Publication history
The comic appeared for first time at the end of 1972 in the popular humor magazine Hortensia, originating from the Córdoba Province (Argentina), which was the home of a pool of talented people at that time.
The comic was originally a parody about the linguistics and stereotypes of the native people. Specifically, the main characters were some gaucho characters from comic books (such as Santos Leiva, Lindor Covas "the wild", El Huinca or Fabián Leyes, etc). The comic at this time was more elaborate graphically. In all these early editions, Inodoro hosts a diverse and weird group of visitors in the Pampa region of Argentina, while his inseparable friend, Mendieta, the talking dog, shares the adventures of his owner. Mendieta frequently shares his opinions with Inodoro, giving birth to phrases like: "Let us negotiate, Mr. Inodoro" and "Who gave birth to it!" (similar meaning to "Wow!", or "Who would have thought so...").
Then the comic appeared in the Mengano and Siete Días magazines, with adventures in each episode. Mendieta once declared that he was in reality "a Christian man that was turned into a dog shape due to a moon eclipse". Mendieta occupied the co-protagonist role in these times.
The episodes of Inodoro Pereyra in this period mostly consisted of two or three pages. Each series was composed of around 10 episodes.
At the beginning of each episode the author gives a short recap of what happened in the previous episode. The recap was in a humoristic style, using radio theater language, gauchesca poetry and feuilleton language in an ironic way. Finally, in 1976, Inodoro settled down with his partner, Eulogia Tapia, and Mendieta in a famous newspaper from Buenos Aires called Clarín, where the comic was published in single editions. The previous coverage of adventures gave way to a greater focus on dialogue and subtle humor.
The drawing style suffered a major change after 1975. From 1972 until 1975 the characters were drawn with a slim shape with thick lines and striking contrasts. From 1976 Inodoro Pereyra appeared with a drawing style that gave him a soft expression (rather than the angry wrinkles of the past), while his partner "La Eulogia" is no longer a young stylized woman but a rotund and clumsy housewife.
After being placed in different areas of the newspaper, the comic was added to Viva, the Sunday magazine of Clarín. Here Inodoro was a more tranquil personality, settled in his humble house with his wife, dog, pigsty and a lonely tree. The Inodoro Pereyra comics were also published in book format by Ediciones de la Flor.
The main difference with other comics is that in Inodoro comics, the humoristic touch is not present exclusively at the end of the comic but usually in every frame (mainly since the comic started to be published as single editions).
Most of the middle jokes and the ending ones are delivered by Mendieta, acting as the voice of reason in this comic of absurd and erratic humor. Also the humoristic touch of this comic in mainly based in the language used by Inodoro Pereyra, who uses a lot of word games and rhymes.
Characters
Inodoro Pereyra
He is a parody of Pampa´s stereotypical Argentine gaucho, based on Martín Fierro, a famous gaucho. He meditates in loneliness about life, accompanied by his dog Mendieta, and receives strangers in his home, to whom he gives peculiar advice. The humor of the comic is largely based around Inodoro’s language, with extensive use of wordplay and puns.
Mendieta
He is a small, friendly dog from an unknown race that has the ability to speak. He shares Inodoro´s adventures, participating in the reasoning and acting as Pereyra´s confident. In fact, Mendieta was the seventh male child of a family and was born on a full moon night; legend says that he should have been transformed into a werewolf, but he had bad luck and as that night there was a lunar eclipse, he instead became a dog with the power of speech.
Eulogia Tapia
In the first Inodoro Pereyra comic in 1972 she appears as the young bride of the gaucho. She was drawn as a very young and slim woman with beautiful facial features (even within the cartoonish aesthetics of the drawings). She later started being drawn as an ugly fat lady since 1976, even increasing her weight by 25 kg in a single frame. She is home-loving, has a bad temper and is jealous to the point of getting angry like a beast when Inodoro is late.
The parrots
Through the years, these are the quintessential enemies of Inodoro. They move around as a flock, teasing and making fun of him. While they generate various problems and harm, sometimes they help him, making the gaucho a bit confused. From among the flock of parrots, Lorenzo stands out.
The ranqueles
These are wild Indians (natives) that from time to time visit Inodoro´s house, either asking for advice or threatening him. Their leader is Chief Crybaby (In Argentine Spanish: Lloriqueo)."If we were meditating we would not be an Indian tribe. We would be a stream of thought".
Nabucodonosor II
A talking vegetarian pig, he believes that he is a sex symbol, as he is the only male among several female pigs. He won 1st place in a local fair, and thinks that he is a philosopher and an intellectual.
The Scorpion Resolana
He is the bravest gaucho in the area. On one occasion he fought with Inodoro Pereyra because he offended Eulogia, Inodoro´s wife.
Famous Quotes
Inodoro: Being alone is nothing, the bad thing is realizing that.
Mendieta: Who gave birth to it! [Similar meaning to "Wow!", or "Who would have thought so..."].
Inodoro: God, give me patience… but right now!
Inodoro: I´m engaged to my land, married to its problems and divorced from its richness.
Mendieta: How are you winning your living? Inodoro: Winning? In my case I think it is a draw.
Mister: Good Morning. Are you Inodoro Pereira? Inodoro: Present [a parody of the religious phrase "with the deceased present"].
Mister: I heard that you are the last gaucho. Inodoro: What!? I didn´t know that this was a race, my friend! Who was the first?
Inodoro: I wonder… Mendieta… in order to harvest milk… is there a need to plant a cow? Mendieta: And harvest soup? Inodoro: So many times I have thrown the soup in the field and not even a noodle grew!
Eulogy: There is a girl in town saying that you are the father of her twins... Inodoro: That's an exaggeration ... One of the children… perhaps, but not both...
Inodoro: I am not lazy; I may be a little timid to work.
Mendieta: Small creatures of God [talking sarcastically about the parrots].
Mendieta: Tell me Mr. Inodoro… Are you with Eulogia because of some promise you made? Inodoro: Mendieta, one is dazzled by the beautiful woman, is amazed by the intelligent one… and finally ends up with the one who give us some attention.
Mister: Good afternoon Mr. Inodoro. How are you? Inodoro: I am bad, but I am used to it.
Inodoro: Hail purest Mary, without sign conceived! (Instead of ‘without sin conceived’. The original in Argentine Spanish is a rhyme generated by the change of the word ‘sin’ by ‘sign’ that in Argentine Spanish end in the same letter "o").
Inodoro: As said Balcarce, it is so cold that you can die. (This is also an ironic phrase as in Argentine Spanish it is usually said "it’s so cold that I shit on myself" and the name "Balcarce" and "cagarse" (shit on) have an ending rhyme).
Inodoro: You are not fat, Eulogia. You are a bulwark against unpatriotic anorexia.
Inodoro: I am already angry…
Inodoro: There comes the gaucho Juan Salse…
Inodoro: I am a meteorology critic, Mister. Last night’s storm report: "Was weak in the lightening illumination, rain was too repetitive, the scenery was poor, the sound of the thunder was bad; in other words, a fail in God´s staging. A typical summertime performance, light and careless for an undemanding public."
Mendieta: Just the face had to be. (This could be referring to someone with an ugly face). Inodoro: One thing is the friendly sincerity and another thing is the unnecessary cruelty.
Inodoro: My house is nor big, nor clean.
Inodoro: So I said, after so many years, if I have to choose again, I would choose my Eulogia with my eyes closed…because if I open them I’ll choose another one.
Inodoro: So big is the drought that Paulina (the name of his cow) gave me powdered milk again.
Inodoro: Mendieta… The espadrille is a corrective shoe? Mendieta: I don´t think so, Inodoro. Inodoro: I am asking this because my Dad used to correct me by espadrille hits.
Inodoro: Make way! Make way! [Literally in Argentine Spanish: Open the field!] I am coming!
Inodoro: Let´s see… said a blind man.
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the ABC and NBC television networks.
A humorist is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughter. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business entertainers whose business is to make an audience laugh. It is possible to play both roles in the course of a career. A raconteur is one who tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way.
John Florence Sullivan, known professionally as Fred Allen, was an American comedian. His absurdist topically-pointed radio program The Fred Allen Show (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the Golden Age of American radio.
A gaucho or gaúcho is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, southern part of Bolivia, and the south of Chilean Patagonia. Gauchos became greatly admired and renowned in legend, folklore, and literature and became an important part of their regional cultural tradition. Beginning late in the 19th century, after the heyday of the gauchos, they were celebrated by South American writers.
Martín Fierro, also known as El Gaucho Martín Fierro, is a 2,316-line epic poem by the Argentine writer José Hernández. The poem was originally published in two parts, El Gaucho Martín Fierro (1872) and La Vuelta de Martín Fierro (1879). The poem supplied a historical link to the gauchos' contribution to the national development of Argentina, for the gaucho had played a major role in Argentina's independence from Spain.
"I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General" is a patter song from Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. It has been called the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan patter song. Sung by Major-General Stanley at his first entrance, towards the end of Act I, the character introduces himself by presenting his résumé and admitting to a few shortcomings. The song satirises the idea of the "modern" educated British Army officer of the latter 19th century.
Michael O'Donoghue was an American writer and performer.
Espadrilles are casual, rope-soled, flat but sometimes high-heeled shoes. They usually have a canvas or cotton fabric upper and a flexible sole made of esparto rope. The esparto rope sole is the defining characteristic of an espadrille; the uppers vary widely in style.
Roberto Alfredo Fontanarrosa, known popularly as El Negro Fontanarrosa, was an Argentine cartoonist, comics artist and writer. During his extended career, Fontanarrosa became one of the most acclaimed historieta artists of his country, as well as a respected fiction and short story writer. He created two hugely popular comic strips, as well as their parodic protagonists: Inodoro Pereyra, a gaucho, and Boogie, el aceitoso, a gun-for-hire. He also created the comic book Los Clásicos según Fontanarrosa, which contained a selection of humorous parodies of universal literature mainstays originally published in the magazine Chaupinela, in the 1970s.
My Super Sweet 16 is an American reality television series documenting the lives of teenagers, usually in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom, generally with wealthy parents who throw lavish, excessive and expensive coming-of-age celebrations. Parties include the quinceañera, the sweet 16, and other birthdays including a My Super Sweet 21 and My Super Swag 18. The show aired on MTV from January 18, 2005, to September 11, 2017. The opening theme is "Sweet Sixteen" sung by Hilary Duff.
Larry Doyle is an American novelist, television writer, and producer.
The Beatles, also referred to as The Beatles Cartoon, is an animated television series featuring representations of the popular English rock band of the same name. It was originally broadcast from 1965 to 1967 on ABC in the United States, with reruns airing until 1969.
Argentine humour is exemplified by a number of humorous television programmes, film productions, comic strips and other types of media. Everyday humour includes jokes related to recurrent themes, such as xenophobic jokes at the expense of Galicians (Spaniards) called chistes de gallegos, often obscene sex-related jokes, jokes about the English, the Americans, blonde women, dark humour, word and pronunciation games, jokes about Argentines themselves, etc.
Argentine comics are one of the most important comic traditions internationally, and the most important within Latin America, living its "Golden Age" between the 1940s and the 1960s. Soon after, in 1970, the theorist Oscar Masotta synthesized its contributions in the development of their own models of action comics, humor comics and folkloric comics and the presence of other artists.
Erik Lobo, better known by his stage name Mr. Lobo, is an American artist and comedic actor best known as the horror host of the nationally syndicated American television series Cinema Insomnia. In 2022, he was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame.
Ed Subitzky, full name Edward Jack Subitzky, is an American writer and artist. He is best known as a cartoonist, comics artist, and humorist. He has worked as a television comedy writer and performer, a writer and performer of radio comedy, and a writer of radio drama. He has also created comedy and humor in other media. Subitzky is a member of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the Writers Guild of America.
The Battle of Tucumán was a battle fought on 24 and 25 September 1812 near the Argentine city of San Miguel de Tucumán, during the Argentine War of Independence. The Army of the North, commanded by General Manuel Belgrano, defeated the royalist troops commanded by General Pío de Tristán, who had a two-to-one advantage in numbers, halting the royalist advance on Argentina's northwest. Together with the Battle of Salta, on 20 February 1813, the victory at Tucumán allowed the Argentine troops to reaffirm the borders under their control.
Oily Boogie or Boogie, the Oily is a character from comic strips in Argentina, created by Roberto Fontanarrosa. He is a fictional Vietnam veteran, soldier and bounty hunter, and is used to make parody of racism, violence, nationalism, sexism, which are included as exaggerated character traits.
Boogie is a 2009 Argentine adult animated action-thriller black comedy film, based on the Argentine character Boogie, the oily by Roberto Fontanarrosa, and directed by Gustavo Cova. The voices of main characters Boogie and Marcia were performed by Pablo Echarri and Nancy Dupláa. It was the first 3D animated movie made in Argentina and Latin America.
"Ya Got Trouble" is a song by Meredith Willson from the 1957 Broadway musical The Music Man, and its 1962 filmed version. It is one of the most popular and recognizable songs in the musical, and Robert Preston's performance in the film is admired. Willson considered eliminating a long piece of dialogue from his draft of The Music Man about the serious trouble facing River City parents. However, he realized it sounded like a lyric and transformed it into "Ya Got Trouble".
