Francisco Ibáñez began to publish his first comic strips in magazines such as La Risa or Paseo Infantil. That’s where series like Don Usura, Don Adelfo or Haciendo el indio were born. Starting in 1957, he joined the historic Bruguera publishing house, where he created his most remembered series. These are some of the most prominent.
First series for Bruguera publishing house and the most popular and longest-running of all the series he created. They started as a couple of detectives with their own agency and from 1969 they modernized when they became part of the T.I.A., a parody of the American agency C.I.A. It was then that new characters who would remain forever joined the cast: the superintendent Vicente, the ineffable professor Bacterio and, a little later, the secretary Ofelia.
The first adventures were short, one-page comics, but with time and the fame of the two agents they grew in length until the long adventures, of 44 pages, were consolidated. In the episodes of the last decades, and to renew the series, Ibáñez addressed current issues on an increasingly regular basis: the arrival of the euro, climate change, job insecurity or corruption.
Family series are a classic in the comics of those years, just remember the famous Ulises Family, by Benejam, in TBO or the crazy Cebolleta Family by Manuel Vázquez in Pulgarcito. The Trapisonda family –whose subtitle was “a little group that is cool”– was Ibáñez’s contribution to this genre. Initially, the protagonists were a married couple, his son and a nephew, but the pressure of censorship made the spouses become brothers and the children two nephews. Despite the fact that Ibáñez only maintained the series for ten years, it is one of the most remembered and has recently been republished.
Only about 50 pages of this series were published, but it is one of Ibáñez’s craziest. Set in an agency that supplies the most diverse animals for the most surprising demands, it is a work that shows a style of Ibáñez very close to Vázquez and that has a protagonist who, in some way, prefigures the hungry Otilio who will be born some time after.
Series that, due to editorial decisions, replaced the previous one. The drawing is very similar and its pages highlight Ibáñez’s ability to fill almost all the cartoons with gags through posters with funny messages. In this case, the two protagonists run an agency representing athletes. Once again, it affects the conflictive relationship between boss and employee.
One of Ibáñez’s masterpieces and one of his most remembered series. A page that is not a comic itself but a compilation of jokes about the ten tenants who live in that iconic building that appeared for the first time on the back cover of a mythical magazine from our comic, Tío Vivo. A thief, a veterinarian, a shopkeeper, a defaulter who lives on the roof, the caretaker or a character who lives in the sewer are some of the unforgettable neighbors of a house that makes you laugh on every floor. Since 2016 there is a comprehensive volume that collects all its pages in chronological order.
Another of Ibáñez’s most famous characters, who came to have his own magazine from 1975. The series portrays the excesses of the office where El aullido vespertino is published. Next to the bellboy, the figures of the director and the president stand out, forming a comical trio of great comedy. It is a series where misunderstandings and the constant movement of the three characters abound.
Another iconic series by Ibáñez and the author’s favorite, who had a kind of alter ego in this myopic character since he himself had vision problems and wore glasses. Roofbreaker is the king of misunderstandings. He confuses store signs, he confuses people. He is the only character that Ibáñez continued to animate despite the fact that the tremendous success of Mortadelo y Filemón took up almost all of his time. There is a comprehensive in two volumes with all the adventures of the character.
One of Ibáñez’s most brilliant series. Pepe Gotera and Otilio are two workers who turn botch work into a work of art. It is a relentless and hilarious portrait of incompetence and professional ineffectiveness. The scheme of each of their episodes repeats an immutable pattern: a client calls them to fix a problem and they cause an even bigger mess.
After the closure of the historic Bruguera publishing house, Ibáñez was unable to continue drawing Mortadelo and Filemón for legal reasons. As an alternative, he gave birth to this trio of unemployed young people who did any type of work to earn some money.
