Joaquín Salvador Lavado (17 July 1932 – 30 September 2020), known by his Pen Name Quino, was an Argentinian cartoonist.
Widely known as the creator of Mafalda, which is considered by many as his masterpiece, however Quino had also published several cartoons and humor books. Most of these works have an intelligent and dark sense of humor, similar to The Perry Bible Fellowship.
A list of books published by him (not including Mafalda):
- Mundo Quino (Quino World, 1963)
- ¡A mí no me grite! (Don't you yell at me!, 1972)
- Yo que usted... (If I were you... , 1973)
- Bien, gracias, ¿y usted? (Good, thank you, and you?, 1976)
- Hombres de Bolsillo (Pocket men, 1977)
- A la buena mesa (To the fine dinning, 1980)
- Ni arte ni parte (Neither art nor part, 1981)
- Déjenme Inventar (Let me Invent, 1983)
- Quinoterapia (Quinotherapy, 1985)
- Gente en su sitio (People in their place, 1986)
- Sí, Cariño (Yes, Dear, 1987)
- Potentes, prepotentes e impotentes (Powerful, arrogant and impotent", 1989)
- Humano se nace (As a human one is born, 1991)
- ¡Yo no fui! (I didn't do it!, 1994)
- ¡Qué mala es la gente! (How bad are people!, 1996)
- ¡Cuánta bondad! (How much goodness!, 1999)
- Esto no es todo (This is not all, 2002)
- ¡Qué presente impresentable! (What unpresentable present!, 2005)
- La aventura de comer (The adventure of eating, 2007)
- ¿Quien anda ahí? (Who is there?, 2012)
General tropes present in Quino's works:
- Appeal to Worse Problems: Deconstructed. See First-World Problems.
- Art Evolution: Like Mafalda, Quino's style evolved over time.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Frequent punch-line.
- Crapsack World: When its not A World Half Full.
- Creator Breakdown: Quino started publishing during the period the Argentinian military junta was in power, his first works had an innocent yet intelligent sense of humor to cope with the situation; however during the 90's and early 2000's he got pushed too far with the worst economic crisis Argentina had faced in its history, so many of his works became cynical and with very little hope.
- The Cameo: Mafalda sometimes makes background appearances.
- Christianity is Catholic: Truth in Television in Argentina, so it's completely justified.
- First-World Problems: He mocked in several strips the rich and upper class' worries of having a good body, suffering stress and eating unhealthy (junk) food by contrasting them with the day-to-day struggles and fight for survival of the poor and Third World countries people. He even addressed and deconstructed accusations of Appeal to Worse Problems in some strips, by putting them side by side in panels while mocking at the suggestion of being similar, and letting the readers to draw their own conclusions.
- Food Porn: He had two books dedicated to the fine dinning, and a recognition from the Chef's League of Spain.
- God: Recurring character.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Characters in Quino's cartoons that made background or main appearances are: Superman, Batman, The Pink Panther, Obelix, Tarzan, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, The Smurfs and others.
- Satan: Another recurring character.
- Satan Is Good: Or at least on very good terms with God.
- You No Take Candle: Cavemen and aboriginal people are portrayed speaking in this manner.
Individual cartoons provide examples of:
- Distracted by the Sexy: In this strip◊, a man is watching a football match, when he's distracted by the fact that his neighbor forgot to close her window when she went to take a bath. Just then, one of the teams scores a very dramatic goal. He's so enraged at missing it that he throws his drink through the window and hits the neighbor in the head.
- The Tetris Effect: One comic strip◊ details the life of a guy who puts sound effects in comics seeing the sound effects everywhere.