independent comic book series featuring the eponymous character created by Richard Dominguez and published by Azteca Productions. The series began in October 1993 with critical acclaim, the first edition actually selling all 5,000 copies within two months, but was placed on a seven-year hiatus after the fourth issue was published. Dominguez later returned in 2005 with the new series El Gato Negro: Nocturnal Warrior.

The events in "El Gato Negro" occur in South Texas, specifically within the Lower Rio Grande Valley area, where social worker Francisco "Pancho" Guerrero is motivated by the gruesome murder of his best friend by drug-traffickers, to fight crime under the guise of El Gato Negro. He is assisted in his goals by his grandfather Agustin Guerrero and several other supporting characters.

The first of the self-titled series published in 1993 under Dominguez's own Azteca Productions imprint. The identity El Gato Negro is in fact Francisco Guerrero, grandson of the original El Gato Negro, and heir to his legacy. Francisco adopted the identity of the El Gato Negro shortly after the murder of his friend Mario Bustamonte. Despite being popular with the citizens of his community, El Gato Negro is constantly being hunted by police Captain Miguel Bustamonte, Francisco's best friend and Mario's older brother. Miguel believes El Gato Negro is in league with the drug-smugglers that plague South Texas and was probably involved in the murder of his younger brother. While out on patrol one night as El Gato Negro, Francisco discovers two escaped convicts. Incapacitating the criminals, El Gato Negro has unknowingly stumbled across a drug-running conspiracy formed by the drug-smuggler known only as El Graduado and a mysterious South American crime organization known as The Annulus. El Gato Negro is later lured in to a trap set by El Graduado personally in an abandoned warehouse.