Mafalda - 20th century heroine

Forget Superman or Batman or El Zorro.... ...... (well, no, not El Zorro actually, he's pretty cool too).

My favorite all time heros are Mafalda and her gang. You may not have heard of her/them but if you ever get your hands on a Mafalda comic strip, you'll be hooked... I guarantee it!

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Extract from Mafalda on Wikipedia :

Mafalda is a comic strip written and drawn by the Argentine cartoonist Quino. The strip features a girl named Mafalda (5 years old at the time of the comic's creation) who is deeply concerned about humanity and world peace and rebels against the world as it is. The strip ran from 1964 to 1973 and was very popular in Latin America, Europe and in Asia, leading to two animated cartoon series and a movie.

Characters

Mafalda: The main character, an approximately six-year-old Argentine girl with a strong political view of the world and a proverbial hate for soup. Her political stance, which she often demonstrates by aphorisms, is centre-left wing and highly pessimistic. The comic strip revolves around her and her friends' everyday life focusing on small insightful incidences; Mafalda herself is smart, witty, polite yet quick-tempered, strong-minded and curious, which is a frequent source of concern for her father as he often finds himself confronted with embarrassing questions. Mafalda's relation with her friends and family is warm but studded with criticism, she also acts tomboyish at times and is the only one of the lot characteristically lacking a sexual side. She loves The Beatles and wishes to work as an interpreter for the United Nations when she grows up.

Felipe: A dreamer who is deeply scared of school, even though he's the brightest member of the gang. He often wages intense internal battles with his conscience, innate sense of responsibility, and top school grades that he hates (*shows Mafalda a note where his teacher compliments on his grades* "That is the worst good news I've ever been given!"). He loves to play cowboys and read comics, especially the Lone Ranger. He is one year older than Mafalda and most of the others. His most notable physical features are his long face and buck teeth, the latter being inherited from his mother. He has a crush on a girl from the neighborhood, Muriel, but he is too shy to talk to her (akin to Charlie Brown's "little red haired girl"). Susanita, Mafalda's close friend, seems to have feelings for him, but is too embarrassed to admit to them. He is perhaps the only friend of Mafalda who doesn't exhibit political or socio-economic inclinations - not surprisingly, his goal in life is to become an engineer, like his father. He shows great ability to play chess and, like Mafalda, he likes The Beatles.

Manolito: The son of a Spanish (Galician) shopkeeper, more concerned with business and money than anything else. He represents the capitalist ideas. He is not very bright in school, except for math, and hates The Beatles, this often being the subject of jokes by his friends. A true entrepreneur, he's always thinking on ways to publicize his father's store, from writing slogans on walls to making his friends listen to advertisements ("But before the joke, a few words from our sponsor.") His most notable physical feature is his brush-like hair, which grows a few minutes after he cuts it ("Dunno why the HECK I go to the hairstylist!!!!"). Working in the family business means that he doesn't have as much time for the enjoyments of childhood as his friends do; in one strip his friends are seen at the beach and the mountains during their summer vacation; he is sadly soaking in a sink behind the store. Although they're good-hearted, his parents are rather brusque people; once his dad affectionately hugged him and ruffled his hair, but Mafalda thought Mr. Goreiro had beaten him. Mrs. Goreiro often threatens Manolito with a slipper when he wakes up in the early morning and delivers a harangue against the school. He idolizes his older brother, a former conscript in the Army who later goes to work abroad; he looks exactly like an older Manolito, this once gave his friends a shock. His biggest desire
is to make a worldwide chain of supermarkets.

Susanita: A frivolous girl with curly blond hair, and Mafalda's best female friend despite their bickering ("Well... you know... I'd rather freak out at you than at a complete stranger" *hug*). Her only goals in life are to find a rich and good-looking husband when she grows up (""Children... are all I want to get in life. The car, television and the freezer, will be gotten by my husband, don't think I´m stupid."), and to have a son who becomes a doctor. Her mother is a common Latin-American stereotype of the time, called "chismosa" (a gossip) - the typical neighbor who butts into other people's lives and talks about them on the phone. Much to her friends' chagrin, Susanita has inherited this trait. When she starts talking, it's really hard to shut her up ("Mafaldaaaaa... Did I tell you that my incommunication problem is that I can't incommunicate myself? *sobs*). She and Manolito sometimes have very tense exchanges, and she also seems to have a slight crush on Felipe. Susanita is a bigoted right wing social conservative, content with the traditional order of society where people shouldn't mix between classes or races. An aspiring socialite, she has no problems with social injustice and is usually oblivious to Mafalda's rants and complaints, with few and disturbing exceptions ("...And we'll organize banquets in which there will be poultry and turkey and pork and all of that! That way we'll raise funds for the poor so they'll be able to buy flour and semolina and noodles and all that rubbish they eat").

Miguelito: About two years younger than Felipe and one year younger than Mafalda and the others, characterized by his lettuce-shaped hair. He is somewhat selfish but has a good heart and is more naïve than the others, since he's an only child of a very strict mother who tends to overprotect him ("B-B-But Miguelitoooo! The cliff! Be careful, honey!" "... It breaks, Mom?"). His grandfather is an Italian refugee and was a supporter of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, as Miguelito (too young to know better) sometimes speaks of him in high terms, much to Mafalda's amazement ("Lucky to have a grandpa who opens my eyes, so..."). His comments could be understood as a symbol of immaturity, or as surrealist expressions ("How can time go round the corners in square clocks?"). Sometimes his innocence is cut by sudden bursts of cruelty. (e.g. "I get it! We musn't kill bees because they work for us!" or "I don't want toys that teach me to kill! I want to be self-taught!")

Guille: Mafalda's little brother. He loves soup (much to his sister's chagrin), has a pathologic dependence on his pacifier, and he and Mafalda have a pet tortoise called Burocracia ('Bureaucracy'). Lovable, cool and opinionated, his age allows him traits that make him the strip's counterpart of the "Summer of Love" generation (including carelessness, mental independence and nudity).

Libertad : A diminutive girl whose name means "Freedom", an actual name in Spanish. When everybody makes the obvious remark (about freedom being diminutive) she answers "reach your own stupid conclusions". She's of the same age as Mafalda and her classmates but is the shortest of the group, to the point Guille is taller than her. The daughter of left-wing parents, she sometimes indulges in political harangues, without very well understanding the ideas nvolved, as she tends to be a literalist. Her mother works as a French translator and Libertad jokes sometimes that they eat Sartre's-made chicken. She likes to keep things simple, but when she tries to make it clear, she ends up confusing everyone in her surroundings. She's the most European-like of the bunch, and tends to get in trouble at the slightest provocation with anyone around her.

End of extract.

Fned.