Antonio Prohías - Wikipedia

Antonio Prohías (January 17, 1921 – February 24, 1998) changed into a Cuban-American cartoonist. He became the creator of the satirical[2] comic strip Spy vs. Spy, which he illustrated for Mad magazine from 1961 to 1987.Biography[edit]

In 1946, Prohías turned into given the Juan Gualberto Gómez award, spotting him as the foremost cartoonist in Cuba.By the overdue Forties, Prohías had all started running at El Mundo, the most essential newspaper in Cuba on the time.In January 1959, Prohías was the president of the Cuban Cartoonists Association; after Fidel Castro seized strength, he personally honored the cartoonist for his anti-Batista political cartoons.But Prohías quickly soured on Castro's actions of muzzling the clicking.When he drew cartoons to this impact, he become accused of working for the CIA by using Fidel Castro's government.[1]Consequently, he resigned from the newspaper in February 1959.

With his expert career in limbo, Prohías left Cuba for New York on May 1, 1960, working in a garment manufacturing facility by way of day and building a caricature portfolio for Mad via night time. Ten weeks later, he walked into Mad's offices unannounced.He spoke no English, however his daughter Marta acted as an interpreter for him.[1] Before he'd left, he had an $800 take a look at and had sold his first three Spy vs. Spy cartoons to Mad.In past due 1986, he sold his 241st and last Spy strip earlier than retiring due to contamination.Prohías also wrote and drew six paperback collections offering the Spies.During an interview with the Miami Herald in 1983, Prohías gloated, "The sweetest revenge has been to show Fidel's accusation of me as a spy right into a beneficial task."[three]

Two years after Prohías's debut within the magazine, cartoonist Sergio Aragonés made the trek from Mexico to New York on the lookout for work. Because Aragonés's command of English was then shaky, he requested that Prohías be gift to serve as an interpreter.According to Aragonés, this proved to be a mistake, due to the fact Prohías knew even less English than he did. When Prohías delivered the young artist to the Mad editors as "Sergio, my brother from Mexico," the Mad editors concept they were assembly "Sergio Prohías."[4]Twelve years later, Mad writer Frank Jacobs stated that Prohías's conversational English was restrained to "Hello" and "How are you, brother?"Said Aragonés, who speaks six languages, "Even I could not understand him that well." Al Jaffee joked, "Antonio is non-lingual!"[3]: 136 

The Mad staff on occasion took group holidays, visiting en masse to other international locations. Prohías took component in these holidays whilst possible, however as a Cuban exile, he had hassle gaining admission into some international locations.At the airport before a Mad holiday to Italy, an airport reliable stated, "You can depart if you need, however you can never come back." He later offered a drawing to MAD writer William M. Gaines which confirmed himself being blocked through angry airport officials, letting his coronary heart fly over their heads to the relaxation of the MAD gang.A be aware at the lowest translates to: "Mr. Gaines, my heart will usually travel with you."

Although he is maximum well-known for Spy vs. Spy, the majority of his comedian strips, including El Hombre Siniestro, La Mujer Siniestra, and Tovarich, were published frequently or simplest in Cuba. Altogether, best approximately 20 of his more or less 270 contributions to Mad had been of topics and gags other than his secret agent collection. One of those was the iconic cowl image for problem #154 in 1972, depicting Alfred E. Neuman eating an ear of corn while leaving a single row of kernels unscathed because of the space in his top enamel. Most of the available information on Prohías's different work may be seen within the Spy Vs Spy Complete Casebook (Watson-Guptill, 2001) and the Spy vs. Spy Omnibus (DC Comics, 2011).