13, Rue del Percebe (13, Barnacle Street in English), is a Spanish Comic Book series created by comic book artist and writer Francisco Ibáñez, whom you might recognize as the creator of Mortadelo y Filemón, his most recognizable work.
13, Rue del Percebe showcases the daily lives of the inhabitants of the titular building, all done from a humorous point of view and featuring tons of Slapstick humor from which no one in the building is safe, not even the animals. The comic is done in the format of a single panel, with the building taking up the whole page, and with each of the building's apartment's making up a panel. Every single apartment is inhabited by fixed characters with defined personalities:
- On the rooftop, living inside the attic on the left, we find Manolo, a severely indebted artist that always finds clever and innovative ways to evade his creditors, who always show up to his door and demand that he pays up, causing Manolo to be more well-known by his debt problems than by his art. Manolo also owns a black cat, who finds Manolo's tricks for avoiding his creditors funny, sometimes even helping him evade them. The rooftop is also home to a cat who is relentlessly tortured by a cruel mouse a la Itchy and Scratchy (or rather Tom and Jerry given the time the comic was created), all for the amusement of the latter.
- On the third floor, living on the apartment on the left, we find Ceferino Raffles, a kleptomaniac who steals every single thing he comes across with, (including, but not limited to, things like a submarine or an alien ship) mostly to re-sell them and make a profit, much to the dismay of his wife (who is also a thief, but lacks her husband's kleptomania). The apartment on the right is inhabited by a family of seven; the mother (whose name is revealed to be Benita in the last strip to be ever released), the father, the eldest sister and five young mischievous boys who like to pull nasty pranks on everyone, especially their sister's boyfriends, who always end up running away in fear, much to her disappointment as she is looking for someone to marry. The eldest sister stops appearing after a while, likely indicating that she (finally) found a husband and moved out of her parents' apartment.
- On the second floor, inside the left apartment, lives an elderly woman who is characterized for being an Animal Lover, being part of an Animal Protection Society. She owns a lot of pets, mainly cats and dogs, but on various occasions has owned animals such as lions, elephants and whales. This lady's love for animals usually does her more harm than good, as she tends to run into trouble whenever she buys or adopts a new pet. In addition, the animals she takes care of don't seem to appreciate what she does for them at all, especially her cats, who always try to pull pranks on her or even try to get her killed. The appartment next to her was originally inhabited by a Mad Scientist Victor Frankenstein Expy who, aside from working on inventions to torture his neighbours, worked on creating horrifying monsters, which sometimes backfired on him. The scientist moved out of the apartment in later strips, being written out of the comic and replaced by an unreliable tailor with a questionable talent who Can't Take Criticism.
- The left apartment of the first floor features an incompetent veterinarian who has to deal with just as quirky clients with unlikely pets, ranging from animals such as kangaroos, hippos, ostriches, monkeys and vultures, to other bizarre cases such as a dog with a "human complex" who treats its owner like a pet. The apartment to the right is a guesthouse owned by Mrs. Leonor, who overpopulates her apartment with bizarre and, more often than not, unethical means, all with the intention of getting more money. She even goes as far as to stuff her guests inside chests and bags just to have space for more clients.
- The ground floor houses a grocery shop and the porter's lodge. The grocery shop is run by Mr. Senén, who always tries to scam his clients with the products he sells, sometimes being successful, and other times failing miserably. The porter's lodge is run by the porter, a gossipy woman whose role is usually to inform the people trying to use the elevator of its traits or why it may not be working, though other times she is seen scolding some of the other inhabitants of the building due to their quirky natures. In front of the building, inside the sewers to be more specific, lives Mr. Hurón, who is seen either chatting with the porter about the many inconveniences (alongside a few advantages) that come with living in a literal sewer. The first strip states that Hurón was placed there by Mrs. Leonor, from whom he is renting the "appartment". Finally, a notable Running Gag in the series is the many troubles the building's elevator runs into in the series, including, but not limited to, Mrs. Leonor turning it into a room to rent, Ceferino stealing it, the mad scientist blowing it up, and even people getting stuck inside the elevator pit, just to name a few.
In addition to all of the above, various character from other of Ibáñez's works also make appearences in 13, Rue del Percebe, such as Rompetechos, and of course, Mortadelo y Filemón.
While not the first Comic Book to utilize the concept of a house and its various rooms and locations being used as a comic page (being used by creators such as Joaquim Xaudaró or Will Eisner during first half of the 20th century, with Manuel Vázquez's Un día en Villa Pulgarcito being cited as the example that is the closest to this series chronologically speaking, with Ibañez himself also citing Vázquez as his biggest inspiration for the series), Ibáñez popularized the format with 13, Rue del Percebe, who in turn would become a beloved classic in Spain.
The first strip was published on March 6th, 1961 on the Tío Vivo magazine and quickly became a hit with readers, resulting in strips being released every week. The Comic Book ran until the year 1984, when the final album of the series was released. Ibáñez made one final special strip in the year 2002, taking the characters and updating them to the 21st century (or the Turn of the Millennium at least). Think of it as a "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue of sorts. While there may not be any more issues being released, that doesn't mean that people have forgotten about 13, Rue del Percebe, far from it, actually. The legacy of the comic is such that it has been referenced in various other types of media, such as in the movie Mortadelo & Filemón: The Big Adventure, where Filemón's mother lives in the titular building, thus allowing the wacky neighbours to make an appearance, or even being the basis for a 2010 commercial of La Casera a well-known brand of soda in Spain.
13, Rue del Percebe provides examples of:
- Alien Invasion: Played for Laughs in one strip, which deals with the topic of aliens crashing into the building: they make goof friends with Mr. Hurón, they rent rooms in Mrs. Leonor's guesthouse, the old lady confuses one for a bird, one of them is scared of by the kids living on the third floor, etc.
- Amusing Injuries: Everyone has been blown up, thrown from their window, crushed, or fallen through the elevator pit at least once, but other than a few injuries they always turn out to be fine in the end.
- Animal Lover: The elderly lady living on the second floor. This however usually creates a lot of problems to her, especially when it comes to her cats.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: The children that live on the third floor towards their older sister, as they always end up driving away her boyfriends with their cruel pranks.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: The scientist has used animals for his experiments on more than one occasion, and the veterinarian has taken advantage of the animals he is supposed to look after, even having killed some of them. The mouse on the rooftop even abuses a poor cat for its own amusement.
- Butt-Monkey: Pretty much everyone in one way or another, though special mention goes to Benita's eldest daughter and her boyfriends, the old lady who is constantly mistreated by her own pets, and everyone living on Mrs. Leonor's appartment, aside from Leonor herself of course.
- Cats Are Mean: The old woman's cats treat her rather poorly, going as far as to try to get her killed in various occasions. Manolo's cat also counts to an extent, but towards Manolo's creditors rather than Manolo himself. This is inveresed for the cat living on the rooftop, who is the perpetual victim of a cruel mouse.
- Comedic Sociopathy: The mouse on the rooftop is this, as every time it shows up it's always to torture the poor cat living there, all Played for Laughs. The five kids living on the third floor also count, as their pranks are always aimed at either the neighbors or their sister's boyfriends.
- Continuity Nod: While each strip talks about a different topic each time, there are some signs of continuity between them, with the most notable one being the scientist moving out of his apartment in a strip released in the year 1964, after which the apartment is put on sale until its bought by a tailor, who moves into it. Other significant events include a tree that is constantly watered until it reaches the elderly woman's appartment window before it's cut down and stolen by Manolo to be sold, and a married couple that asks the porter if there's a spare appartment to where they can move into, only to be rejected each time and aging up quite fast in the span of a few months until they die of old age.
- Cranky Landlady: Mrs. Leonor isn't too nice to her tenants, barely giving them any space of their own and coming up with pretty darn unethical schemes to earn money.
- The Dog Bites Back:
- Manolo is almost always succesful at avoiding his creditors, but when he does fail, they make him pay for everything, both literally and figuratively.
- While the old lady is usually disrespected and mistreated by her own cats, she too has found ways to get back at them, such as adopting an alligator to scare them into leaving her alone or putting one of them in a ball and chain for eating her fish dinner.
- Elevator Gag: Something will inevitably happen to the elevator every time, with the most common occurences being that someone falls through the elevator pit or that this somehow gets destroyed.
- Expy: the Mad Scientist is one to Victor Frankenstein, more specifically the one from the 1931 movie rather than Mary Shelley's novel (even having created his own Expy of Frankenstein's Monster).
- Given Name Reveal: After fourty-one years of being unnamed, the name of the mother the five misbehaving boys is revealed to be Benita. The rest of her family still goes unnamed to this day however.
- The Great Flood: Played for Laughs. One strip sees the entire town, and therefore the building, flooding as a result of Ceferino stealing the plug of a swamp. Because of the wacky set of neighbours living in the building, hilarity ensues.
- Hairstyle Malfunction: The elderly woman wears a wig, and it coming off and/or being stolen by either her pets or other neighbours is a Running Gag in the series.
- Kids Are Cruel: The five boys living on the third floor definitely qualify. Whenever their older sister tries to introduce a boyfriend to her parents so that she can marry him, they always end up driving away the poor guy in fear. Not only that, but they also tend to pull cruel pranks on the other neighbours as well, such as stealing one of the scientist's monsters or dropping a huge boulder through the elevator pit, crushing a person.
- Man-Made House Flood: In one strip, Manolo floods his attic so that when his creditors open up the door, they are washed away by the water. The water also leaks to Ceferino and his wife's apartment, flooding it as well. Another strip has the tables turning, with the creditors taking advantage of heavy rain to flood Manolo's apartment and force him to come out to pay.
- A Mischief of Mice: The mouse living on the rooftop is a complete sadist. Just ask that poor cat it is always torturing.
- No Name Given: The porter, the veterinarian, the Animal Lover lady, the Mad Scientist (and the tailor that replaces him), Ceferino's wife, as well as the entire family living on the third floor (with the exception of the mother, whose name would be revealed to be Benita in the final strip released in 2002), all go unnamed. Averted by Mr. Hurón, Mr. Senén, Mrs. Leonor, Ceferino and Manolo, obviously.
- Non-Residential Residence: Mr. Hurón, who literally lives in the sewers in front of the building. While it comes with a lot of disadvantages, Hurón himself has adjusted to his life quite easily.
- Only Sane Woman: Ceferino's wife. For starters, she is a much more competent thief than her husband is, lacking his signature kleptomania, and doesn't indulge in the actions her crazy neighbours take part in, or if she does, is because she gets dragged into them by Ceferino.
- Put on a Bus: The Mad Scientist moves out of the building in the strip 149, released in the year 1964, stating that the appartment isn't suitable for the giant monster he wants to build. The reason the character was written out of the series is due to the strict censor of Francisco Franco's dead-hard Catholic dictatorship, with the argument that "Only God can create life".
- Starving Artist: Manolo is an artist who is heavily indebted. His debt and his continuous attempts at evading his creditors are more well-known than his art, to the point where his status as an artist comes off as an Informed Ability.
- Sticky Fingers: Ceferino is a complete kleptomaniac, stealing every single thing he sees. He has stolen things such as animals, lamposts, the building's elevator, a man-eating plant, and even a whole freaking submarine.
- Ungrateful Bastard: The animals the old woman takes care for usually disregard everything she does for them, with her cats in particular mistreating and torturing her.
- Unusual Pets for Unusual People: The old lady of the second floor. While she mainly takes care of dogs, cats and birds, she has also owned panthers, alligators, elephants, and even whales. The veterinarian's clients also bring in unusual pets, such as pigs, kangaroos, bulls and octopuses.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Very notorious in the case of the family of eight (the mother, the father, the eldest daughter and the five young boys) living on the third floor. While the father was never a prominent character, the eldest sister was a staple character in the sense that whenever she tried to introduce a boyfriend to her family, her younger brothers would end up driving away the boyfriend with their cruel pranks, but she stopped making appearances after a while, though it can be assumed that she may have finally found a husband and moved out of her parents' apartment. The five brothers suffered from this as well, with the youngest of the five, the baby, stopping making appearances, leaving them as just four, and there being strips in which they don't show up on their entirety, usually being reduced to just two or three.
- Women Are Wiser: Played straight with Ceferino's wife, who is said to be a more competent thief than he is and is annoyed with her husband's kleptomania. Averted big time with the old lady and Mrs. Leonor; the former often runs into trouble because of her constant adopting of pets and the latter uses very unethical means to get money from her renters. Zig-Zagged with the porter, Benita and her daughter, who are a bit more rational than anyone in the building, but otherwise take part in the same wacky misadventures as their neighbours.
