View source for Rompetechos

{{Italic title}}
{{Infobox comics meta series
|image               = 
|publisher           = [[Editorial Bruguera]]
|lang                = es
|Humor               = y
|startyr             = 1964
|endyr               =
|creators            = [[Francisco Ibáñez Talavera|Francisco Ibáñez]]
}}

'''{{lang|es|Rompetechos}}'''  is a [[Comics in Spain|Spanish comic]] character created by cartoonist [[Francisco Ibáñez Talavera|Francisco Ibáñez]] in 1964, protagonist of the series of the same name. Rompetechos is a short and myopic man whose poor vision generates comical situations. Ibánez stated repeatedly that, among his creations, this was his favorite character <ref>El gran libro de Mortadelo y Filemón 50º Aniversario, page 111</ref> and due to this he appeared frequently in other series by the author, notably ''[[Mortadelo y Filemón]]'' (''Mort and Phil'').

==Characteristics==
Rompetechos is stubborn, short, short-sighted and clueless, his name ({{lang|es|rompetechos}} means “ceiling breaker”) being an irony for his short height.<ref name="bruguelandia3">[[Armando Matías Guiu]] in ''¿Cómo nace un personaje?'' for ''Comic Story-3'', 3rd number of ''[[Bruguelandia]]'', [[Editorial Bruguera]], Barcelona, 28/09/1981, p. 53.</ref> The strips are 1 to 4 pages long and tell the life of this character and the funny situations that occur caused by his lack of vision.

The usual way of a cartoon of Rompetechos is usually as follows: The character has the need to do or buy something, so it starts to go back and forth causing many disasters because of his lack of vision that makes him confuse everything (e.g., confusing a young hairy man with a daisy and proceeding to "pluck" him or a man disguised as a [[Viking]] with a [[deer]] and trying to hunt him, etc.). If he tries to buy something he will invariably misread all the posters then will have a surreal dialogue with the store clerk. Rompetechos then mistreats the people he believes are laughing at him and then the situation escalates to physical violence or with Rompetechos locked in a jail or an asylum.

==Creation==
There are two conflicting stories about the creation of Rompetechos:

*Francisco Ibáñez said that his boss, [[Francisco Bruguera]], admired an actor called {{lang|es|Rompetechos}} and thus asked him to create a character named that. Ibáñez then created a character exactly the opposite of what his boss wanted. Supporting this version is the existence of a German film called {{lang|de|[[Quax the Crash Pilot|Quax, der Bruchpilot]]}}, named in Spain {{lang|es-ES|Quax, el piloto Rompetechos}} [http://www.deutscher-tonfilm.de/qdb1.html]
*Journalist and ''Mortadelo'' magazine editor Vicente Palomares says that the character is caricature of a staff writer named Ernesto Pérez Mas.<ref name="bruguelandia3"/>

==Publication==
The character first appeared in {{lang|es-ES|[[Tío Vivo]]}} magazine in 1964 <ref>[http://www.delcomic.es/museo/mono/m-iba%F1ez.htm delcomic.es ] {{in lang|es}}</ref> In 1969 was the visible figure of  {{lang|es-ES|Din Dan}} magazine as well as having two magazines named after him in the 1970s. He is the only character of the author, apart from {{lang|es-ES|Mortadelo y Filemón}}, with new comic strips in the 21st century.

==Adaptations==
In the 2003  film {{lang|es-ES|[[La gran aventura de Mortadelo y Filemón]]}}, based on another characters of the author, {{lang|es-ES|Mortadelo y Filemón}} (''Mort and Phil''), Rompetechos is played by [[Emilio Gavira]] and is presented as a nostalgic of the [[Francisco Franco|Francoist]] regime, something not appearing in the comics. About this thing, director of the film, [[Javier Fesser]], said: "a short guy with a mustache who is always angry has to be fascist".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.elmundo.es/encuentros/invitados/2003/02/622/ |title=Encuentros digitales. Ha estado con nosotros... Javier Fesser |newspaper=[[elmundo.es]] |language=es |date=12 February 2003 |access-date=29 July 2019 |publisher=Mundinteractivos, S.A.}}</ref> In the sequel, {{lang|es-ES|[[Mortadelo y Filemón. Misión: salvar la Tierra]]}}, this Francoist connotations were suppressed.

==Criticism==
The character has been criticized by people who believe that mocks the myopic persons, but Ibáñez says that he has poor vision himself and does not pretend to do any harm.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mortadeloyfilemon.com/ibanez/articulos/006.htm |title=Entrevista a Francisco Ibáñez: "Quiero que me sobrevivan Mortadelo y Filemón" |language=es |work=El Semanal de El Periódico |date=26 April 1998 |access-date=29 July 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120629045145/http://www.mortadeloyfilemon.com/ibanez/articulos/006.htm |archive-date=29 June 2012 |via=Mortadeloyfilemon.com}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* DE LA CRUZ PÉREZ, Fernando Javier. ''Los cómics de Francisco Ibáñez''. Ediciones de la [[University of Castilla–La Mancha|Universidad de Castilla–La Mancha]], Cuenca, 2008. {{ISBN|978-84-8427-600-5}}
* FERNÁNDEZ SOTO, Miguel. ''El mundo de Mortadelo y Filemón''. Medialive Content, 2008. {{ISBN|978-84-92506-29-3}}
* [[Antoni Guiral|GUIRAL, Antoni]]. ''El gran libro de Mortadelo y Filemón: 50 aniversario''. [[Ediciones B]]. {{ISBN|978-84-666-3092-4}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110314201501/http://www.mortadeloyfilemon.com/personajes/otros.asp Entrada] in Ediciones B web {{in lang|es}}
* [http://www.comicpasion.com/1388/resena-rompetechos.html Reseña] in comicpasion.com {{in lang|es}}
* [http://usuarios.lycos.es/personajesdetebeo/links.html Personajes de tebeo] {{in lang|es}}

{{Francisco Ibáñez}}
{{Mort & Phil}}
{{Authority Control}}

[[Category:Spanish comic strips]]
[[Category:1964 comics debuts]]
[[Category:Fictional Spanish people]]
[[Category:Comics characters introduced in 1964]]
[[Category:Male characters in comics]]
[[Category:Fictional blind characters]]
[[Category:Spanish comics characters]]
[[Category:Mort & Phil]]