Mortadelo y Filemón
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Mortadelo y Filemón (Mortadelo and Filemón) is one of the most popular comic strip series in Spain, appearing for the first time in 1958 in the children's comic-book Tío Vivo drawn by the hand of Francisco Ibáñez. The series features Mortadelo, the tall, bald master of disguise named after mortadella, and his boss, the shorter, pudgier, and two-haired Filemón Pi.
Initially, they were private detectives operating as Mortadelo y Filemón, Agencia de Información, but now both serve as secret agents in the Técnicos de Investigación Aeroterráquea (TIA, a spoof on CIA) which translates into "Air-Earth Investigation Technicians". Also, TIA is the Spanish word for Aunt (a spoof on U.N.C.L.E., the fictional intelligence agency from the TV series "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.").
Mortadelo and Filemón can be described as a pair of walking catastrophes, and no matter what kind of mission they are assigned they always manage to get it wrong. The results are almost invariably extremely violent, and most often directed towards Filemón.
At TIA, they interact with their boss, the bad-tempered Superintendente Vicente; Professor Bacterio, a black-bearded, disastrous scientist parodying James Bond's Q; and the fat, blonde secretary Ofelia, a parody of Moneypenny, whose attempts at seducing Mortadelo always fail.
Ibáñez issues several albums a year.
After the 1980s, the albums have featured current news, like computer sabotage, the AVE, Islamic terrorism, Catalan, Spanish and European politics, and specials for the Olympic Games.
They are also popular in Germany as Clever & Smart.
A movie based on the series was made in 2003 in Spain.
Characters
- Mortadelo
- He is a bald detective with pebble glasses and a long nose. He is always fighting with Filemón, his boss. He always wears a black frock coat. His favourite hobby is wearing disguises.
- Filemón Pi
- He is Mortadelo's boss. He has only got two hairs. He usually insults Mortadelo, because Mortadelo is really clumsy.
- Vicente Ruinez "Superintendente"
- He is the boss of Mortadelo and Filemón. He has got a dense moustache and he's usually angry because Mortadelo and Filemón fail in their missions. He´s usually called "Súper" by Mortadelo and Filemón.
- Ofelia
- Fat and vain secretary of the Superintendente Vicente. She is usually putting on her make-up.
- Irma
- The beautiful secretary of the Súper. Mortadelo and Filemón are in love with her.
- Dr. Bacterio
- TIA's bearded scientist. Mortadelo says Bacterio is the reason for his baldness. His inventions often failed.
- Bestiájez
- The giant agent of the TIA. He usually has to hunt down Mortadelo and Filemón because they don't want to do their missions.
In other languages
- Dutch: Paling en Ko
- German: Clever & Smart
- Portuguese: Mortadelo e Salaminho (in Brazil), Salomão e Mortadela (Portugal)
- Turkish: Dörtgöz ile Dazlak
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