* The author is part of the community of readers of La Vanguardia
The TBO was a very popular comic magazine. He published the adventures of characters such as Mortadelo and Filemón, Zipi and Zape, Carpanta or the Gilda sisters. The children were glued to the pages of their stories, which transported them to fantastic worlds.
During the Civil War, both sides published political propaganda comic magazines. The Franco side published Pelayos y Flecha, while the Republican side published Pionero Rojo, Pionerín and El Pueblo en Armas.
After the Civil War, many publishing houses closed. Only two survived, Bruguera and TBO. At this time, new comic magazines appeared, such as Coleccion Las Grandes Aventuras, Roberto Alcázar y Pedrín, El Coyote, El Guerrero del Antifaz and Agañas belicas.
The real explosion of comics began in 1940 when cartoonists began to make weekly comics with drawings for children. Its main production publishing houses were located in Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid, in this order of importance.
Editorial Bruguera with its magazine TBO gained in its time the largest number of regular readers known: The Ulises family, The Gilda sisters, Carpanta and a series of characters who soon made an impression on readers.
The popularity of said newspaper was such that it caused the Royal Academy of Language to include the word "TBO" in the 1968 edition of the dictionary, as a valid word in the dictionary, to nominate all editions of notebooks of children's cartoon stories. .
The fifties and sixties of the 20th century were a time of great boom for Spanish comics. Comic magazines became a mass phenomenon and some of the most popular characters in the history of Spanish comics were published.
Editorial Bruguera was the dominant publisher of this time. He published magazines such as Pulgarcito, TBO and Tío Vivo, which contained a wide variety of characters, from the classic adventure heroes such as Captain Trueno or El Jabato, to the most endearing humorous characters, such as Zipi and Zape, Carpanta or Mortadelo and Filemón.
Other publishers were also successful at this time. Editorial Valenciana published magazines such as Jaimito or Pumby, and Editorial Juventud published Tintín, one of the most popular comic magazines in the world.
The Spanish comics of this time reflected the Spanish society of the time. The adventure characters represented the traditional values of Spain during the Franco era, while the humorous characters reflected the daily reality of society, with its problems and joys. Magazines such as Aventuras del FBI, Diego Valor and El Príncipe Valiente were published.
Some of the most popular characters in Spanish comics of the 1950s and 1960s were the following:
Censorship in Spanish comics during the Franco dictatorship was a reality. The Children's and Youth Publications Information Commission, created in 1962, was in charge of reviewing the scripts and drawings of the comics before their publication.
The main objective was to avoid the dissemination of any content that could be considered contrary to the values of the Franco regime.
This included topics such as politics, religion, sexuality or violence. To avoid it, publishers chose to set their comics in mythical or imaginary places, never in Spain. Social or political themes were also avoided, and adventure or humorous stories were privileged.
In the sixties, women's comics began to reflect the new reality of women, much more independent and liberated. In 1960, Lilian, air stewardess was born, a comic strip that showed a young and modern woman who worked as a flight attendant. In 1962, Mary News appeared, a comic strip that told the adventures of a young journalist.
Alicia (1955, Ed. Toray). These comics were very popular among young girls, who identified with the protagonists. However, they were also subject to censorship, since it was considered that they promoted values contrary to those of the Regime.
In the 1970s, comics began to lose popularity. Television became the main means of entertainment for children and comics came to be considered outdated.
Bruguera, the dominant publisher in the sector, tried to adapt to the new times by publishing more modern magazines, such as Gran Pulgarcito. However, these efforts were not enough to stop the decline of comics.
In 1978, with the arrival of democracy, comics once again gained popularity. However, the classic characters were no longer as popular as in the past.
Children no longer went to the newsstands to buy a comic with their weekly payment, Marcial Estefanía novels would no longer be exchanged for 10 cents... times were changing, as was natural.
The word "tebeo" was coined in Spain in 1940 to refer to comic magazines. Comics had always referred to Spanish publications. From the seventies onwards it began to lose popularity, in favor of the word "comic", of Anglo-Saxon origin.
There are several reasons that explain this substitution. Firstly, the arrival of foreign publications, such as Tintin or Asterix, popularized the use of the word "comic."
Secondly, the rise of the countercultural movement of the 1960s, which sought to reclaim popular culture, also contributed to the popularization of the word "comic."
In the eighties, the word "comic" was already considered an outdated term, typical of previous generations. Later generations, who had grown up with foreign publications, preferred to use the word "comic."
Nowadays, the word "comic" is practically unknown to young people. In specialized comic book stores, it is very rare for someone to order a "comic book."
