Argentina.

World
Comics

Argentina

1922

In short

Argentine comics, called historietas, grew from a satirical press founded in the 1860s into a golden age that lasted from the 1940s to 1960.

Héctor Germán Oesterheld's El Eternauta (1957) and Quino's Mafalda (1964 to 1973) are central works, and Oesterheld disappeared under the dictatorship. The national comics day, 4 September, marks the first issue of Hora Cero semanal, which serialised El Eternauta.

Comics from Argentina

From the shelf

Argentina in numbers

01 • 04

Argentina in numbers · 01 • 04

138

1922

1960s

Artists

Artists from Argentina in the archive.

Comics from Argentina in the archive.

Don Pancho Talero, the earliest comic from Argentina in the archive.

The decade when the most new comics from Argentina began.

Artists from Argentina in the archive.

Comics from Argentina in the archive.

Don Pancho Talero, the earliest comic from Argentina in the archive.

The decade when the most new comics from Argentina began.

historieta

historieta · Comics from Argentina

History

Argentina in 4 chapters

A short history you can leaf through. Click a page, use the arrow keys, or press Turn the page to read on.

World Comics Heritage

Argentina.

4 chapters

Turn the page

Chapter 1

1863

to 1927

Satirical press

Cover

1863
to 1927
Chapter 01
Satirical press
El Mosquito (1863 to 1893), Eduardo Sojo's Don Quijote (1884 to 1905) and Caras y Caretas (1898) carried drawn satire. Manuel Redondo's Las aventuras de Viruta y Chicharrón (1912) was the first proper strip with speech balloons and recurring characters.
1928
to 1960
Chapter 02
Golden age
El Tony (1928) was the first comics-only magazine, Dante Quinterno's Patoruzú appeared the same year and got its own magazine in November 1936, and Divito's Rico Tipo launched on 16 November 1944. The golden age of the 1940s to 1960 produced Oesterheld's El Eternauta (1957), serialised in Hora Cero semanal.
1961
to 1983
Chapter 03
Auteurs and the dictatorship
Oesterheld and Alberto Breccia's Mort Cinder (1962), Quino's Mafalda (1964 to 1973), Robin Wood's Nippur de Lagash (1967), Fontanarrosa's Inodoro Pereyra and Muñoz and Sampayo's Alack Sinner (1974) appeared in these years. Oesterheld was kidnapped and disappeared under the dictatorship while serialising the sequel to El Eternauta.
1984
to today
Chapter 04
Fierro and revival
Fierro ran from 1984 to 1991 for 100 issues, national publication almost collapsed in the 1990s, and the scene revived from the 2000s with Fierro's second series in 2006. A Buenos Aires city law of 15 October 2009 made 4 September, the date of the first Hora Cero semanal in 1957, the Día de la Historieta.