Jordi Canyissà was four years old when the first Mortadelo comic book of his life fell into his hands. On that cover appeared the T.I.A. super-agent dressed in medieval armor telling Filemón that the latest models of bulletproof vests had not yet been received. And, for that child who was still learning to read, there was no turning back. "I was fascinated by those fixed images, yet so dynamic, with so much movement. And now, at 51, I am happy to have written a book about the creator of those and so many other characters," he explains in reference to Ibáñez, the master of the comic strip (Bruguera Clásica): an impressive volume that rigorously, insightfully, and with tons of affection analyzes the figure and work of the recently deceased creator of Rompetechos, Botones Sacarino, 13 Rue del Percebe, Pepe Gotera y Otilio and, of course, his most popular: Mortadelo y Filemón.
The author takes an urgent, "journalistic" cortado at the bar, while allowing "any radio station that doesn't play reggaeton and that does program some commercial music from the 80s, or things I like now like Calvin Harris" to play in the background. He casts quick and lively glances, without losing a smile that seems to be drawing in his mind ---with his style and in vignettes--- what is happening around him.
A confessed stubborn person, his life has taken several turns, always managing to maintain a basic coherence between his great passions: journalism, drawing, and comics. "I've written radio scripts, design work, I've been responsible for several journalistic projects, and I have a law degree. And, above all, for me, comics and literature have always been there. I've never seen them as exclusive arts."
Thus, he has participated in a large number of collective works on comic strips (El gran Vázquez, coge el dinero y corre; Jan, el genio humilde or Carpanta, 75 aniversario), before debuting with his first solo title in 2015 with a study on Joan Rafart: Raf, el gentleman de Bruguera. The one on Ibáñez is his second book, but not the last: "I am working on a new work about Franco-Belgian comics and I hope to continue finding time to keep writing about Bruguera."
Ils sont fous ces gaulois!
After Mortadelo, the second great discovery in the parishioner's path was Cavall Fort magazine, which for him was "the bridge between Bruguera and the Franco-Belgian line." The next stop would be author's comics, with the discovery of Calle de la estación 120 by Jacques Tardi. "It impressed me, because here we still didn't talk about graphic novels and that was my first contact with a different way of making comics. That was a long book, in black and white and expensive for the purchasing power I had at fifteen. I had to think about it, but finally I took the plunge."
The icing on the cake came with the French publication Les Cahiers de la Bande Dessinée, which completely changed his perception: "That magazine showed me that comics could be studied, analyzed. In one issue, Antonio Altarriba dedicated a multi-page article dissecting Mortadelo and Filemón from an academic point of view." Things that then only happened in the neighboring country. These Gauls are crazy!, as Asterix would say.
--In fact, I learned French to read books and articles that theorized about comics and that were unthinkable here at that time-- he concludes.
Memories from Sant Joan promenade
Settled in Vallès Oriental for a few years, although with his workplace in Barcelona, the journalist and popularizer grew up in a Barcelona that he remembers as different, "not so overcrowded and depersonalized and without those double-direction bike lanes that some psychopath has invented. My memories are very linked to the Sant Joan promenade, where I grew up. With its adjacent streets, with its shops. Also in the literary sense, as it is the promenade that Enrique Vila-Matas, who for me is the best living Spanish author, once wrote and described."
In addition to his work, Barcelona is also a city whose cultural offerings the parishioner enjoys, "although I believe it needs to highlight aspects of the history of its culture. There is nothing, for example, that indicates the passage of the great authors of the Latin American boom through Barcelona or that marks where such an important and transcendent publishing house as Bruguera was found."
And Jordi Canyissà finishes his cortado while taking a fleeting look at the day's gastronomic offer. Perhaps thinking about making a stop and staying with a celebration.
--Do you fancy eating something? Everything here is delicious, I warn you!
--Yes, but well-selected. I eat small quantities, but with great quality-- he replies with a wide smile that every bartender loves to see on the faces of their regulars.