''El Negro Blanco'' is an Argentine

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

that was published by the ''Clarín'' newspaper from 1987 to 1994. It was written by

Carlos Trillo Carlos Trillo (May 1, 1943 – May 8, 2011) was an Argentine comic book writer, best known for writing the '' Cybersix'' comics. Biography Born in Buenos Aires, Trillo began a prolific career as writer at the age of 20, penning his first story fo ...

, and drawn by

Ernesto García Seijas Ernesto Rudesindo García Seijas (1 June 1941 – 28 March 2023) was an Argentine comics artist. Biography García Seijas was born in Ramos Mejía, and at age 17 he made his debut in comics by providing art for the series ''Bill y Boss'', publis ...

. The words "negro" and "blanco" mean

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

and

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

in Spanish, but Blanco is the family name of the main character and "Negro" is a common Argentinian nickname.

Premise

Same as with the former comic strip

El Loco Chávez EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

that this one replaced, the main character is a fictional journalist, who works in a fictional depiction of the Clarín newspaper that published it. Most story arcs were about both some weird news report assigned to him, or trivial ones that develop an unexpected twist, and a romantic affair. The Negro Blanco develops relations with many different women, but Chispa Valdéz and Flopi Bach are recurring ones.

Publication

''El Negro Blanco'' was published by the ''Clarín newspaper'' from 1987 to 1994. It replaced ''

'' at the page devoted to comic strips, being replaced at its end by El Nene Montanaro. The newspaper added extra stories at the Sunday magazine on some occasions. Ivrea republished the whole run of the comic strip in 10 comic books in

prestige format American comic book tropes are common elements and literary devices related to American comic books. Continuity Comics continuity almost-always refers to the existence and use of a shared universe, although any comic can have internal continui ...

in 2006, and El Globo Editor published a specific story arc in 1993. The character Carlos Marcucci is freely based on a real man with that name, friend of the writer Carlos Trillo. According to Marcucci,

accurately portrayed him as an ugly man, who is nevertheless successful with women (however, the comic strip took that to parodic levels). To design the character of Flopi Bach, Seijas modeled her after

Araceli González Araceli Edith González (; born June 19, 1967) is an Argentine actress, fashion model and TV host. Biography González was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She began performing arts at a young age after winning a dance tournament at the theater ...

, then an unknown model hired for that work. The character was very successful, and both González and the character appeared at a 1991 issue of the Argentine edition of the'' Playboy ''magazine. It was the first time that ''Playboy ''published erotic images of a fictional character instead of photos of real people.Carlos Trillo y Ernesto García Seijas
Seijas took the character for spin-off series, after the end of the comic strip. Trillo and Seijas worked as well in the "Sangre de brujas" ( es, Blood of witches) comic book, another spin-off with the character Agatha.

Characters

* Roberto "Negro" Blanco: It's the main character of the comic strip. He is a journalist of the Clarín newspaper, a

metafiction Metafiction is a form of fiction which emphasises its own narrative structure in a way that continually reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story ...

al reference to the real newspaper that published the comic strip. * Chispa Valdéz: She's the main girlfriend of the Negro. They met again after several years without contact in the beginning of the comic strip. She is an architect, and finally gets married with someone else. * Flopi Bach: She is the second girlfriend of the Negro, introduced some time afterwards. Negro would move from one to the other, in the different story arcs. She began as a novice reporter for the newspaper, but was hired later by a sensationalist news program. Negro left her, and she swore vengeance against him. * Carlos Marcucci: A friend of the Negro Blanco, troubled because all women try to seduce him. * Aníbal: The Negro's boss at Clarín newspaper. * Susana: Susana is a fellow reporter of the newspaper. She likes the Negro Blanco, but he never got interested in her. * Agatha: Agatha is a witch that influences the other's lives. She appeared in the first story arcs. * Miguel: Miguel is yet another friend of Negro. * Melisa Caramelo: A psychiatrist, romantically interested in Aníbal. * Roberto Blanco sr.: The Negro's father. * Badaracco: Flopi's boss at the news program. * Cococha Valdivia: Cococha Valdivia is a character from the TV channel, interested in gossip, both of close and famous people. The graphic design is similar to that of

Olive Oyl Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar in 1919 for his comic strip ''Thimble Theatre''. The strip was later renamed ''Popeye'' after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however, Olive Oyl was a ...

, and the name is also similar (Olive Oyl has been translated to Spanish audiences as "Olivia"). * The TV channel director: The TV channel is directed by a megalomaniac man, without a defined name across the stories. Other characters usually talk about him using grandiloquent names such as "the King of Kings", "Raging Zeus", "The Great Manitu", etc.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Negro Blanco, El 1987 establishments in Argentina 1994 disestablishments in Argentina 1987 comics debuts 1994 comics endings Argentine comic strips Humor comics Erotic comics Fictional reporters and correspondents Fictional Argentine people