Quino's Mafalda tells the story of the eponymous six-year-old, an inquisitive Argentinian girl who is just beginning to figure things out about the world. Her punchy insights—about political corruption, America’s war machine, sexism and hypocrisy—are at times poignant, as the themes in Mafalda bear striking relevance today. Mafalda, in the meantime, scribbles portraits, invents a flying machine, and brainstorms how we might achieve world peace. Beat by beat, the comic tickles the brainwaves of adults and children alike.
“Though her family was solidly middle class, Mafalda didn’t let that fool her into thinking that everything was fine in her unequal society. She was too sharp for that, too observant . . . She worries about the kinds of things that many parents want to protect their children from even noticing—poverty and war and repression . . . The expansive, bighearted politics of Quino’s strip feel out of step with this terrifying moment, but, then again, that may be precisely why now is the right time to return to its heroine.” —Daniel Alarcón, The New Yorker
“For many immigrants like me, Mafalda is a core memory, a mindset, a Latin American cultural icon. And in a country once again led by a president allergic to dissent, nuance, and the truth, what would Mafalda say to Trump? Whatever it might be, it would be sharp and right on time.”—Marcela García, The Boston Globe