Letter from Spain

For this new issue of “Letter from” column, we asked toonpool.com artist Mortimer from Spain about his life and begged for some photographs of his working place and the region he lives in, La Mancha.

Please click on the images to enlarge.
The interview you find below the picture gallery.

 


 

01. Which movie/TV character you see yourself as and why?

Well, I never identified myself with those heroes-superheroes-antiheroes and their daring lives fraught with danger and emotions, too much stress…Who on earth lives like that in the real world?

Of course I would appreciate it if I slightly resembled the great Totoro or Ponyo or one of those Forest Spirits appearing in the movies by the great Miyazaki. I like that kind of character which is aloof from human morality, where nothing is good or bad in itself, where everything is small and big at the same time; they exist just like mother nature. They are little pagans who incarnate the rebirth of the savage „rewild“ and many other sentiments which the human being forgot about a long time ago, one last opportunity for humanity.

They are the primary harbingers of a new manner of understanding the relation between man and the planet, and with regard to this huge task, I like the idea that I have to put in my little grain of sand,too.

 

02. What are your New Year’s resolutions?

To keep on trying…which it not little. Trying not to lose ilusion and hope in this black future we’re bound to experience. Paraphrasing the great Robert Crumb: Keep on Trucking!

 

03. What bores you the most?

I’m bored with the discinlination to progress, the passivity of the society in view of the injustice and inequality. The arrogance and malice inherent to power make me despair.

And I’m terrified to live on a planet ruled by ignorance and the egoism of the Great System which is devouring us little by little without any prospect of us being able to or rather wanting to do something in order to avoid this process.

 

04. Do you like your place or would you like to live somewhere else?

You are in many respects a reflection or product of the place where you live, with all its defects and virtues. Like a huge tree, firmly fixed to the soil with its roots to nurture it. No one can know himself without knowing his soil, no one can love himself without loving his soil and no one can hate himself without hating his soil.

 

If I had been born somewhere else, I wouldn’t be me. Therefore I’ve learned to cherish and enjoy this place. The landscape, the silence, the sunsets, the flatness and the holm oaks are the great gifts of La Mancha which I wouldn’t change for anything in this world.

 

05. What are you able to do that Superman can’t do?

I can eat Kriptonyte, join an anti-system group, dine with my family on Sundays, crap on the flag of the United States, I suppose a  lot of things, huh?

 

06. If you were sleep walking one night, where would you probably wake up the next day?

I would probably not go very far, I remember that one time as a child I woke up totally disoriented under the living room table and I was quite frightened, I much rather travel dreaming, that’s safer.

 

07. What would you wear to be kicked out from a black tie cocktail party?

A white tie? I prefer to avoid parties where I’m not well received, a penguin party would probably be a good example.

 

08. Tell me the biggest prank you did on a friend.

The biggest prank I did on a friend was convincing him of precisely translating all of my cartoons and comics to English – I have a slight problem in the language department-, I hope the effort and inconveniences will someday come to fruition and compensate for the work.

 

09. How to ruin your vacation?

The vacation is irretrievably ruined the moment someone begins to work.

 

10. If I gave you a giraffe, where would you hide it?

It would definitely be far away from man, and quite possibly in company with many other giraffes.

 

11. What do you do when you see the glass half empty!

Finish it and serve me another one.

 


 

 

 

Credits to Nicoleta Ionescu for talking with Mortimer

© toonpool.com
 

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4 Responses to “Letter from Spain”

  1. Alex Falcó says:

    Nice interview! I want a beer now!!!!!!

  2. Alex Falcó says:

    Cool pics as wll. Another beer!!!

  3. rafa says:

    felicitaciones*****a mi tambien me dio ganas de una caña

  4. Mi sección favorita de toonpool.
    Entretenida la entrevista.
    Es interesante conocer un poco más los pensamientos de los dibujantes como también es muy bueno conocer el lugar donde viven para poder comprender sus trabajos un poco más.
    Felicitaciones.

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