“There is more intolerance towards humor now than there was 40 years ago; Before there were only courts of law and now there is this whole panoply of political correctness and social networks that make everything more confusing.” It has been one of the most notable reflections launched by one of the greatest of graphic humor, José Luis Martín, in an exclusive meeting with subscribers of the newspaper held this afternoon at Casa Seat in Barcelona and which has been moderated by the deputy director Enric Sierra.
Cartoonist, cartoonist, writer for television and theater, one of the founders of El Jueves, father of El Dios and Quico el Progre and also known by the readers of La Vanguardia for being the author of the cartoon 'Apuntes del Natural' for some time. four years, Martín has commented that “before there was a playing field with laws that you tried to negotiate and, above all, we were aware that we were going to win the game.” He was convinced that currently “what we did in El Jueves would now be 80% unpublishable” because of that intolerance that can be seen especially “on the networks and that leads to civil death.”
“The humor has become entrenched, it is much more sectarian; "It is not so much a matter of criticizing power but rather the power of others, and this is clearly seen in the fact that there are people who have an excellent sense of humor as long as they crush those in front of them." According to the cartoonist, it is “a generalized regression throughout the world, with the exception of Great Britain.”
Martín recalled that this is his second stage in La Vanguardia. He already collaborated at the end of the seventies when he came recommended by another humor genius, Jaume Perich. “I spent the night of the first democratic elections in 1977 in the office of director Horacio Sánchez Guerrero accompanied by Néstor Luján. He was 24 years old.” As journalist Manuel Íbañez Escofet predicted, “I will end up retiring in La Vanguardia,” Martín joked. “With a big parenthesis,” Sierra noted.
Martín, who gave a live demonstration with his iPad of how he prepares a vignette with Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo as protagonists, assured that he has lived through “the golden age of graphic humor that goes from 1972, during the late Franco era, to the appearance of the internet when a free and immediate mega-offer occurs.” The cartoonist said that he has been lucky enough to live in “a time when you could pay the mortgage by drawing” while now, those who dedicate themselves to graphic humor, “give their work in exchange for likes but with likes you don't pay the electricity.” .
“We cartoonists tend to be modest artisans,” Martin wanted to claim, revealing the influence of Walt Disney in making him want to dedicate himself to this profession, which, in three years, he will complete half a century practicing.
