Inodoro Pereyra

Inodoro Pereyra (The Renegade) is an Argentine comic created in 1972 by the writer and cartoonist Roberto Fontanarrosa. The main character is a cartoon of a lonely Argentine gaucho living in the Argentine Pampas. Full of social, psychological, political and philosophical humor, it parodies to comical effect the language and mannerisms of the gaucho, such as the name "Inodoro" a mock-typical gaucho name (taken from the Catholic santoral) like "Isidoro", "Casimiro" etc., but "Inodoro" meaning actually in Spanish "toilet seat".
The comic appeared for first time at the end of 1972 in the popular humor magazine Hortensia, originating from the Córdoba Province (Argentina), which was the home of a pool of talented people at that time.
The comic was originally a parody about the linguistics and stereotypes of the native people. Specifically, the main characters were some gaucho characters from comic books (such as Santos Leiva, Lindor Covas "the wild", El Huinca or Fabián Leyes, etc). The comic at this time was more elaborate graphically. In all these early editions, Inodoro hosts a diverse and weird group of visitors in the Pampa region of Argentina, while his inseparable friend, Mendieta, the talking dog, shares the adventures of his owner. Mendieta frequently shares his opinions with Inodoro, giving birth to phrases like: "Let us negotiate, Mr. Inodoro" and "Who gave birth to it!" (similar meaning to "Wow!", or "Who would have thought so...").
Then the comic appeared in the Mengano and Siete Días magazines, with adventures in each episode. Mendieta once declared that he was in reality "a Christian man that was turned into a dog shape due to a moon eclipse". Mendieta occupied the co-protagonist role in these times.
The episodes of Inodoro Pereyra in this period mostly consisted of two or three pages. Each series was composed of around 10 episodes.
At the beginning of each episode the author gives a short recap of what happened in the previous episode. The recap was in a humoristic style, using radio theater language, gauchesca poetry and feuilleton language in an ironic way. Finally, in 1976, Inodoro settled down with his partner, Eulogia Tapia, and Mendieta in a famous newspaper from Buenos Aires called Clarín, where the comic was published in single editions. The previous coverage of adventures gave way to a greater focus on dialogue and subtle humor.
The drawing style suffered a major change after 1975. From 1972 until 1975 the characters were drawn with a slim shape with thick lines and striking contrasts. From 1976 Inodoro Pereyra appeared with a drawing style that gave him a soft expression (rather than the angry wrinkles of the past), while his partner "La Eulogia" is no longer a young stylized woman but a rotund and clumsy housewife.
After being placed in different areas of the newspaper, the comic was added to Viva, the Sunday magazine of Clarín. Here Inodoro was a more tranquil personality, settled in his humble house with his wife, dog, pigsty and a lonely tree. The Inodoro Pereyra comics were also published in book format by Ediciones de la Flor.
The main difference with other comics is that in Inodoro comics, the humoristic touch is not present exclusively at the end of the comic but usually in every frame (mainly since the comic started to be published as single editions).
Most of the middle jokes and the ending ones are delivered by Mendieta, acting as the voice of reason in this comic of absurd and erratic humor. Also the humoristic touch of this comic in mainly based in the language used by Inodoro Pereyra, who uses a lot of word games and rhymes.
He is a parody of Pampa's stereotypical Argentine gaucho, based on Martín Fierro, a famous gaucho. He meditates in loneliness about life, accompanied by his dog Mendieta, and receives strangers in his home, to whom he gives peculiar advice. The humor of the comic is largely based around Inodoro's language, with extensive use of wordplay and puns.
He is a small, friendly dog from an unknown race that has the ability to speak. He shares Inodoro's adventures, participating in the reasoning and acting as Pereyra's confident. In fact, Mendieta was the seventh male child of a family and was born on a full moon night; legend says that he should have been transformed into a werewolf, but he had bad luck and as that night there was a lunar eclipse, he instead became a dog with the power of speech.
In the first Inodoro Pereyra comic in 1972 she appears as the young bride of the gaucho. She was drawn as a young and slim woman with beautiful facial features (even within the cartoonish aesthetics of the drawings). She later started being drawn as an ugly fat lady since 1976, even increasing her weight by 25 kg in a single frame. She is home-loving, has a bad temper and is jealous to the point of getting angry like a beast when Inodoro is late.
Through the years, these are the quintessential enemies of Inodoro. They move around as a flock, teasing and making fun of him. While they generate various problems and harm, sometimes they help him, making the gaucho a bit confused. From among the flock of parrots, Lorenzo stands out.
These are wild Indians (natives) that from time to time visit Inodoro's house, either asking for advice or threatening him. Their leader is Chief Crybaby (in Argentine Spanish as Lloriqueo).
A talking vegetarian pig, he believes that he is a sex symbol, as he is the only male among several female pigs. He won 1st place in a local fair, and thinks that he is a philosopher and an intellectual.
He is the bravest gaucho in the area. On one occasion he fought with Inodoro Pereyra because he offended Eulogia, Inodoro's wife.