Popular Argentine cartoonist Joaquín Salvador Lavado, best known as Quino, died today at the age of 88 of a stroke. He was best known in Latin America and Europe for his satirical comic strip ‘Mafalda,’ which was published between 1964 and 1973, about an irreverent and socially conscious girl who loved the Beatles and hated soup.
Quino was born on July 17, 1932 in Mendoza, to Spanish parents. His nickname came from his parents who used it to distinguish their son from his uncle, also named Joaquín. He enrolled at the Escuela de Bellas Artes but left it after three years. At age 18, he left for Buenos Aires to pursue a career as a cartoonist. His work was first published four years later in the weekly magazine Esto Es, and soon after his work was published in numerous other publications.
His first compilation book Mundo Quino, was published in 1963. His iconic character of Mafalda — originally created for an advertising campaign — first appeared that same year, and became a comic strip the following year. Despite the fact that it only ran for nine years, the comic strip immediately became a sensation and was published in numerous countries including Spain, Portugal and Italy.
In 1973, producer Daniel Mallo converted 260 strips of ‘Mafalda’ into a television show. Those shorts would become the basis of a feature length animation film years later. Directed by Carlos Márquez, Mafalda, the Movie was released in 1982. The 82-minute film, structured as individual sketches. followed Mafalda, her family and friends during the course of a year, from the beginning of school through Christmas.
Mafalda was released all through Latin America and Spain, and was also dubbed into French in 1985 and released in France, Belgium, Luxemburg and Canada. Nevertheless, Quino was never happy with the film adaptation of his renowned comic strip. “I was not convinced to see her come to life in that way, perhaps because I was used to imagining her voice and movements in a different way,” the cartoonist was quoted in numerous interviews on the topic.
Between 1986 and 1988, Quino worked with Cuban director Juan Padró to produce a series of six animated short film under the title of Quinoscopio and produced by the Cuban Film Institute. The short films were no longer than six minutes each.
In 1992, Padrón made a short film in which Christopher Columbus met with Mafalda upon his arrival to the Americas. Based on the success of the short film, a new feature-length film was made, directed by Padrón, produced by different Spanish entities, and Quino himself participated in the production selecting the stories from his comic strip. The film, Mafalda, was released in 1993. This time around the characters didn’t speak, and it was entirely based on visual gags accompanied by the music of José María Vitter and special sound effects.
This past May, Argentine actor Boy Olmi premiered his documentary short Searching for Quino / Buscando a Quino, which tells the life of the famed cartoonist and features interviews with him.
