The illustrator Miguel Gallardo, creator of the mythical Makoki, dies

• Interview in 2017 Miguel Gallardo: "The 'boom' of the comic is unrepeatable"

"We deeply regret to announce the death of

, one of the greatest representatives of the graphic novel and illustration of the last 40 years in Spain. After a hard battle against cancer, the illustrator passed away today at home, surrounded by his loved ones".

With this concise statement, the loss of an essential figure in the illustration of the last 40 years was announced.

Born in Lleida in 1955 and trained at the

, ​​his work stands out not only for its undeniable technical quality but also for its human dimension and its constant exploration of new forms of illustration.

Creator in 1977 of the already mythical

comic

of the 1980s, he was a member and founder of the historic countercultural magazine

.

In the 90s, he had a prolific career as an illustrator and cartoonist for the press (Buitaker for ABC or Perico Carambola for La Vanguardia and several collaborations with the famous New Yorker and the New York Times).

These collaborations earned him two awards from the

, two

(Society of Newspaper Design), a

for the book What's wrong with this child?

and an

.

Mass recognition came with the publication of

(Astiberri, 2007), a graphic memoir in which he narrates his adventures with his autistic daughter, María.

The work received the

and became a bestseller in Spain, as well as being translated into 10 languages.

It was also adapted as a documentary -nominated for a Goya Award and a Gaudí Award- and as a play in Russia.

Gallardo was reunited with Franco illustrating the satire El baile de los fallen (Today's Topics, 2019).

The same caustic humor served to perfectly illustrate a selection of monologues by

in

(Random Cómic, 2019).

A tireless traveler, Miguel compiled his experiences in small travel notebooks that accompanied him everywhere, from Mexico to Japan and in recent years during his hospital stays, collected in Something strange happened to me on the way home (Astiberri, 2019), or the adventures with Cala, his adopted dog, to whom he dedicates The Great Book of Dogs (Astiberri, 2022).

This graphic novel, written in four hands with his wife, Karin Croo, is about to be published.

In 2013 he received a

for his entire career.

The jury declared: "For being an illustrator with a high level, but also Gallardo not only draws, he tells stories and does it as only he can."

In 2019, the National Art Museum of Catalonia exhibited a selection of covers and illustrations by Gallardo, along with those by Nazario or Max, among others.

All of them collaborated in the different issues of the countercultural magazine El Víbora throughout its history, from 1979 to 2005.

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