Pumby #190
Pumby #190 is a representative installment of what became the most widely read children's comics magazine in post-war Spain — a publication that scholars and historians of the medium have identified as the standard-bearer of the 'Valencian school' of humor comics. Appearing in 1961, it belongs to the run's first creative peak, when the weekly rhythm established by José Sanchis and a rotating stable of contributors had fully consolidated an anthropomorphic-animal universe that critics have compared, in its imaginative scope and tonal consistency, to Carl Barks's Disney work in the United States. The roster of recurring characters preserved in this issue — from the title cat Pumby to ensemble regulars like Cangurito, Peluca, Caperucita Encarnada, Barbudín, Fu-Chinín, and Payasete — represents the full breadth of storytelling voices that would sustain the magazine through 1,204 issues over nearly three decades, and the breadth of artistic talent Editorial Valenciana had assembled under one roof. The magazine had already won Spain's National Children's Magazine Award and would go on to win it twice more, cementing the cultural prestige of this era of publication.
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Pumby the magazine launched in April 1955, built around the anthropomorphic cat character José Sanchis Grau had originated for the sister title Jaimito in 1954. Sanchis, born in Valencia in 1932, served as both writer and principal artist, developing a storytelling language rooted in unbounded fantasy — time travel, alien worlds, dream logic — that set the magazine apart from the more grounded slapstick of rivals. By the time issue #190 appeared in 1961, the magazine was a biweekly, stapled cuaderno measuring 26.5×18.5 cm with 20 pages printed in a mix of full color and bicolor, under the editorial direction of Valencia-based publisher Editorial Valenciana; adjacent issues from the same production window (e.g., #177 and #199) are documented in Tebeosfera as carrying the same physical specifications and crediting J. Sanchis as writer/artist alongside the cartoonist Rojas. The spin-off title Super Pumby, which first ran the superhero variant of the character powered by orange juice, had already launched in 1959 and was running concurrently, meaning issue #190 lands in a period of maximum creative and commercial expansion for the franchise.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Pumby was created by José Sanchis Grau, born 1932 in Valencia; he served as both writer and primary artist throughout the magazine's run.
- The magazine ran from April 1955 to November 1984 for a total of 1,204 regular issues, making it one of the longest-running children's comics magazines in Spanish publishing history.
- Issue #190 (1961) falls in the biweekly, 20-page, 26.5×18.5 cm cuaderno format used for issues approximately #35–437, printed with a color cover, color interior sections, and bicolor interior sections.
- The 15 characters catalogued in this issue — including Pumby, Cangurito, Peluca, Barbudín, Caperucita Encarnada, Fu-Chinín, Payasete, Becerrín, Bocazas, Blanquita, Bruno, Cangurito, Centaurito, El Lobo, Monucho, and Tadeo — reflect the multi-strip anthology structure that defined the magazine, with each strip typically handled by a different artist from Valenciana's stable.
- Cangurito, one of the ensemble characters in this issue, was created by the artist Karpa, who took over the character from issue #20 of the series; Bocazas is documented as Cangurito's recurring antagonist in that strip.
- Caperucita Encarnada (a parodic 'Red Riding Hood' strip) and Barbudín (a corsair comedy drawn by Grema) are among the strips confirmed by multiple sources as long-running anthology staples appearing across hundreds of issues.
- The magazine won Spain's National Children's Magazine Award in 1963, 1965, and 1975.
- After Editorial Valenciana closed in 1984, Sanchis had to litigate to recover authorship rights to Pumby; he did not fully obtain them until 1999, after which a Cartoon Productions animated series was produced crediting him as creator.
Cast · 15 characters
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