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Mafalda, Spain’s cartoon favourite, is 40

26 March 2004

SALAMANCA – The 40th anniversary of Spain’s best-known cartoon creation Maflada will be marked with an exhibition of drawings, it was announced Friday.

The adventures of the small girl Mafalda, created by  Argentinian-born humourist Joaquín Salvador Lavado “Quino”, are the stuff of childhood memories for many Spaniards.

In a press conference Friday, Quino said that the cartoon had given him his  professional breakthrough as an illustrator but he was not nostalgic.

Two hundred drawings are on show in the Sala Garci Grande de Caja Duero, in Salamanca, western Spain.

Quino said since he started the cartoon in 1964 society has much more technology “but the problems are the same, before and after”.

He added: “I don’t feel any nostalgia for Mafalda because for me there is no difference between Mafalda and other drawings because what is important is to be drawing.”

Quino, who took Spanish citizenship in 1991, said when he created Mafalda he was not conscious of social or political issues.

Mafalda, which at times has been controversial, has dealt with themes which Quino said were “common in Latin America, Europe, China or Korea”.

The cartoon was at times censored in Bolivia, Argentina and Chile.

The exhibition closes on 30 March.

[Copyright  EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news