''Ot el bruixot'' (,

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

: Ot the

Warlock A warlock is a male practitioner of witchcraft. Etymology and terminology The most commonly accepted etymology derives ''warlock'' from the Old English '' wǣrloga'', which meant "breaker of oaths" or "deceiver" and was given special applicatio ...

) is a

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 ...

created by

Picanyol Josep Lluís Martínez i Picañol (16 March 1948 – 18 March 2021), known by the pen name Picanyol , was a Spanish Autodidacticism, self-taught Comics, comic artist. His best known creation is the warlock Ot el bruixot. Career Picanyol's pr ...

in 1971 and is his most popular. It typically includes a one to five panels and a simple joke based on Ot's use of magic. Text only appears when the strip's characters can read it, or as an

onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...

, such as to show a spell has been cast.

Plot and characters

The main character is Ot, a wizard dressed in black, who fixes problems with his magic. Sometimes, his magic serves to help others, but it is often used instead to prank other people, especially characters who are rich, strong, or powerful. Other recurring characters include: * The owl: typically an observer of the comic's goings-on, but sometimes the butt of Ot's pranks. * Berta: Ot's wife, she is egocentric and temperamental and is always demanding he do things for her. She often ends up chasing him with a broom to hit him over the head with. She has no powers. * A policeman: he often chases Ot because of his tricks, but never catches him. * The thief: he often tries to steal something from Ot's house or from another place, but Ot or his wife are always there to stop him. * The castaway: he is always on a tiny island wishing for something, which Ot gives him as he flies by on his broom. Many of the characters dress in an antiquated manner, but references to the modern world often appear. These do not have to be considered as anachronisms if one considers that Ot has the ability to time travel.

History

The character Ot appeared for the first time in the double number 215/216 of ''Cavall Fort'', a

-language children's magazine, in 1971. The strip appeared consistently in the magazine until Picanyol's retirement. In celebration of the 40-year anniversary of the character in 2009, Norma Editorial published the first of three volumes of the strip's comics as a collection. The publishers continued to publish volumes through 2011, with the intention of collecting all the comic strips of Ot. In 2014, after 42 years, Picanyol decided to retire from drawing ''Ot el bruixot''.

The stories of Ot el bruixot

Other stories featuring Ot include a number of collections published by the Editorial Pirene in both Catalan and Spanish, as well as a collection called ''Ot, el bruixot'' published by the Editorial La Galera. Edicions Baula has also published non-comedic children's stories in Catalan, with Ot as the protagonist : :* ''La capa màgica de l'Ot'' ("Ot's Magic Cape"); :* ''L'Ot i la pluja'' ("Ot and the Rain"); :* ''L'Ot llegeix un conte'' ("Ot Reads a Story"); :* ''El drac de l'Ot'' ("Ot's Dragon"); :* ''L'Ot fa una broma'' ("Ot Makes a Joke"); :* ''El borinot'' ("The Bumblebee").

Other adaptations

Ot has been adapted into a puppet, and was also the protagonist of "Otijocs", a computer game produced by Multimedia Barcelona. In the municipality of Moià, the hometown of Picanyol, there is a statue of Ot.

References

{{Reflist 1971 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1971 Comics characters who use magic Humor comics Male characters in comics Fictional wizards Comics adapted into video games Spanish comics titles Spanish comic strips