4 ms·

Is Mafalda popular in the English world? Even today, it's super popular in the Spanish speaking world. As popular as Peanuts or Garfield.

by pier25 6y ago

smabie 6y ago
A quick poll of my friends and I in the room right now would suggest a resounding 'no'. Is it translated? I don't know Spanish.
- Izikiel43 6y ago
  I think not, also some of the jokes might lose sense in english. Edit: From the article "Mafalda's wit and her sharp observations of the adult world ensured the comic's popularity, which was translated into 26 languages." So you might be able to get it in english. From amazon, searching Mafalda and setting the book language to english: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=mafalda&rh=p_n_feature_nine_browse-bin%3A3291437011&dc&__mk_es_US=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&qid=1601511871&rnid=3291435011&ref=sr_nr_p_n_feature_nine_browse-bin_4 https://www.amazon.com/s?k=mafalda&rh=p_n_feature_nine_brows...
  - estebank 6y ago
    Like Les Luthiers and any comedian making full use of their original language, many jokes lose their punch —or even don't make any sense— when translated. On the other hands, many of the Mafalda strips work well with literal translations too. I am reminded of her getting a turtle. Mafalda decided to call her Bureaucracy. Or her in the beach seeing a crab walking backwards and after a panel of contemplation letting the crab know "The future is forwards!" and when the crab continues on its merry way, backwards, her yelling at it "Reactionary!". Or her taking a globe and treating it like it has a cold after listening to the news in the radio. The strips seem to also be commonly used when teaching Spanish, as the simple art work lends itself to be easily described.
anamexis 6y ago
As a sample of 1 person from the US, I can say I have never heard of Mafalda.
- pvaldes 6y ago
  Probably will never be much appreciated in US (I could hear Americans shouting 'socialist!' in terror from there), but is a good comic. Apart of some outdated references here and there it has aged relatively well, taking in mind that is from 60' and 70's. Definitely playing in the same league as Garfield, and inspired by peanuts, but better IMO. More deep and complex than the happy world of Snoopy. Quino was wicked deploying visual gags, describing psychologically the characters with a few strokes, and extracting universal humor from common situations. Sometimes poignant, very dark, cynic and twisted humor, but of impeccable good taste and often really clever. It is still very enjoyable with dozens of memorable quotes.
  - gosukiwi 6y ago
    > More deep and complex than the happy world of Snoopy. Probably because Latin America :) He was way more adult-oriented and political than Peanuts and Garfield.
    - pier25 6y ago
      Yeah totally. I compared it to those comics because there's also Mafalda merchandising everywhere (at least in Spain).
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
Jtsummers 6y ago
Not in the US, at least. I only learned of Mafalda because of my wife (on a trip to visit her in BA prior to getting married).
farias0 6y ago
Just as a trivia, he's really popular in Brazil. It's extremely common for school books to use his strips, both as interpretation exercises but also as a comic relief w/ the strip matching the subject we're studying. It's so common it's hard to find a Brazilian who never heard of Mafalda.
- soapdog 6y ago
  Heck, when I was a kid in the 80s in Brazil I thought Mafalda was Brazilian. It took me some time to learn that he was from Argentina. That is how common it was to find strips in our schoolbooks.
ddrdrck_ 6y ago
I don't know for english world, but I can say that in France Mafalda was relatively well known in the 80s and 90s, since you could find Mafalda comics in every public library for example. However she was not very popular amongst french kids probably because 1/ it was complicated and filled with political satire that kids could not understand 2/ kids were not accustomed to "comic strip" style. Amongst adults, Quino was appreciated for Mafalda but even more for his other works (of which I am a huge fan)
vidarh 6y ago
Comics in general are not very big in the English-speaking world relative to other places. A lot of major international successes never even get translated to English or take decades to get translations.
toyg 6y ago
Super popular in Italy too, Quino’s death hit the homepage of all major Italian newspapers. Lots of people read Mafalda collections in the 70s and 80s, I got one that was gifted to my mom in the late ‘70s and went through it several times as a kid.

Is Mafalda popular in the English world? Even today, it's super popular in the Spanish speaking world. As popular as Peanuts or Garfield.

by pier25 6y ago

Is Mafalda popular in the English world? Even today, it's super popular in the Spanish speaking world. As popular as Peanuts or Garfield.

smabie 6y ago

A quick poll of my friends and I in the room right now would suggest a resounding 'no'. Is it translated? I don't know Spanish.

Izikiel43 6y ago
I think not, also some of the jokes might lose sense in english. Edit: From the article "Mafalda's wit and her sharp observations of the adult world ensured the comic's popularity, which was translated into 26 languages." So you might be able to get it in english. From amazon, searching Mafalda and setting the book language to english: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=mafalda&rh=p_n_feature_nine_browse-bin%3A3291437011&dc&__mk_es_US=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&qid=1601511871&rnid=3291435011&ref=sr_nr_p_n_feature_nine_browse-bin_4 https://www.amazon.com/s?k=mafalda&rh=p_n_feature_nine_brows...
- estebank 6y ago
  Like Les Luthiers and any comedian making full use of their original language, many jokes lose their punch —or even don't make any sense— when translated. On the other hands, many of the Mafalda strips work well with literal translations too. I am reminded of her getting a turtle. Mafalda decided to call her Bureaucracy. Or her in the beach seeing a crab walking backwards and after a panel of contemplation letting the crab know "The future is forwards!" and when the crab continues on its merry way, backwards, her yelling at it "Reactionary!". Or her taking a globe and treating it like it has a cold after listening to the news in the radio. The strips seem to also be commonly used when teaching Spanish, as the simple art work lends itself to be easily described.

anamexis 6y ago

As a sample of 1 person from the US, I can say I have never heard of Mafalda.

pvaldes 6y ago
Probably will never be much appreciated in US (I could hear Americans shouting 'socialist!' in terror from there), but is a good comic. Apart of some outdated references here and there it has aged relatively well, taking in mind that is from 60' and 70's. Definitely playing in the same league as Garfield, and inspired by peanuts, but better IMO. More deep and complex than the happy world of Snoopy. Quino was wicked deploying visual gags, describing psychologically the characters with a few strokes, and extracting universal humor from common situations. Sometimes poignant, very dark, cynic and twisted humor, but of impeccable good taste and often really clever. It is still very enjoyable with dozens of memorable quotes.
- gosukiwi 6y ago
  > More deep and complex than the happy world of Snoopy. Probably because Latin America :) He was way more adult-oriented and political than Peanuts and Garfield.
  - pier25 6y ago
    Yeah totally. I compared it to those comics because there's also Mafalda merchandising everywhere (at least in Spain).
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

Jtsummers 6y ago

Not in the US, at least. I only learned of Mafalda because of my wife (on a trip to visit her in BA prior to getting married).

farias0 6y ago

Just as a trivia, he's really popular in Brazil. It's extremely common for school books to use his strips, both as interpretation exercises but also as a comic relief w/ the strip matching the subject we're studying. It's so common it's hard to find a Brazilian who never heard of Mafalda.

soapdog 6y ago
Heck, when I was a kid in the 80s in Brazil I thought Mafalda was Brazilian. It took me some time to learn that he was from Argentina. That is how common it was to find strips in our schoolbooks.

ddrdrck_ 6y ago

I don't know for english world, but I can say that in France Mafalda was relatively well known in the 80s and 90s, since you could find Mafalda comics in every public library for example. However she was not very popular amongst french kids probably because 1/ it was complicated and filled with political satire that kids could not understand 2/ kids were not accustomed to "comic strip" style. Amongst adults, Quino was appreciated for Mafalda but even more for his other works (of which I am a huge fan)

vidarh 6y ago

Comics in general are not very big in the English-speaking world relative to other places. A lot of major international successes never even get translated to English or take decades to get translations.

toyg 6y ago

Super popular in Italy too, Quino’s death hit the homepage of all major Italian newspapers. Lots of people read Mafalda collections in the 70s and 80s, I got one that was gifted to my mom in the late ‘70s and went through it several times as a kid.