Francisco Ibáñez Talavera (15 March 1936 – 15 July 2023) was a Spanish comic book artist and writer.

Ibáñez was one of the most prolific and well-known authors in Spain, with popular comics such as Mort & Phil, Rompetechos, 13, Rue del Percebe, El botones Sacarino, Pepe Gotera y Otilio, and Chicha, Tato y Clodoveo. His family was lower middle class, and he was the son of a father from Alicante and an Andalusian mother, and had three brothers.

Career

In the summer of 1957, Ibáñez, who was already earning more as a cartoonist than as a portfolio and risk assistant in banking, At Bruguera, Ibáñez initially contributed pages of jokes on a specific subject or sport for Pulgarcito and the central pages of El DDT and Selecciones de Humor de El DDT, and as comic book artist Armando Matías Guiu explained, "the joke was the first step to get a character in the magazines". He remained at Editorial Bruguera till 1985. Mort & Phil became the first Spanish comic to be digitized in 2002.

With the publication of El sulfato atómico in 1969, influenced by the bande dessinée, Ibáñez opened up to the foreign market.

Style

Ibáñez's style is characterized by presenting a continuous succession of gags from the beginning to the end of the story, in such a way that in one vignette the gag to be produced in the next is prepared. Over the years he transformed his characters and stylized his technique, always keeping a nod to current events and introducing caricaturized politicians and celebrities.

Ibáñez died in Barcelona on 15 July 2023, at age 87. The funeral took place on 17 July.

Works

thumb|350px|right|Tribute to Francisco Ibáñez in a mural with some of his characters in [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena, Spain]]

  • 13, Rue del Percebe (1961)
  • Mortadelo y Filemón, agencia de información (1958)
  • Don Pedrito que está como nunca (1964)
  • In 2021 a campaign was launched, ratified by several Spanish personalities and by some thirty members of the European Parliament for him to be awarded the Princess of Asturias Awards edition of that year, but unsuccessfully.
  • Creu de Sant Jordi (2021)
  • Gold Medal for Cultural Merit from the Barcelona City Council (2022)

References

  • His profile in Lambiek Comiclopedia