''Mort & Phil'' () is a
Spanish comic series, published in more than two dozen languages. It appeared for the first time in 1958 in the children's comic-book magazine drawn by
Francisco Ibáñez. The series features Mort (), the tall, bald master of disguise named after
mortadella
Mortadella () is a large made of finely hashed or ground cured pork, which incorporates at least 15% small cubes of pork fat (principally the hard fat from the neck of the pig). It is traditionally flavoured with Black pepper, peppercorns, bu ...
sausage, and his bossy partner, the shorter, pudgier Phil () Pi, named after
fillet
Fillet may refer to:
*Annulet (architecture), part of a column capital, also called a fillet
*Fillet (aircraft), a fairing smoothing the airflow at a joint between two components
*Fillet (clothing), a headband
*Fillet (heraldry), diminutive of the ...
. Initially, they were private
detective
A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...
s operating as , but now both serve as
secret agent
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ''e ...
s in the T.I.A. (a spoof on
CIA), the (Aeroterrestrial Investigation Technicians). is the Spanish word for "aunt".
The series frequently uses
slapstick
Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as ...
humour whereby the characters constantly suffer mishaps - such as falls from heights, explosions, and being crushed by heavy objects. Thanks to
cartoon physics, the effects rarely last more than one panel.
Overview
Mort and Phil are a pair of idiots, and no matter what kind of mission they are assigned they always manage to get it wrong. The results are almost invariably extremely violent, and most often directed towards Phil. At the T.I.A. (Spanish for "aunt", a parody of the
CIA), which combats "enemy organisations" like ("frog") or ("grandmother"), they interact with their boss, the bad-tempered ''Superintendente Vicente''; with ''Professor Bacterio'', a black-bearded, disastrous scientist parodying James Bond's
Q; and with the fat, blonde secretary ''Ofelia'', a parody of
Moneypenny, whose attempts at seducing Mort or Phil always fail.
Outside Spain, the series is especially popular in Germany as ''Clever & Smart''. After the 1980s, the albums have featured current news, like computer sabotage, the
AVE
is a Latin word, used by the Roman Empire, Romans as a salutation (greeting), salutation and greeting, meaning 'wikt:hail, hail'. It is the singular imperative mood, imperative form of the verb , which meant 'Well-being, to be well'; thus on ...
,
Islamic terrorism
Islamic terrorism (also known as Islamist terrorism, radical Islamic terrorism, or jihadist terrorism) refers to terrorist acts carried out by fundamentalist militant Islamists and Islamic extremists.
Since at least the 1990s, Islami ...
,
Spanish and
European politics, and specials for the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
and the football
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
.
Ibáñez liked to introduce whimsies unrelated to the action, especially in front covers. Examples have included a water tap sprouting from a tree, two mice chatting, and a vase containing a foot or an eggplant. In the final page of the album (1993), featured a New York scene with an aeroplane crashing into the
World Trade Center. This attracted attention after the
9/11 attacks of 2001.
Prior to his death in 2023, Ibáñez would issue several albums a year. One animated series and some animated films were also produced. There are two live-action movies based on the series, one of them made in 2003 in Spain titled (''Mort & Phil: The Big Adventure''). A second movie was released in 2008, (''Mort & Phil. Mission: Save Earth''), marking the 50th
anniversary
An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded.
Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the List of national independence days, date of independen ...
of the series.
Characters
Mort (Mortadelo)
Mort is a bald detective with pebble glasses and a long nose who usually wears a black
frock coat
A frock coat is a formal wear, formal men's coat (clothing), coat characterised by a knee-length skirt cut all around the base just above the knee, popular during the Victorian era, Victorian and Edwardian era, Edwardian periods (1830s–1910s). ...
. He is always fighting with Phil, his partner and boss, mostly because he tends to mess things up, usually to Phil's discomfort: his profound lack of skills to make his disguises believable and common sense have often made him a danger to everyone around him. His favourite hobby is wearing all sorts of (sometimes outrageous) disguises - professional and historical clothes and gear, animals, inanimate objects, even small-sized vehicles like miniature
blimp
A non-rigid airship, commonly called a blimp (Help:IPA/English, /blɪmp/), is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid airship, semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on th ...
s and
moped
A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. Historically, the term exclusively meant a similar vehicle with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle eng ...
s - which he mostly dons for special tasks or when he is on the run from Phil or his boss, and which all include his signature collar which obscures part of his mouth. He holds a grudge against Bacterio because he used to have lush hair until Bacterio offered him a supposed medicine against baldness, which actually made his hair fall out. His real name, ''Mortadelo'', comes from , a kind of sausage.
Phil Pi ()/
Mort's partner and boss. He only has two hairs on his head and wears a white shirt with a black bowtie and red trousers. He usually insults Mort because Mort is quite clumsy, but is often at the receiving end of any mishaps which come their way, mostly in the shape of their outraged boss. Mortadelo habitually addresses him as (Spanish for "chief" or "boss"). He's also incredibly accident-prone, capable of being injured in comical and painful ways.
As the leader of the two-man team, Phil is an educated man and an expert in a variety of fields. In the movies, however, Filemón is shown to be just as ditzy as Mortadelo (especially in the animated movie ''
Mortadelo and Filemon: Mission Implausible'').
Vicente /
Called for short or just , Vicente is Mort and Phil's boss. While he, as the head of the organisation, lives in splendour, indulging himself in expensive beverages and
Cuban cigars, he keeps the T.I.A.'s operatives on an extremely tight budget. Vicente is bald and has a dense moustache, which makes him the object of mocking abuse by his underlings as a human
walrus
The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped marine mammal with discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only extant species in the family Odobeni ...
. He is very short-tempered and usually gets angry with Mort and Phil because they fail in their missions, making a mess of everything - occasionally at the expense of his own possessions. Just as often, however, he ends up as the one being chased by his underlings, as his frequently short-sighted assignments, and his habitual failure to properly introduce them, cause them no end of grief.
Professor Bacterio
The T.I.A.'s black-bearded scientist and chief inventor. Mort blames him for his baldness (he had tried a new hair-strengthening concoction on Mort's then-lush mane, which made the hair fall out instead) and therefore the doctor is the unwilling prime recipient of Mort's practical jokes and revenge acts. His inventions, which are intended to assist Mort and Phil in their assignments, often fail quite spectacularly, mostly because they either achieve the opposite of what they are supposed to do, or work perfectly but fail at the most inconvenient moment. His name comes from
bacteria
Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...
.
Ofelia
The fat and vain secretary of Superintendente Vicente. She is still single and would like to become involved with someone (usually with Mort), but so far her attempts have been in vain. She is quite touchy about her lack of luck with a relationship and being called fat; she reacts with corresponding violence when either of topics are brought up; and with her considerable weight, this is nothing to be ignored. She was the first female character created for the series.
Irma
The bombshell secretary of El Súper. Both Mort and Phil have a huge crush on her (much to Ofelia's chagrin), but she is not interested. This character disappeared from the series after only 24 volumes.
F. Ibañez
The creator of the series himself has a number of
cameo appearance
A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...
s, either by name or in cartoon form. Mostly he is portrayed as the bald and bespectacled "Artist of the Nation", in perhaps the same league as
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
. On several occasions, the series' characters often long to be "as rich as Ibáñez".
Rompetechos
Rompetechos is a small man in a black suit, with an oversized head, receding black hair and a small moustache. He is always put in as a comic relief character; his short-sightedness causes him to react in ways which causes some inconvenience to Mort and Phil if they happen to cross his path. He has his own comic series (little known outside Spain) and makes cameo appearances in Ibañez's other works.
The Minister
Vicente's boss (and the only person who he ever shows deference to). His appearance changes constantly throughout the series. In recent appearances has been replaced by a caricature of the
President of the Government of Spain at the time.
Señora Superintendente
The wife of Vicente (also with an ever-changing face). She is in charge of their household.
Bestiájez
The giant agent of the T.I.A. He usually has to hunt down Mort and Phil because they do not want to do their missions. A rather minor character, his face has changed many times in the past. Many other agents appear, most of them having descriptive surnames ending in "
-ez" ("Bestiájez" comes from "bestia", beast/brute).
Tete Cohete
Tete Cohete (lit. "''Tete Rocket''") is a preteen boy who is an enthusiastic amateur mechanic and inventor. He habitually tinkers with mechanical devices, turning many of them into rocket-powered (hence his name) or hazardous contraptions, and because he neglects to warn other people about his modifications, often causes a lot of grief to any adults in his vicinity.
Tete Cohete was the main protagonist for another Ibáñez comic series which ran from 1981 to 1986. He makes infrequent cameos in other Ibáñez titles, particularly ''Mortadelo y Filemón'' and ''
El botones Sacarino''.
Parody characters
There are also parodies of numerous celebrities and political personalities such as
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
,
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López (; born 25 February 1953) is a Spanish politician who was the prime minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He led the People's Party (Spain), People's Party (PP), the dominant centre-right political party in Spai ...
or (in three albums in 2017)
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
.
Albums
In order of publication:
Between 1969 and 1971
*
El sulfato atómico
*
Contra el "gang" del Chicharrón
*
Safari callejero
*
Valor y... ¡al toro!
*
El caso del bacalao
*
Chapeau el "esmirriau"
*
La máquina del cambiazo
*
La caja de los diez cerrojos
*
¡Magín "el mago"!
*
¡A la caza del cuadro!
Between 1972 and 1974
*
Los inventos del profesor Bacterio
*
Gatolandia 76
*
Operación: ¡Bomba!
*
Los diamantes de la gran duquesa
*
El otro "yo" del profesor Bacterio
*
Los monstruos
*
El elixir de la vida
*
El circo
*
El antídoto
*
Los invasores
*
Los cacharros majaretas
*
¡A las armas!
*
El plano de Alí-Gusa-No
Between 1975 and 1976
*
¡Pánico en el zoo!
*
Concurso-oposición
*
Los mercenarios
*
Objetivo: eliminar al Rana
*
Misión de perros
*
Los secuestradores
*
La gallina de los huevos de oro
*
El caso del calcetín
Between 1977 and 1979
*
El brujo
*
¡Soborno!
*
Los guardaespaldas
*
Mundial 78
*
Los gamberros
*
Contrabando
*
La máquina de copiar gente
*
Los "bomberos"
*
El transformador metabólico
*
¡A por el niño!
*
La gente de Vicente
*
Secuestro aéreo
Between 1980 and 1981
*
Olimpiada 1980
*
La elasticina
*
Kilociclos asesinos
*
Ladrones de coches
*
Lo que el viento se dejó
*
La brigada bichera
*
Tete Cohete
*
En marcha el mundial 82
*
El caso de los señores pequeñitos
Between 1982 and 1983
*
En Alemania
*
Queda inaugurado el mundial 82
*
El balón catastrófico
*
Billy "El Horrendo"
*
¡Hay un traidor en la T.I.A.!
*
El bacilón
*
El ascenso
Between 1984 and 1985
*
La estatua de la libertad
*
Testigo de cargo
*
Los Ángeles 84
*
El cacao espacial
*
El preboste de seguridad
*
El cochecito leré
Between 1986 and 1987
*
¡Terroristas!
*
El huerto siniestro
*
El estropicio metereológico
*
Los que volvieron de "allá"
*
Seúl 88
Between 1988 and 1989
*
La perra de las galaxias
*
Los sobrinetes
*
Los superpoderes
*
Las tacillas volantes
*
La cochinadita nuclear
*
Armas con bicho
*
La maldición gitana
*
El candidato
*
La Gomeztroika
*
El ansia de poder
*
¡...Va la T.I.A. y se pone al día!
Between 1990 and 1992
*
El profeta Jeremías
*
El premio No-Vel
*
El rescate botarate
*
El gran sarao
*
Los espantajomanes
*
El inspector general
*
El atasco de incluencias
*
La crisis del golfo
*
Barcelona 92
*
El caso del señor-probeta
*
La tergiversicina
*
Las embajadas chifladas
*
El racista
*
El quinto centenario
*
El S.O.E.
*
El 35 aniversario
Between 1993 and 1994
*
El señor todoquisque
*
Maastricht ¡...Jesús!
*
El nuevo "cate"
*
Robots bestiajos
*
Clínicas antibirria
*
Dinosaurios
*
La ruta del yerbajo
*
Mundial 94
*
El pinchazo telefónico
*
¡Pesadillaaa...!
*
Corrupción a mogollón
Between 1995 and 1996
*
¡Timazo al canto!
*
Animalada
*
20.000 leguas de viaje sibilino
*
¡Silencio, se rueda!
*
El disfraz, cosa falaz...
*
La prensa cardiovascular
*
El jurado popular
*
El ángel de la guarda
*
Atlanta 96
*
100 años de cómic
*
Expediente J
*
El trastomóvil
Between 1997 and 1998
*
¡Desastre!
*
Bye bye, Hong-Kong!
*
Esos kilitos malditos
*
Los verdes
*
Las vacas chaladas
*
Mundial 98
*
La banda de los guiris
*
Su vida privada
*
¡Deportes de espanto!
*
El espeluznante doctor Bíchez
Between 1999 and 2000
*
El óscar del moro
*
La maldita maquinita
*
El tirano
*
La M.I.E.R.
*
Impeachment!
*
De los ochenta p´arriba...
*
Siglo XX, ¡qué progreso!
*
Sydney 2000
*
La vuelta
*
La sirenita
*
Fórmula uno
Between 2001 and 2003
*
La rehabilitación esa
*
Los vikingos
*
¡Llegó el euro!
*
El ordenador... ¡qué horror!
*
¡Okupas!
*
Mundial 2002
*
¡Misión triunfo!
*
¡El estrellato!
*
¡Mascotas!
*
Parque de atracciones
*
El UVA (Ultraloca Velocidad Automotora)
Between 2004 and 2008
*
¡Rapto tremendo!
*
Atenas 2004
*
El señor de los ladrillos
*
Mortadelo de la Mancha
*
Prohibido fumar
*
¡El carnet al punto!
*
El kamikaze Regúlez
*
Mundial 2006
*
¡Bajo el bramido del trueno!
*
El dopaje...¡qué potaje!
*
Euro Basket 2007
*
¡...Y van 50 tacos!
*
¡Venganza cincuentona!
*
¡El dos de mayo!
*
Pekín 2008
*
Gasolina... ¡la ruina!
Between 2009 and 2017
*
¡En la Luna!
*
¡Por Isis, llegó la crisis!
*
Nuestro antepasado, El Mico
*
La gripe "U"
*
Mundial 2010
*
Marrullería en la Alcaldía
*
Chernobil... ¡Qué cuchitril!
*
¡A reciclar se ha dicho!
*
Jubilación... ¡a los noventa!
*
La bombilla... ¡chao, chiquilla!
*
Londres 2012
*
¡Espías!
*
El coche eléctrico
*
¡Brommm!
*
La litrona...¡vaya mona!
*
Mundial 2014
*
¡Tijeretazo!
*
Contra Jimmy el Cachondo
*
El Tesorero
*
¡Elecciones!
*
Río 2016
*
¡El capo se escapa!
*
Sueldecitos más bien bajitos
*
Drones Matones
*
¡Miseria, La Bacteria!
*
El 60 Aniversario
Between 2018 and 2020
*
Mundial 2018
*
Por el Olimpo ese
*
Urgencias del Hospital... ¡Fatal!
*
Da Vinci, el Pintamona... Lisa
*
Mundial de Baloncesto 2019
*
¡Felices Fiestaaas!
*
Tokio 2020
*
Misterio en el Hipermercado
Animated series
There was an animated series in 1994 titled ''
Mortadelo y Filemón
''Mort & Phil'' () is a Spanish comics, Spanish comic series, published in more than two dozen languages. It appeared for the first time in 1958 in the children's comic-book magazine drawn by Francisco Ibáñez Talavera, Francisco Ibáñez. Th ...
'' with Spanish voice actors. It also had an English dub that only released in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
Film adaptations
Between 1965 and 1970, Rafael Vara directed 16 short animated films which were united in two films (''
Festival de Mortadelo y Filemón'' and ''
Segundo festival de Mortadelo y Filemón''). In 1970, he made a proper feature film, ''
El armario del tiempo''.
There are two
live action
Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...
films based on the comic: ''
Mortadelo & Filemon: The Big Adventure'' by
Javier Fesser (2003) and ''
Mort & Phil. Mission: Save Earth'' by Miguel Bardem (2008).
Javier Fesser directed the 3D animated film ''
Mortadelo and Filemon: Mission Implausible'' (2014).
Video game adaptation
A video game based on ''Mort & Phil'', entitled ''El sulfato atómico'',
was developed by the Spanish company
Alcachofa Soft, creator of ''
Drascula: The Vampire Strikes Back''. It sold above 40,000 units.
According to its lead designer, it was developed on a small budget.
In other languages
*
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...
: ''Rommel en Drommel''
*
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
: ''شاطر و ماكر'' (''Smart and Cunning'')
*
Catalan: ''Mortadel·lo i Filemó''
*
Chinese: ''特工二人组''
*
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
: ''Clever & Smart''
*
Danish: ''Flip og Flop''
*
Dutch: ''Paling en Ko''
*
French: ''Mortadel et Filémon'' (formerly also ''Futt et Fil'')
*
Galician: ''Mortadelo e Filemón''
*
German: ''Clever & Smart'' (formerly also ''Flip & Flap'')
*
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
: ''Αντιρίξ και Συμφωνίξ'' (Antirix kai Symfonix; Antirix "He who disagrees", Symfonix "He who agrees")
*
Hungarian: ''Mortadelo és Filemón''
*
Italian: ''Mortadello e Polpetta''
*
Japanese: ''モートとフィル''
*
Norwegian: ''Flipp og Flopp'' (earliest pocket editions), ''Clever & Smart''
*
Polish: ''Mortadelo i Filemon''
*
Portuguese: ''Mortadelo e Salaminho'' (Brazil), ''Mortadela e Salamão'' (Portugal)
*
Romanian: ''Mortadelo și Filemon''
*
Russian: ''Морт и Фил (Мортадело и Филемон)'' (Mort i Fil (Mortadelo i Filemon))
*
Slovak: ''Clever & Smart''
*
Slovene: ''Mortadelc pa File''
*
Swedish: ''Flink & Fummel''
*
Turkish: ''Dörtgöz ile Dazlak''
*
Finnish: ''Älli ja Tälli'' (earlier ''Nopsa ja Näpsä'')
*
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...
: ''Zriki Švargla i Šule Globus''
See also
*
Spanish comics
Spanish comics are the comics of Spain. Comics in Spain are usually called ''historietas'' or ''cómics'', with ''tebeos'' primarily denoting the magazines containing the medium. ''Tebeo'' is a phonetic adaptation of ''TBO'', a long-running (1 ...
*''
Spy vs. Spy''
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mort and Phil
1958 comics debuts
Adventure comics
Humor comics
Fictional Spanish people
Comics adapted into television series
Comics adapted into video games
Comics by Francisco Ibáñez Talavera
Slapstick comedy