The death, at the age of 66, of cartoonist Miguel Gallardo, a fundamental figure in Spanish cartoons and illustration over the last four decades, has led to a rare unanimity among his dismayed colleagues, who have coincided when valuing both the work and the personality of the artist from Lleida in the most praising terms. At the request of EL PERIÓDICO, four important figures in the sector – cartoonists Max and Paco Roca, theorist Jordi Costa (head of the CCCB’s Exhibitions department) and the editor Emilio Bernárdez (editor of La Cúpula and historian of ‘El Víbora’) – gloss over the figure and legacy of the co-author of ‘Makoki’.
Max: “The one I learned the most from was Miguel”
Of the cartoonists of ‘El Víbora’, Gallardo is the one with whom I have maintained an ongoing friendship. There we learned from each other, but I, who I learned the most from was Miguel. Many days she went to her house, where she lived with Juanito Mediavilla, and saw how she worked. She had drawn much more than me and knew much more about comics. I looked at how he wrote scripts and how he drew with that gesture and expressiveness. He had an innate gift for it. As well his capacity for self-irony and self-parody was enviable, to play the hardest topics with naturalness and good humor. It’s what I admire the most. That gift to look at the world and explain it under that prism of yours. It is curious, we have had parallel careers: we opened up professionally beyond ‘El Víbora’, we ended up living from illustration and we obtained professional recognition. But for me it will always be a reference. I feel very close to him because we share admiration for four artistic influences: old cartoons, American ‘underground’ comics, the European clear line and Bruguera’s comics.
Jordi Costa: “A countercultural older brother”
Since, being a pipiolo, I had the unconsciousness to knock on the doors of ‘El Víbora’, I can’t help feeling Gallardo and Mediavilla as my older brothers. With Makoki and the others I was able to go, more naturally than it might seem, from a Bruguerian upbringing to an adolescence under the visceral influence of the dodgy line, an age intoxicated by Juanito’s ‘argotic’ jargon and Miguel’s graphic generosity. Impossible to decipher Barcelona’s modernity of the 80s without resorting to ‘Pepito Magefesa’Gallardo’s great solo work, which would open a virtuous multi-referential and postmodern branch, which, over time, would explode in the Technicolor delusions of ‘Dog Nick’ and his exhibition ‘Pulp Art’. As a good older brother, Gallardo was vitalist pyrotechnics that ended up curdling in wisdom: after ‘María y yo’ it became clear that a pencil, a look and a great love (paternal-filial, in his case) were enough to explain himself, explain ourselves and explain the world. You will never leave, Miguel.
Paco Roca: “An author in constant reinvention”
I have always felt great admiration for Miguel Gallardo, both for his role as an illustrator and as a comic book author. He always seemed to me an author in constant reinventionsomeone who faced both disciplines in an irreverent way, without dogmas and displaying a great sense of humor. I was lucky that that admiration for him turned into friendship from the moment the press combined his comic ‘María y yo’, about autism, with mine ‘Wrinkles’, about Alzheimer’s. Then we saw ourselves united on tours, in talks, in absurd gifts from the city council on duty and in absent-mindedness. From all that a four-handed comic was born, ‘Emotional World Tour’, which was a great editorial failure that we have joked about a lot, but which forged a friendship that has lasted until this Monday. I know I will miss you very much. comics full of humanityand above all being able to sit with him on the terrace of any bar to tell us about our latest mistakes.
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Emilio Bernardez. “He helped all the young cartoonists”
I can only think how lucky I was to meet him. How in those years of ‘El Víbora’ and the ‘underground’ I felt that we were like the four musketeers: Felipe Borrallo, Juanito Mediavilla, him and me. Memories of him keep coming back to me and they’re all good. How I laughed at him when at age 30 his gray hair began to appear, or how he and Juanito loved each other. He was very supportive. He helped all the young cartoonists who asked him for advice. The whole profession loved him very much. When Maria was born and things got tough, he sided with her daughter. And I know that these two years he has discovered his love for animals, for his dog Cala. When I proposed to reissue ‘Dreams of the Child’ he was excited about the idea, but knowing that he will not be able to leave before the end of the year made him sad. She knew she wouldn’t make it. I’ve been watching an interview that she recorded for ‘The Viper for survivors’ and seeing him there, so lucid, so joyful & mldr; It gave me peace to see him so alive. This is how I want to remember it.