Paco Mir (Barcelona, 1957) is an artist committed to himself and the quality that could have been presented before with these pints, these strips and this mastery of humorous drawing, a diverse school, instead of making us believe that his thing is the tables , the Tricicle gags and the theatrical hubbub.
Alone, Paco Mir is a forger of graphic humor who covets a chair in the Royal Academy of Language, like his admired Mingote, and describes the perplexities of the contemporary world without getting into politics, as dictators advise. I also believe that he would form a great academic tandem with Arturo Pérez-Reverte, two authors who emerged from the mud: one began at TVE and the other at the magazine OBTthe first of the many publications that closed, an unequivocal sign of value because after one came another.
Paco Mir (right) with his colleagues from Tricicle at the recent farewell to the comedy trio at the Liceu
This humor has not come to save anyone, it does not contain examples of personal growth and it amuses by many
daily neuras It consists of seven chapters in which Paco Mir puts strips, jokes and characters in context. The people of this country tend to place a low value on short works and the aforementioned works. Literature weighs a kilo, three for one, or the famous person on duty who narrates in a book some episode of self-improvement. Having said this, Paco Mir also dips the churro in the cup of personal growth and offers us experiences of improvement, such that the day the director of his school summoned him to the office, in full success of a satirical magazine called Ondevás (with Manila shawl) that Mir and other advantaged ones elaborated in order to question the power of the teachers. Far from entrusting them with the publication of the first official magazine of the school, the director confiscated all the copies of the edition in which he appeared, not naked – as was his thing in the 70s – but caricatured. It was the first of several pedagogical methods, such as Viñas or McCartney, that the author had to suffer, in his pilgrimage through various newsrooms. A glorious list starting at legendary OBT and goes through The Rolled Pastanaga, HdiosO, More woodthe very Barcelona newspaper –nine months, 218 strips, until closing–, The newspaperconsecration to which its director, José Luis Martín, prologue writer of the book and teacher who cheers The vanguard.
The director Paco Mir, also a stage director, behind the scenes.
On the other hand, people underestimate brevity, conciseness and synthesis, as if they were the stuff of lazy people. Luckily, this is a daring book for the most intelligent reader, who will appreciate this cosmos of strips and drawings. pacomyrians –essence, essence and essence– for those who do not pass the time, exempt from belching, distinguished, even in the underground era of Paco Mir in The Rolled Pastanagawhen he came to publish a version of the comic genre of the capital of Karl Marx.
Cover of ‘Daily Neuras’, by Paco Mir
Based on hitting the jar at all hours and passion for drawing, Paco Mir has combined many things throughout his career. The great Julio Camba, a newspaper writer, was asked what his dream in life was.
–Not having to write!
In the manner of Mingote from Sitget, Paco Mir is one of those who would say:
–Never stop drawing!
This is endorsed by the chapter pandemic notebooks, with some of the best drawings –directly in ink– created in the days of confinement, without responding to professional commitments. That passion for drawing is portrayed there, to which this book – very well edited – does justice, and also with the way of observing life. There is black humor –it would just be missing!–, kind ramblings about love or women –”he came in, he came in”, as Juan José Castillo said of tight balls– and the wonderful world of the beach, there where Hispanic husbands abide, they give up and give up.
Paco Mir
Daily neuras. Collected cartoons and strips
Today’s Topics. 400 pages. €21.90
