Classic Argentina Comic Strips

[Guiller]

Mafalda, Inodoro Pereyra, Patoruzu, Gaturro

Hi,

For people interested in getting a real-world idea of the way argentinian minds work, a good idea is to try to read some of the many good cartoons that have been popular and remained in the cultural background.

A few representative ones are:

Mafalda:

By Quino. A classic 60's strip by Quino (another argentinian author) My avatar displays Guille, the younger brother of Mafalda:

http://www.todohistorietas.com.ar/mafalda.htm
http://mafalda.dreamers.com/
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafalda (Spanish)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafalda (English)

I quote here what the Wikipedia says about the character of Guille:

Guille (Guillermo, 1968): Mafalda's little brother. He loves soup (much to his sister's chagrin), has a pathologic dependence on his pacifier, and he and Mafalda have a pet tortoise called Burocracia ('Bureaucracy'). Lovable, cool and opinionated, his age allows him traits that make him the strip's counterpart of the "Summer of Love" generation (including carelessness, mental independence and nudity). He is another one of the characters inspired by someone in Quino's real life - his nephew, the musician Guillermo Lavado.

Inodoro Pereyra:

By Roberto Fontanarrosa (who recently passed away). According to the author, this represents the essence of a sort of argentinian prototype:

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inodoro_Pereyra (Spanish)

By the way, another great cartoon by Fontanarrosa that displays a sort of American Rambo is "Boogy el aceitoso".

Patoruzu

By Dante Quinterno. Considered to be the first important argentinian cartoon (1928).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patoruzu


There are plenty more, because cartoons in this country have a crowd of followers.

One of todays' leading cartoonist is Nik, whose character Gaturro (appears daily in "La Nacion") has already become a classic one.

http://www.gaturro.com/

My advise for anybody trying to practice Spanish is to read these cartoons and ask local people for insights and comments. You'll a host of interesting insights catalyzed by these cartoons.

All the best

[Aqualung]

Thanks for the links Guiller. But I don't see Inodoro Pereyra as being the best reading for Spanish learners! Hahahaha.

:)

[Facundo]

Guiller, Mafalda for many argentines was transformed from being a mere dibujo (cartoon character) to a commentator of every realm of argentine society. One of my favorite comments about Mafalda came from the great Argentine writer, Julio Cortázar. When Cortázar was asked; What do you think of Mafalda? Cortazar responded;

"No tiene importancia lo que yo pienso de Mafalda. Lo importante es lo que Mafalda piensa de mi."

"It does not matter what I think of Mafalda. The most important thing is what Mafalda thinks of me".

One of the many ways to learn the use of the subjunctive (subjuntivo) is by reading the various cartoon strips. By the way, besides the comic strip characters you mentioned, my favorite is; "Yo, Matias". Here is a site that explains a little about the comic strip, Yo, Matias.

http://www.todohistorietas.com.ar/matias.htm