Storylines: Pelon Grows Hair

From June through September of 1981, Arriola makes things up to one of his most beleaguered characters - Pelon Padilla, who operates the only cantina in town. Despite this elevated position, Gordo and his freeloading chums often took advantage of Pelon. He's been robbed, swindled, cleaned out, excluded, had his pool table wrecked and his trumpet plugged with a billiard ball -- and that was just what his friends did!

As a reward for patiently absorbing so much abuse, Pelon's scalp makes a last grasp at vitality. Pelon -- also recently redesigned to remove the more egregious features left over from the strip's earliest years -- develops an opportunity to not only grow hair but also to fall in love!

Sadly, the hair is short-lived. Little Jorge, the doctor, diagnoses it as "Camille Syndrome," a fatal last gasp of Pelon's scalp before his baldness returns, permanently. Luckily, by then, Pelon and Teresa (the local hairstylist) have eloped!

Assorted strips:

Del Monte's barber is well-known for butchering hair, so Pelon takes refuge at Teresa's Salon de Belleza

Pelon consults the town's doctor, Little Jorge, for answers about his sudden hair growth and receives the unsolicited opinion of the Doc's assistant, local curandera Trini.  

When he begins finding loose follicles on his comb, he makes a late-night emergency visit to Teresa: 

Hair may not be forever, but love is a different story ...