Francisco Ibanez has passed away at 87 years in Barcelona this past Saturday. With a trajectory over 65 years old and creations like those of Mortadelo and Filemón, The Sacarino Bellboy, Rompetechos and so many others, His figure is and will always be a reference to comics and comics Spanish people. He was also one of the last remaining of that multitude of cartoonists who worked in the mythical publishing house Heath and made the '60s, '70s, and mid-'80s the golden age of what is now called comics.
Those of us who were born and raised then owe to Ibáñez our first approaches to reading and countless hours of fun. with your loss we were orphaned Definitely from an unrepeatable era. This is a review of his figure and characters, as many to the most famous as to the first or the least known. Rest in peace.
Francisco Ibanez
He was born on March 15, 1936 in Barcelona, the son of a father from Alicante and an Andalusian mother, and he was already a fan of comics since he was little. The first drawing of him appeared published in the reference children's magazine of the time Chicos. And from there he already had his future as a cartoonist marked out, despite his studies in Trade and Commercial Expertise or his first button job at the Spanish Credit Bank.
When he went to work for Heath coincided with several colleagues also already legendary as José Escobar, Cifré, Peñarroya or Vázquez. There Ibáñez lived its best and most fruitful period, although also thanks to an almost slave labor, after having created in 1958 Mortadelo and Filemon. They gave names to magazines like bologna, Super Mortadelo, Giant Bologna o Mortadelo Special, whose copies sold in the millions, but which forced him to work exclusively on them.
A mid 80s things went wrong and Francisco Ibáñez left Bruguera, who kept the rights to his most famous couple of characters. He went to work at Grijalbo and when Bruguera closed and was absorbed by Ediciones B, Ibáñez recovered the rights and gave them a new air and a new format and stories based on relevant moments of today. Since then the successes and recognitions have been multiple, but perhaps the most important has been the affection and deep admiration of its readers of several generations.
Francisco Ibáñez — Most Famous People
Mortadelo and Filemon
and the superintendent Vicente, Ofelia the secretary, the teacher Bacterium and as many memorable villains as Chapeau the Esmirriau or Magin the magician. The TIA, their secret entrances, the impossible missions in all parts of the world, the most complicated investigations, the most convoluted cases... Everything has been done —and been— they, the most famous detective couple in comics, a creation worthy of the biggest international ones and whose stories have been translated into many languages. Unsurpassed and already inimitable.
Its last issue was published last March. Basketball World Cup 2023, and in September it will come out around the world.
The Saccharine Bellboy
Or the crazy life —with the experience of Ibáñez himself after he had been— in a workshop where a naive and always well-intentioned but also crazy bellboy works. errands for a grumpy manager they don't always turn out well, not to say they never do.
Roof breakers
It was him Ibáñez's favorite character because he said it reminded him of him, with his thinning hair, his glasses and bad vision, guilty of a thousand and one mistakes, each one more impossible and amusing.
Pepe Gotera and Otilio
This and 13, Rue del Barnacle His creations are undoubtedly the ones that best portrayed the picaresque Spanish idiosyncrasy and, in this case, bungling. A couple of exactly that, two botch at home who are more concerned with doing the bare minimum, getting paid, and running away. Oh, and eat some gigantic sandwiches filled with everything unimaginable.
13, Rue del Barnacle
Another of those masterful works with a fixed structure of a building full of lives that were showing the society of each era. It had a new reinterpretation and design in the magazine Trouble (1986), where it was 7, Reballing Street.
And both the stories of Pepe Gotera and Otilio and the universe of this block of neighbors were influences for television series such as Let's do it o There is no one living here.
Francisco Ibáñez — other characters
The Trapisonsa family, a little group that is the world
With the inspiration of the chive family, by Manuel Vázquez, also saw the light in 1958, and told the story of a lower-middle-class family whose main protagonists are the father named Pancracio And her dog Atila, a very cheeky mongrel who was always messing with his owner.
Walk and laugh "you" with Noah's ark
From 1960. Few pages were published, but it is curious and is set in a agency that supplies the animals most varied for the most surprising demands. In addition, the protagonist of him would later give rise to that of Otilio.
Godofredo and Pascualino, live from fine sport
Series that replaced the previous one and that follows the same first style, the two protagonists wear a athletes representation agency.
Doña Pura and Doña Pera, neighbors of the stairs
With hardly any relevance, They only came out on 4 pages in the magazine Uncle Alive in 1964, but one of its protagonists did reappear many times in 13, Rue del Barnacle. They were two ladies, neighbors of the stairs, who lived with their pets, a cat and a parrot. They were influenced by the Gilda sisters, by Manuel Vázquez, whom Ibáñez admired so much.
Tete Rocket
Creation of 1981 for the magazine Pulgarcito. A long story about Mortadelo and Filemón came out where he was a child able to turn anything into a propelled object.
Chicha, Tato and Clodoveo, by profession without employment
Un trio representative of the mid 80s society that Ibáñez shows us again with his critical background. The three dedicate themselves to any job that comes their way. They were created as an alternative after the closure of Bruguera, not being able to draw Mortadelo and Filemón.