Superlópez


Superlópez is a Spanish comic book character created by Jan. Created in 1973, Superlópez is a parody of Superman. Born Jo-Con-Él on the planet Chitón much like Superman's home planet of Krypton, he leaves his planet when he enters a spaceship and presses a button, an accident that sends him to Earth. He was raised by adoptive parents in Barcelona and concealed himself under the identity of office-worker Juan López. He works with his girlfriend, the bad-tempered Luisa Lanas, the not-so-pally Jaime González Lidenbrock; and his demanding, unnamed boss.
This was revealed in the 8-page origin story in the first issue of his magazine. Other stories in the first issue reveal his "Fortress of Solitude", the "Villa Soledad" in the Arctic and have him fighting a rubber robot, the Galactic Gladiator, a sorceress from another dimension, La Incredible Maza, an atomic monster and a metal robot.
Other recurring characters include Inspector Hólmez, an excessively bureaucratic police officer who suspects everyone; Martha Hólmez, the Inspector's daughter, and computer geek Chico Humitsec.

Editorial career

Euredit (1973)

In 1973, cartoonist Juan López Fernández "Jan" was commissioned to produce a book of very short comic strips parodying Superman. Antonio Martín, then editorial director of the comic book area of the Barcelona publisher Euredit and responsible for the commission, had to convince Jan -who did not consider himself a comedian- to do the job, and he did it quickly, without much faith. The work was included in the collection Humor siglo XX, edicated to the satire of characters from comic books, literature and American cinema, such as King Kong, Tarzan or Frankenstein. The comics had to be silent, printed in black and white and in a 48-page landscape format, so, to overcome these creative restrictions, the author resorted to all kinds of graphic resources, such as thought snacks, kinetic signs or accentuation of expressions, with which he achieved great expressiveness in his drawings.

Jan conceived his parody of Superman in the manner of an ordinary Spaniard, "in the key of a tacky marriage" because it seemed to him to be the closest thing to the public at the time. This character, faced with the daily difficulties that he cannot solve and which frustrate him, adopts as an escape valve the tactic of imagining that he is a superhero. The jokes corresponding to this volume, traced with rotring lines on sheets of folio paper and with an extension of up to four vignettes, have a simple and expressive line drawing, and present -despite the limitations of the format and the fact that they maintain little connection or continuity between them- effect gags on Superman, rather "domestic" mute jokes, which have little to do with the character later developed in the Superlópez comics of Ediciones B.

Recurring villains

Recurring villains include the evil professor Escariano Avieso; Lady Araña ; the gangster Al Trapone ; and the mob boss Refuller D'Abastos.

El Supergrupo (The Supergroup)

In Issue No. 2 and 3, Superlópez served as a member of a group of superheroes, all of which were Jan's creations. These included El Mago ; Capitán Hispania ; Latas ; Bruto ; and la Chica Increíble. These spent more time fighting one another over the leadership of the Supergrupo than fighting evil. They also made a short appearance in issue 6 where instead of going after the outlawed Superlopez, they argue then fight each other. The Supergroup come back in book 63, where a scientist is altering reality. In book 69, the Supergrupo meet Los Ligiones Justicieros, DC's JLA, featuring parodies of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Aquaman.
Superlópez began his career as a half-page comic strip without text then whole page strips with text where things for López normally ended up badly, before expanding into full albums which were later put together into annuals holding a number of issues, with adventures involving supervillains and criminal organizations, later evolving into longer, more complex stories concerning social topics affecting contemporary Spain. Original writer Efepé left the character after the early issues and, from that point on, artist Jan took over the writing as well.

Other storylines

Juan travels around the world after stories with Luisa and Jaime and encounters lost races, treasures and so on. He also encountered assorted aliens, monsters, robots, mad scientists, wars, Aztec gods and even had a trip to Hell. The stories are full of gags with him burning his large nose whenever he uses heat vision, of him getting a bump on the head when Luisa hits him, of him hurting his fist when he hits a metal robot. As well as bees, odd-looking little yellow creatures feature in the background in some panels and are revealed as ectoplasms in the "Los Petisos Carambanales" story. He even becomes a popstar and meets the ghost of the Prado Museum. Nothing was too way out for the strips as the characters went from one crazy scenario to another.
Often Superlópez not only parodies Superman but also popular literature. This is the case in El Señor de los Chupetes or Al centro de la Tierra
From the 1990s Superlópez adventures take place in real scenarios that are drawn using a realistic style. Famous buildings and monuments in Barcelona are often portrayed in detail, as well as those in other cities of Catalonia, Europe or Japan. As an internal joke, Superlópez says once that his adventures are evolving into simple traveling guides.
Superlópez later often had science fiction stories like Tú, robot... where an intelligent robot is created which then travels the world, unintentionally doing good and bad as it seeks to find out what it means to be human. Confronting the robot in the icy wastes, like in the original Frankenstein story, Superlópez is not sure what humanity is either. In El virus Frankenstein a virus changes a young boy into a horrible monster while the El mundo de al lado features a door to another dimension where maybe based on a Little Prince story, the people are enslaved into pulling huge wagons around the planet and Elecciones en Kaxim feature him interfering in elections on a strange alien world. In book 62, Superlópez goes near a beam giant aliens use to cut planets up and his left arm is cut off at the elbow. It suddenly reattaches itself a few pages later and is normal again.
In book 64, "The Time Thief", Superlópez meets Doctor Who with his Tardis, the Daleks and the Cybermen. In book 66, the "super group" go to the Skroll planet and also borrowed some of the story line from Fantastic Four 24. The book deals with hospital overcrowding too.
Later Superlópez books leave the caricaturesque tone of his first adventures to deal with current social issues: illegal drug trade, smuggling, tax haven, gunrunning in Africa, dictatorships, or illegal immigration in Europe are some later themes. Book 69 deals with the illegally built Algarrobico hotel in Almeria, southern Spain. Book 70 deals with Muslim radicalisation of youngsters and extremism, a subject few others dare to touch.

Complete issues

  1. Aventuras de Superlópez
  2. El supergrupo
  3. ¡Todos contra uno, uno contra todos!
  4. Los alienígenas
  5. El señor de los chupetes
  6. La semana más larga...
  7. Los cabecicubos
  8. La caja de Pandora
  9. La gran superproducción
  10. Al centro de la Tierra
  11. Cachabolik Blues Rock y El fantasma del museo del Prado
  12. En el país de los juegos, el tuerto es el rey...
  13. El génesis de Superlópez
  14. El asombro del robot y Una vez, en una ciudad...
  15. Los petisos carambanales y otras petisoperías
  16. Los cerditos de Camprodón
  17. Periplo búlgaro and El tesoro del conde Arnau
  18. La banda del dragón despeinado and La bomba
  19. Hotel Pánico and La cosa del pantano, el flautista de Hamelín y otras soserías
  20. Un camello subió al tranvía en Grenoble y el tranvía le está mordiendo la pierna
  21. El tesoro de Ciuacoatl
  22. Los ladrones de ozono
  23. El castillo de arena
  24. La aventura está en la esquina
  25. Tyrannosaurus sect
  26. Los gemelos Superlópez
  27. La acera del tiempo
  28. El infierno
  29. Los gemelos Superlópez: Vamos a ver elefantes...
  30. Los cybernautas
  31. El supercrack
  32. Las minas del rey Soplomón
  33. 25 años de Superlópez
  34. Otra vez lady Araña
  35. La guerra de lady Araña
  36. Adiós lady Araña
  37. El dios del bit
  38. El caserón fantasma
  39. Nosotros los Papino
  40. El gran botellón
  41. El patio de tu casa es particular
  42. Monster chapapote
  43. Las montañas voladoras
  44. Tras la persiana...
  45. Gritad, gritad, malditos...
  46. La casa amarilla
  47. La feria de la muerte
  48. Politono Hamelín
  49. Hipotecarión
  50. Iba caminando...
  51. En busca del templo perdido...
  52. La brújula esdrújula
  53. Tú, robot...
  54. La biblioteca inexistente
  55. ¡A toda crisis!
  56. El virus Frankestein
  57. "El mundo de al lado"
  58. "Elecciones en Kaxim"
  59. "El Abejón Rey"
  60. "Asesinato en el Toral Express"
  61. "Asalto al museo"
  62. "Los recorta planetas"
  63. "Otra vez el Supergrupo"
  64. "El ladrón del tiempo"
  65. "El gran deshauciador"
  66. "El supergrupo y la guerra de las latas"
  67. "La montaña de diamantes"
  68. "Tres pizzas y un muerto...
  69. "El Supergrupo contra Los Demoledores"
  70. "Mambrú se va a la guerra"
  71. "En el laberinto"
  72. "El Supergrupo contra los Ejecutivos"
  73. "Gran auténtico vidente curandero"
  74. "El trastero infinito"
  75. "El Supergrupo contra el Papa Cósmico"
  76. "Menguante"
  77. "Nuevas aventuras de Mambrú"
  78. "XXL"
  79. "Robinson"
  80. "La isla de basura"
  81. "El secreto de la biblioteca"
  82. "El bullying de las sorpresas"

    In other languages

There is a 2003 short animation film named Superlópez contra el robot de bolsillo by Enrique Gato, the creator of Tadeo Jones. A feature length Spanish film Superlópez was released on November 23, 2018