The number of times that Mortadelo has disguised himself as a traffic light and who knows if this comic scene, coming from the mind and hands of Francisco Ibáñez, could become a reality. A teacher from Tafalla, Navarra, who coincidentally has the same name as the cartoonist, Francisco Javier Ibáñez, has insisted that it be so. The tutor — @ maestroconganas on Twitter — has taken advantage of his skills in Photoshop to design a traffic light regulated by Mortadelo and Filemón, the most famous characters in the cartoonist’s cartoons.
“ Philemon, who always grumbles, is the one who gives orders, so it would be red. And Mortadelo, the green one, would walk calmly ”, he explained a few days ago to La Vanguardia. The networks effusively applauded the initiative and there are many people related to the world of culture who have wanted to take a step forward to give it visibility.
One of them is Octavi Pujades, who shared a series of stories on Instagram together with the also actress Cristina Castaño celebrating this project, which a few days ago arrived at the Barcelona City Council in the form of an instance. “I have a reading avidity thanks to Francisco Ibáñez’s comics. I think he is one of the greatest exponents of culture in our country, ”he confesses to this newspaper.
The filmmaker Santiago Segura, who has always considered himself a great admirer and who fully immersed himself in the universe of comics in 2010 with the film El gran Vázquez, in which he gave life to another contemporary, has also spoken about the world of cinema. Manuel Vazquez Gallego. “It would seem to me a wonderful detail of the city where he lived all his life. It would be a tribute to him and all generations of his fans. It would even be a tourist attraction. He was a humorous drawing genius and one of the most brilliant representatives of Spanish comics”.
The editor, scriptwriter and comic book publisher Antoni Guiral admits that he would appreciate this “constant reminder of characters that are part of our history.” The cartoonist Jaume Capdevila, better known as KAP, is convinced that it is possible since “a traffic light has the function of signaling, so you have to clearly understand when you can pass and when not. The little doll is a simple convention, so if we manage to give it personality it would be great”. In fact, the writer Julià Guillamon encourages “that it be done with other forgotten artists, like Junceda or Cornet”, but Sergi Pàmies, on the other hand, is afraid that, “by satisfying an obituary furor, we will go a little crazy, and that if the traffic light that honors fictional characters becomes fashionable, we end up having one of Quixote and Sancho Panza or of Paco Morán and Joan Pera”. Of course, he warns, “if you decide to install it, at least choose one that works.”
That does not worry the writer Jordi Llavina too much, who still thinks it is a “very good idea”, nor the cartoonist Oriol Malet who considers that “graphically it is perfect. They were two urban characters who always came up with new ideas on the street”. The singer Dani Carbonell, alias Macaco, also considers that “projects of this type are wonderful and allow the legacy not only not to be lost but to be regenerated”, as happened in its day with the Mortadelo and Filemón film directed by Javier Fesser brought to the cinema in 2003, with Pepe Viyuela and Benito Pocino giving life to such emblematic characters. “The film allowed a new generation to join the adventures that Ibáñez devised. The same thing could happen with the traffic light”.
The same is the opinion of Rosa Ribas, who acknowledges that “I learned to read with Mortadelo and Filemón and it could be said that thanks to Ibáñez it was clear to me that I wanted to be a writer.” The author of Nuestros muertos (Tusquets) laments that the master of humor “has been ignored for many years in the field of culture, and it’s a shame because we all owe him a lot. This would be a nice way to give back to him what he has given us.”
The playwright Guillem Clua also stated on his Twitter account that he was “in favor” of this original way of regulating traffic, as did Jordi Galcerán, who believes that “among the Barcelonans who have done valuable things, he is on the list for sure ”. The writer Pilar Romera agrees with him: “It is a milestone in Catalan culture on a par with great creators. It is a beautiful initiative that has also already been carried out in other places, such as Malaga, with Chiquito de la Calzada. In addition, this contributes to the City Council, it does not take away. It’s hard for anyone to be against this. Who does not love Francisco Ibáñez?
Pere Cervantes, author of The Glass Spy, believes that “European cities are losing their essence. They all look very similar and different facts like this traffic light are key. It would be a good way to claim the essence of Barcelona and its heroes”. The writer Celia Santos also did not hesitate to share her project on her networks. “They proposed him for the Princess of Asturias and they did not give it to him. I know that this is not the same, but people are going to remember it with a traffic light and they are going to go and I am sure they will smile when crossing”.
And where to put it? Carlos Zanón gives an idea: “You could look for a street that has an outlandish name. That it was called Pernambuco or Rue del Percebe, surely it exists. Anyone who had a name related to the Ibáñez universe”.
The Gabriel García Márquez library in Barcelona, ??located in Sant Martí, the same district where the cartoonist lived, spoke out as soon as it learned of the initiative. “We want the traffic lights in front of the library to be regulated by Mortadelo and Filemón,” they wrote on Twitter.
The librarian Julián Figueres remembers the Barcelona artist with a smile, as he attended the inauguration of the center a little over a year ago, where he has a huge corner dedicated to him and his comics. “He was a very humble person. He wanted to be away from the spotlight but close to the people. It was easy to see him in the neighborhood walking his dog or having breakfast with Carlos Azagra, also a cartoonist. And although he always said that he was not deserving of great tributes, I think that a traffic light would have been funny because it is something little formal. In addition, the protagonists would be his characters and not him, so I would certainly see it with good eyes ”, he points out.
Will this wish come true? It is early for the Barcelona City Council to give an answer, since the proposal materialized just a week ago. What the consistory does remember is that a tribute is planned to the creator of Rompetechos and El botón saccharino in which it will be delivered to its relatives, posthumously, the city’s Gold Medal for Cultural Merit, a recognition that was announced last February for his “tireless and intense creative career as a benchmark in the world of humor and comedians in our country.”
It only remains to wait.
