Mafalda

Door of a building close to where Quino lived, in which he inspired to make the drawing of the building in which Mafalda lived, to whom you can see on the right plate, located on Chile Street at 371 in the San Telmo district.

Close-up of the plate in the building.

Mafalda is the name of an Argentine newspaper strip created by the cartoonist Quino from 1964 to 1973, starring the girl namesake, "mirror of the Argentine middle class and progressive youth", which is concerned about humanity and world peace and rebels against the world bequeathed by its elders.

Mafalda is very popular in Latin America in general, as well as in some European countries: Spain, France, Greece and Italy. It has been translated into more than thirty languages. Umberto Eco, who has written the introduction to the first Italian edition of Mafalda, has said he loves it "very much" and considers it very important to read the strip to understand Argentina.

Genesis of the comic strip

In 1962 Quino had been making graphic humor for nearly a decade, when his friend Miguel Brascó, humorist and writer who had worked in some of the same magazines as Quino, was contacted by «Agens Publicidad» with the aim of creating a strip of comics to promote the brand of household appliances "Mansfield", from the Siam Di Tella company. The strip would work as covert advertising by appearing in print media. Brascó recalled that Quino had told him "that he wanted to draw a strip with boys" and suggested that he make a comic that would combine "Peanuts with Blondie". The company he had set as conditions that some electrical appliances appear in the comic and that the names of the characters begin with "M".

Quino then drew several strips featuring a middle-class family made up of a married couple with two children: a boy and a girl. In this fictitious family, the traits of the couple are similar to those of the parents of Mafalda de la later stage, while the son does not resemble any of the classic characters of Mafalda. Her little sister is recognizable as Mafalda, although she has a square and archaic design.

The name Mafalda was taken from the film Dar la cara (1962), based on the homonymous novel by David Viñas, where there is a baby with that name, which Quino thought was happy.

The cartoon made by Quino was offered by «Agens» to the newspaper Clarín, but the publicity ploy was discovered and the campaign was not carried out. Subsequently, Miguel Brascó published in the humorous supplement "Gregorio" of the magazine Leoplán , of which he was director, three of the strips drawn for the failed campaign.

In 1964, Julián Delgado, director of the magazine Primera Plana, agreed with Quino to start publishing Mafalda in that medium, already disassociated from advertising purposes. Quino draws new strips for this purpose where, initially, only Mafalda and her parents participate. Over time, Quino would add characters, standing out among these Mafalda's friends —Felipe, Manolito, Susanita, Miguelito and Libertad— and her little brother Guille.

Timeline

Strips made for the Siam Di Tella campaign

• 1963: Quino draws for the company Siam Di Tella, as part of an advertising campaign that would never take place, a comic strip where a type family appears: a mother, a father and a child, with the sporadic appearance of a sister named Mafalda.
• 1964: For the humorous supplement "Gregorio" of the magazine LeoplánQuino presents eight strips of the comic book, of which three are published.

Mafalda on Front Page

• September 29, 1964: La tira Mafalda starts publishing in the weekly magazine First Plana at the rate of two per week. They appear as Mafalda characters and their father.
• 6 October 1964: Mafalda's mother appears.
• January 19, 1965: Philip appears.
• March 9, 1965: The last strip of Mafalda in First Plana. Due to differences of opinion, Quino leaves the magazine.

Mafalda in El Mundo

• 15 March 1965: Thanks to the mediation of Brascó, Mafalda admitted to the journal The World, one of the most popular newspapers in Argentina for those years. In the comic, Mafalda is ready to start the infant garden.
• March 29, 1965: Manolito appears.
• June 6, 1965: Susanita appears.
• 1966: The strip is already published in several newspapers of the interior of Argentina, and, for Christmas, Jorge Álvarez Editor releases in Argentina the first album of the strips, which runs out in two days. In February Miguelito appears.
• August 1967: Mafalda's mother finds out she's pregnant.
• 22 December 1967: Closed the diary The World and Mafalda Stop showing up for five months.
• March 21, 1968: Born Guille, while the strip was not published.

Mafalda in Seven Illustrated Days

• 2 June 1968: Mafalda reissues, this time in the weekly Seven days Illustrated and at reason of four strips a week. Guille appears for the first time. In this year, thirty strips of Mafalda are translated into Italian and included in the mood anthology Book dei Bambini Terribili per adulti masochisti.
• 1969: The first album appears Mafalda published outside Argentina: Mafalda the respondent, edited in Italy by Umberto Eco. At the end of this year, in the comic book, Mafalda's father acquired a Citroën 2CV (economic car, characteristic of the Argentinean middle class of the sixties and seventies.
• February 15, 1970: Freedom appears.
• June 25, 1973: The last strip of Mafaldaby decision of Quino himself.

Notable later appearances

In the following years, Quino occasionally drew Mafalda and the other characters around her, highlighting her collaboration in campaigns to defend children, in favor of education and democracy.

• 1976: Quino makes a poster for UNICEF that illustrates the principles of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child with the characters of Mafalda.
• 1984: Using Mafalda and Manolito, Quino illustrates the method of cleaning teeth for the Argentine League for Bucal Health, an institution of public good.
• 1986: Mafalda is leading a campaign by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science to promote the first school council elections in Spain.
• 1988: Mafalda and Libertad appear in a poster commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Argentina on the occasion of Human Rights Day and the fifth anniversary of the return of democracy to the country. In the same year, on the occasion of the completion of the mandate of Argentine President Raúl Alfonsín, Mafalda expresses his gratitude to the political and moral exemplary of the president through a published drawing.
• 1991: Quino performs a poster with Mafalda for the Spanish Red Cross, and a double vineyard for an Italian association of voluntary assistance to serious patients.
• 23 October 2009: Mafalda appears for one time in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica to criticize the misogynistic statements of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Mafalda digital

• December 2012: The Mafalda strip arrives in eBook format at the Kindle Store in USA in Spanish. His 12 books are officially published.
• December 2012: Mafalda makes her official arrival on social media, with Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest accounts. For the first time in his story, Quino's characters come to social networks under the name MafaldaDigital.
• December 2012: The official Mafalda page is first launched on the official Quino website.
• February 2013: Quino and Panarea Digital launch the first official application of the comic strip Mafalda. It's launched for iPad.

Main characters

The square Mafaldain the neighborhood of Colegiales (Buenos Aires), which pays tribute to the series of comic strips

Sculpture in Campo San Francisco de Oviedo, Spain

Mafalda

She is the protagonist of the strip. She represents the idealistic and utopian aspiration to make this a better world, although she is surrounded by pessimism and concern due to the sociopolitical circumstances that permanently afflict the planet. Mafalda's comments and occurrences are a mirror of the social and political concerns of the world of the sixties. She denounces, through her words and actions, the evil, the incompetence of humanity and the ingenuity of the solutions proposed for world problems, such as hunger and wars. In a 1987 report, Quino explained that the character's nihilism refers to the nature of the human being, not to civilization. "I was convinced that if someone didn't change a gene in man, it would disappear in the short term," she said.

Mafalda would have been born on March 15, 1960 or March 15, 1962 (although her birthday, according to Quino, is celebrated on the day the strip was published for the first time, on September 29, 1964), within a typical Argentine middle-class family of the sixties.

A fan of The Beatles, Woody Bird and pancakes, on the other hand, he hates soup (according to Quino himself, Mafalda's hatred of soup represented a metaphor for the militarism and political imposition of the time). frequently adults with their questions about the socially established and their questions regarding the political management of the world. She is convinced of the social progress of women and advocates it. She envisions herself studying languages and working as an interpreter at the United Nations to contribute to world peace.

When the comic begins, Mafalda is four years old, and the following March she enters kindergarten. In the ten years of development of the comic she seems to reach the third or fourth grade of primary school.

Father

Father of Mafalda and Guille; the strip does not reveal his first and last name. Characteristic office worker, man who works as a broker in an insurance company. He tries at all times to be moderate in family spending and does not fully understand the advances and challenges posed by the new generations. The doubts raised by his daughter regarding the ills of the world put him into question on more than one occasion. His hobby is growing indoor plants, since the family lives in an apartment. He drives the family car, which is a Citroën 2CV.

Raquel (mother)

Mother of Mafalda and Guille. She is a typical middle-class Argentinian housewife from the sixties, busy with what happens in her home microclimate. She cooks, washes, irons and does the shopping, but apparently she doesn't drive the car. She began university studies and studied to be a professional pianist, but she abandoned her career after getting married, a fact that Mafalda reproached her on several occasions. However, she does not require complications to be happy and she gives lessons in humility and sacrifice to her little daughter who is worried about the adversities of the world.

Philip

Friend of Mafalda. He is one grade higher than her in elementary school and yet her personality is more simple and naive. Lazy, dreamy, shy and clueless, he lives overwhelmed by his schoolwork. He tends to get very upset every time the holidays are over and classes are about to start. He sees life in a simpler way than Mafalda and in a way that is more in line with his age. He likes to read The Lone Ranger comics, listen to The Beatles and play chess. He shows interest in a girl named Muriel, who doesn't seem to notice her, and every time he tries to talk to her, he doesn't dare to talk to her. He lives in the same building as Mafalda and her family.

Physically, Felipe has light, straight hair, with protruding upper front teeth. As inspiration for this character, Quino has mentioned Jorge Timossi, a friend of his who had "two funny bunny teeth".

Manuel "Manolito" Goreiro

Warehouse in calle Defensa 772. Quino inspired himself to create the character of Manolito.

Friend of Mafalda. The son of a neighborhood merchant and owner of the "Don Manolo" store, Manolito represents capitalist and conservative ideas within the comic, as well as constituting a caricature of the Galician immigrant. He is rough, ambitious and materialistic, but not malicious. In addition to going to school —a secondary issue for him—, he helps with the sale and distribution of merchandise in his father's store and is interested in being aware of all the operations of money entering and leaving the store, to the degree of who even dreams of the fact that prices go up and up.

Unlike the rest of the characters, Manolito likes soup and despises The Beatles and the youth trends of the sixties; he is also antagonistic towards the other stores, competitors of "Don Manolo". He seems to lack fantasy and imagination, though he displays great commercial opportunism (he sells his friends candy on credit with interest, invents ways to advertise his father's store, and even sniffs a coin from a distance). His greatest aspiration is to become a top executive who owns a supermarket chain and bankrupt Rockefeller.

Physically, Manolito's hair is bobbed and his head is squarer than his friends. Except for facial hair, he is identical to his father and his older brother; he appears in the strip only once when he is discharged from military service and works in his father's store; Later, Manolito refers that his brother emigrated to the United States.

Like Felipe, Manolito is inspired by a real person: Anastasio Delgado, a Spanish immigrant bakery owner and father of Julián Delgado, a friend of Quino's.

Susana "Susanita" Clotilde Chirusi

Friend of Mafalda. Until the arrival of Libertad, Mafalda and Susanita are the only women in the group of friends in the strip. Talkative, rowdy, gossipy—nothing that happens in her neighborhood happens without her finding out—and at times arrogant, Susanita can become overwhelming for the rest of the group, although she doesn't notice it. She is also racist, contemptuous of the poor, an admirer of the oligarchy and more concerned with image and fashion than the rest of her friends. She appears to be upper class and she doesn't hesitate to show it off when she says that her father earns more than her friends' parents, despite not knowing how much she earns. Her favorite hobbies are playing with Mafalda, representing grown-up social situations (mommy's game, tea-drinking game), as well as arguing with Manolito, whom she despises for being rustic and ignorant. She is infatuated and shows romantic interest in Felipe, who doesn't reciprocate her. She is also selfish and spiteful, but she values the great friendship that binds her to Mafalda. Her highest aspiration is to get married, be a wealthy social class mother and have many children, assuming the role traditionally associated with women. She contrasts strongly with Mafalda's attitude, more intellectual and aware of women's liberation and equality between the sexes.

Physically, Susanita is blonde and has ringlets, which makes her look similar to her mother.

Miguel "Miguelito" Pitti

Friend of Mafalda, one year younger. He is more of a dreamer than Felipe and is used to asking himself complex and absurd questions about reality. He's also more innocent than the rest of the gang of friends, going from airy musings ("How will I keep time around corners on square clocks?") to typical childish complaints ("Always me, always me!...can't someone else go run the errands?"). An only child, he often argues with his mother—apparently strict—about his childish duties. He is somewhat selfish and a passionate supporter of Benito Mussolini, an enthusiasm instilled in him by his grandfather. He is direct and sincere with people, being able to seem cruel at times, but accepting criticism received with humility and without acrimony.

Her hair resembles a set of leaves (or, according to her friends, a lettuce plant) and she always wears overalls with suspenders.

Guille

He is Mafalda's little brother and the only character who grows physically throughout the strip. Guille continually stars in domestic pranks typical of early childhood children. Despite his innocence, he likes Brigitte Bardot, he tends to be somewhat irreverent (he calls his parents "the old men") and loves soup, which often provokes the anger and disgust of his sister.

When General Juan Carlos Onganía's coup d'état took place in Argentina in 1966, the newspaper where the strip was published (El Mundo) closed while Guille's mother was pregnant with him, so there are no descriptions of what happened during his birth. The character appears, already as a baby, in the weekly Siete Días Ilustrados, when the comic resumes its publication.

Initially, Guille speaks with slurred speech and uses a pacifier, but later gives up both.

Like Felipe and Manolito, Guille is inspired by a real person: Guillermo Lavado, Quino's nephew.

Freedom

Friend of Mafalda and last character to join the gang. She is very short, to the point that Guille is taller than her, which is the reason for recurring comments from the other characters, in an obvious political nod. Her personality is incendiary and she openly projects political ideas against the established system. She is the only character more liberal than Mafalda, contrasting with the more conservative Manolito and Susanita. She is also the character who talks the most with Mafalda about sociopolitical issues, and both seem to agree ideologically, except for the fact that Mafalda is more realistic.

Libertad's father is a socialist and has a job he doesn't value (a "morondanga job", as Libertad refers) and his mother is a French translator.

Libertad aspires for the people to become aware of the situation in their country, rise up in a social revolution and change the structures of the nation. She claims to like people and simple things, but when trying to explain it, she falls into a very confusing rhetoric. She intends to become a French translator like her mother.

Side characters

• Don Manolo (father of Manolito): Galician immigrant, born in Spain and transferred to America. I cough in his way of being and in his appearance. He owns the warehouse "Don Manolo". It never takes a vacation and seems to profess the same monetary interests as Manolito. His first appearance was in 1965.

• Susanita's mother: a woman similar to Susanita, although somewhat obese. She loves home and gossip like her daughter, lives in an apartment decorated in kitsch way. His first appearance was in 1965.

• The mother of Philip: there are two versions of this character. In the magazine First Plana (1965), she appeared as a woman with curly hair, without Philip's characteristic teeth, using a sewing machine. Starting in 1966 he appears in the strip with lacium hair and protuberating front teeth, like his son. A few appearances ago.

• The mother of Miguelito: obsessive woman with the cleaning of her home and apparently authoritarian. He usually only participates in recriminating things to Miguelito or giving him orders, without seeing it. It appears in a single picture where it is seen from afar and smothered. His first appearance was in 1966.

• Aunt Paca: Mafalda's grandmother aunt and Rachel's aunt. He often greets Mafalda with many kisses, which she doesn't like. His first appearance was in 1967.

• The mother of Manolito: born in Spain, like the father of Manolito. He never sees his face, only his arm appears when he threatens Manolito with an alpargata to go to school. His first appearance was in 1968.

• The father of Susanita: moustache man, seller of a sausage factory. His first appearance was in August 1968.

• Muriel: pretty girl that Felipe is in love with, but apparently does not seem to notice her existence. His first appearance was in 1970, participating only in six strips in total.

• Burocracy: pet turtle of Mafalda and Guille, so called for its slowness. Like Mafalda, she hates soup. His first appearance was in 1970.

• The Mother of Liberty: seemingly very young woman, thin, sinful, of lacium and high hair, unlike her daughter. She is a French book translator, especially of existential authors like Jean-Paul Sartre. He doesn't want Freedom to work as a French translator because he doesn't consider it a profitable trade. She lives with her husband and daughter in a tiny apartment. You see her smoking. His first appearance was in 1970. She's the only mother who's not a housewife.

Editions in Spanish

Albums

• Mafalda. Argentina: Editorial Jorge Álvarez (1966)
• That's the thing, Mafalda.. Argentina: Editorial Jorge Álvarez (1967)
• Mafalda 1. Argentina: Ediciones de la Flor (1966)
• Mafalda 2. Argentina: Ediciones de la Flor (1967)
• Mafalda 3. Argentina: Editorial Jorge Álvarez y La Flor (1968)
• Mafalda 4. Argentina: Editorial Jorge Álvarez y La Flor (1968)
• Mafalda 5. Argentina: Editorial Jorge Álvarez y La Flor (1969)
• Mafalda 6. Argentina: Ediciones de la Flor (1970)
• Mafalda 7. Argentina: Ediciones de la Flor (1971)
• Mafalda 8. Argentina: Ediciones de la Flor (1972)
• Mafalda 9. Argentina: Ediciones de la Flor (1973)
• Mafalda 10. Argentina: Ediciones de la Flor (1974)
• Mafalda 1 Al 12. Mexico: New Image Editions (1977)
• Mafalda 1 Al 12. Mexico: Tusquets Editors
• Mafalda 0 Al 10. Spain: Editorial Lumen

Collections of unpublished strips

• Mafalda Inédita. Sylvina Walger, Argentina: Ediciones de la Flor, 1989
• Mafalda Inédita. Spain: Editorial Lumen
• Mafalda Inédita. Mexico: Tusquets Editors

Anthologies

• 10 Years with Mafalda. Anthology by Esteban Busquets, Argentina: Editions de la Flor (1974)
• 10 Years with Mafalda. Spain: Editorial Lumen
• 10 Years with Mafalda. Mexico: Tusquets Editors

Integral compilations

• All Mafalda. Argentina: Ediciones de la Flor (1992)
• All Mafalda. Spain: Editorial Lumen
• Mafalda All Spins. 50-year commemorative edition. Argentina: Editions of the Flower
• Mafalda All Spins. Spain: Editorial Lumen
• Mafalda All Spins. Mexico: Tusquets Editors

Adaptations to other media

Two animated series starring Mafalda have been made:

Animations by Daniel Mallo and Catú

Series of 52 short films between 90 and 260 seconds long, produced by Daniel Mallo and Oscar Desplats for Argentine television in 1972, directed by Catú (Jorge Martín). The shorts were compiled into five episodes:

• The world of Mafalda (1981).
• Mafalda goes to school (1981)
• The Mafalda Games (1981)
• Mafalda and soup (1981)
• The dreams of Mafalda (1981)

This series was later transformed into a feature film directed by Carlos D. Márquez in 1979 and released in 1982.

Animations by Juan Padrón

Juan Padrón, a close friend of Quino, led the two short films of Mafalda.

In 1994, the Cuban filmmaker Juan Padrón —a close friend of Quino's who had already directed the series “Quinoscopio” between 1985 and 1987—directed a series of 104 Mafalda short films, receiving the support of several Spanish production companies. This series was later compiled into an 80-minute long feature film.

The difference between the two productions is notable from the cinematographic point of view: while the first one relies mainly on dialogues, the second one chooses several of the strips in which Quino transmits the message through action and gesture of the characters, without the need to use dialogues.

Cinema

There was a Mafalda film in Argentina, filmed in Eastmancolor and directed by Carlos Márquez based on the script by Alberto Cabado based on the cartoon of the same name by Quino, released in 30 cinemas in Argentina on December 3, 1981, distributed by Aries Cinematográfica Argentina.

Mafalda on Telefe News

Since September 4, 2017, Mafalda was a "columnist" on the Telefe newscast, Telefe Noticias at 20. Her job on the newscast was to comment on the day with her comics.

Social and cultural relations and popular appropriation of the character

The popularity of Mafalda and its rebellious character have often led the public to take ownership of the cartoon's characters, resorting to them to communicate their own expressions. Thus, cartoons drawn by Quino and anonymously made variants have been used for educational, political and social denunciation purposes. Unauthorized products based on the Mafalda characters have also appeared. In general, Quino was reluctant to authorize the merchandising of the characters outside of the strip.

• In the Massacre of Saint Patrick, perpetuated in 1976, in which three Palotino priests and two seminarians were killed, on the body of one of the victims the murderers put a poster, taken from one of the rooms, in which Mafalda appeared pointing out the cane of a policeman and saying: "This is the stick of abolishing ideologies".

• In January 2012, on the occasion of the adoption of the so-called SOPA law and the Wikipedia blackout in English, Mafalda appeared on numerous social networks leading to expressions contrary to that law, without the use of the character for that purpose being authorized by his creator. Mafalda's rejection of the soup, along with his inclination to speak for social justice, made her the preferred spokesman of popular opinion on that issue. In the midst of global protests against SOPA law, the site Rightaleer.org produced a collage of Mafalda vineyards and other Quino illustrations in order to explain the scope and meaning of the bill.

• In 2018, on the occasion of the debate over the legalization of abortion in Argentina, anonymous authors drew Mafalda with the celestial handkerchief that identifies anti-abortion groups along with Quino's supposed phrase. Alerted by his family, Quino made public his clarification through his Facebook profile: "Mafalda's images have been disseminated with the blue handkerchief that symbolizes opposition to the law of voluntary termination of pregnancy. I have not authorized it, it does not reflect my position and request is removed. I have always accompanied the causes of human rights in general, and the human rights of women in particular, to whom I wish them luck in their demands." This statement was backed by Ediciones de la Flor, the independent publisher who always published the Mafalda strips, who issued a Facebook post with the same text. To the editorial were added the messages of support from the nephew of Quino, Diego Lavado, and also the official profile of Mafalda on Facebook.

Tributes

• In 1992 the exhibition "The World of Mafalda" was held in Madrid, organized by the Fifth Centennial State Society.

• On 18 April 1994, a meeting was held at the Circolo della Stampa in Milan to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Mafalda's first publication with the participation of Umberto Eco, Marcello Bernardi, Fulvia Serra (director of the magazine) Linus), Roman Gubern (president of the Cervantes Institute of Rome) and Quino.

• In 2004 the travelling exhibition “In viaggio con Mafalda” (“De viaje con Mafalda”) was presented in Milan, commemorating the 40 years of the first publication of the character. During 2005, the exhibition toured Rome, Naples, Zagarolo (Rome), Voghera (Pavia), Jesolo (Venice), Bologna, Barcelona, among other locations.

• On 21 August 2005, in the district of Colegiales de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, a square called Mafalda, characterized with drawings of the characters of the strip in murals, seats and signs.

• On 19 November 2008, a 15-metre-long mural was inaugurated Mafalda in the underground of the city of Buenos Aires. I feel in the passage linking the stations Peru line A and Cathedral from the subway D line, it is made of tiles and reproduces several strips of the comic.

• On August 30, 2009, a natural-size sculpture of Mafalda was inaugurated in the San Telmo neighborhood, in the corner of the streets Chile and Defense of the city of Buenos Aires, with the presence of Quino. It was made by the plastic artist Pablo Irrgang on behalf of the government of the City of Buenos Aires. A similar sculpture exists in the Republic of Children, in the nearby town of Gonnet.

• On the occasion of the inauguration of the statue of Mafalda in Buenos Aires, a plaque was also discovered in the building where Quino lived as he drew the strip — on Calle Chile 371 — where, in the comic book, Mafalda also resided. The plaque reads “Here lived Mafalda”.

• In Costa Rica, as part of the International Arts Festival, the temporary exhibition "The World According to Mafalda" was made.
• The city of Angulema, in France, has called Passage Mafalda (Mafalda Passage) to one of its streets, in honor of the character. Since 1974, the International Festival of the Angulema Historieta, the most important in the French-speaking world, has been held.

• Since October 2014, Oviedo (Spain) has a Mafalda sculpture, created by Pablo Irrgang (similar to which this artist made in the porteño neighborhood of San Telmo), after Quino was distinguished with the Princess of Asturias prize which can be found in the Campo de San Francisco, a park located in the center of the city.

• In April 2017, the retired peasant Quico Torre of the Asturian village of Reconcos del Muñón, in Lena, motivated by the statue of Oviedo and the enormous hobby of his wife Elena Martínez to the comics of Quino, created a replica carved in Mafalda wood (being painted by Elena himself), placing it in the hórreo of his property, becoming a viral phenomenon of the Internet.