Mortadelo y Filemon - Hardcore!

If you're reading this and you're not Spanish or German, you probably don't know who Mortadelo y Filemon (or Mort & Phil, or Clever & Smart) are. Imagine the silliest, goofiest slapstick comic, bar any deeper substance, consisting of 100 % comic violence and sight gags.

If there's one series that never needed a hardcore, dark 'n' gritty makeover, it's this. So I made one. Read on to see the full image and closeups of each character. Bonus sketch included!

(click to enlarge)

People that know the comic will possibly get the joke. These are not meant to be sooper serious, but more of a play on the comic's general silliness. Like when Tarantino did the smurfs, remember?

Hope you like it!

And muchas gracias to all Spanish fans of Mortadelo y Filemon visiting from El rincón de Mortadelón!

Thank you for featuring and for viewing this!

Mortadelo and Filemon

(click to enlarge)

The two protagonists. Secret agents. Crazy guy and foil.

Filemon is pretty much the one sane guy in the comic, but as he generally takes the brunt of Mortadelo's failures, he's developed a very short temper and is suspicious of everything and everyone around him. So I tried to give him a nice, beaten up "I don't give a fuck" look.

Mortadelo (yes, named for the sausage) is a clinically insane master of masquerade. He's very carefree and happy-go-lucky in the strip, which I decided to completely ignore here. Dark 'n' gritty, remember? Also, he somehow looks like Todt from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Profesor Bacterio

A massive failure of a scientist and the inept duplicate of James Bond's Q, Profesor Bacterio merrily invents Bond-style gadgets which inevitably become instruments of doom for the user - in this case mostly our heroes. Responsible for the loss of Mortadelo's hair.

Nothing much to say about this guy, other than that I wanted to make him a hunchbacked, cackling, well-meaning lunatic. Of course, he's a communist as well.

El Súper

Superintendente Vincente, head of Mort & Phil's division. Short-tempered and slightly insane. Prone to violent outbreaks. Butt of many jokes.
As a middle-ranking government official stuck between the gears of bureaucracy, I had him dress a little too well for his circumstances. Compensating for anything?


Also, here's a sketch of Vincente and Bacterio. I don't know how, but when I did them back to back (like, literally), I kind of noticed how the Super with his stocky, pear-shaped figure and Bacterio with his lanky, hunchbacked built complemented each other really well. I don't think they would have come out as they are had I not drawn them together in exactly these spots.

This is also a good idea to keep the proportions and perspective in check (damn foot positions).