''Mort Cinder'' is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

comic book horror-

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

series featuring an

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

character, created in 1962 by writer

Héctor Germán Oesterheld Héctor Germán Oesterheld, also known as his common abbreviation HGO (born July 23, 1919; disappeared and presumed dead 1977), was an Argentine journalist and writer of graphic novels and comics. He has come to be celebrated as a master in his ...

and artist

Alberto Breccia Alberto Breccia (April 15, 1919 – November 10, 1993) was an Uruguayan-born Argentine artist and cartoonist. A gifted penciller and inker, Breccia is one of the most celebrated and famous comics/ Historieta creators in the world, and specially p ...

. It is widely considered as one of the best comic strips ever produced in Argentina.

Publication history

The character Mort Cinder appeared for the first time on August 17, 1962, in Nº 718 the Argentinian magazine '' Misterix'', although the series previously made its debut on July 20, 1962, in the prologue story ''Ezra Winston el anticuario'' featuring only the antiques dealer Ezra Winston. The ''Mort Cinder'' series run ended in N° 798 ''Misterix'', on February 28, 1964. It has been translated and published in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and an English translation was published by Fantagraphics Books in 2018. ort Cinder at comics.org https://www.comics.org/series/164769//ref>

Synopsis

Cinder is an enigmatic man that comes back from the grave each time he dies. In his very first appearance, Cinder was presented as an assassin who has just been executed. Some mysterious lead-eyed men are awaiting his resurrection from the grave, planning to use his brain for a horrifying experiment. Winston, called by supernatural messages, comes to save him. Cinder has lived since ancient times, and took part in many famous historical episodes including the building of the

Tower of Babel The Tower of Babel ( he, , ''Mīgdal Bāḇel'') narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages. According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language and mi ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the

Battle of Thermopylae The Battle of Thermopylae ( ; grc, Μάχη τῶν Θερμοπυλῶν, label=Greek, ) was fought in 480 BC between the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Xerxes I and an alliance of Greek city-states led by Sparta under Leonidas I. Lasting o ...

. His origin, as well as his unearthly skills, were never explained by the authors. He has been described as "an unquiet conscience of humanity, a witness, sometimes sorrowfully torpid, of the great and small events of the Man, though often a rebellious one who never surrendered to those trying to silence him" (Alessio Lega).

Bibliography

*0. ''Ezra Winston, el antiquario'' (1962) Prologue *1. ''Los ojos de plomo'' (1962) *2. ''La madre de Charlie'' (1962) *3. ''La torre de Babel'' (1962–63) *4. ''En la penitenciaria: Marlin'' *5. ''En la penitenciaria: El Frate'' (1963) *6. ''Sacrificio a la luna (El vitral)'' (1963) *7. ''La goleta de los esclavos'' (1963) *8. ''La tumba de Lisis'' (1963) *9. ''La batalla de las Termopilas'' (1963–64)

Inspiration

Cinder's face is the one of Breccia's friend and assistant, Horacio Lalia, while that of Ezra Winston is actually Alberto Breccia's own as an old man.

References

''Mort Cinder'' dossier
Guía Del Cómic

FFF Footnotes

External links

Historieteca

Tebeosfera {{in lang, es Argentine comics titles Argentine comic strips 1962 comics debuts Horror comics Science fiction comics Historical comics Comics about time travel Fictional undead Comics characters introduced in 1962 Comics characters with accelerated healing Fictional Argentine people Male characters in comics Comics by Héctor Germán Oesterheld