Clara de noche ("Clara at night") is a series of comic strips created in 1992 by comic book writers Carlos Trillo, Eduardo Maicas, and the cartoonist Jordi Bernet.[1] It was published weekly in the Spanish magazine El Jueves, starting from number 772. After 1243 consecutive weeks of circulation, the series ended in 2015 in Spain.[2] It had stopped the year before in Argentina (September 2014), where it was simultaneously published in a young persons supplement called No in the newspaper Página/12.[3][4] Over 1,000 episodes of the comic strip[5] were also published in the Italian magazine Skorpio.[6] French, German, Greek[6] and Croatian translations were also made.[7] The series has been compiled periodically into albums,[8] and is considered one of the most important works of the three creators.[9]

Clara de noche
Life-size figure of Clara de Noche, at the Barcelona International Comic Fair
Life-size figure of Clara de Noche, at the Barcelona International Comic Fair
Publication information
PublisherEl Jueves (Spain)
Página/12 (Argentina)
ScheduleWeekly
FormatOngoing series
Genre
Publication date1992 – 2015
No. of issues1243
Creative team
Written byCarlos Trillo
Eduardo Maicas
Artist(s)Jordi Bernet
Collected editions
Haciendo la calle (2000)ISBN 84-88403-81-X
Todo por la pasta (2005)ISBN 84-9741569--8
Puta pero honrada (2009)ISBN 978-84-9741578--1
La historieta de la puta madre (2010)ISBN 978-84-9741608--5

The central character is the prostitute Clara, and the cartoon reflects her amusing adventures and misadventures as a sex worker, along with the peculiar characters that get involved with her and her son Pablito.[10]

Description

edit

Clara de noche was a humorous series of erotic cartoons. Initially it was produced in black and white but later in colour, and covered two pages.[1] It recounts the adventures of an innocent prostitute, called Clara Fernandez, and her relationship with clients.[11] Other characters include her very clever son Pablito and her friend Virtudes.[10]

Clara's physical appearance is clearly inspired by the famous American bondage model and pin-up, Bettie Page.[12]

Controversy

edit

Clara became one of the most popular characters of El Jueves, with a large following of fans who saw in her the idealisation of a woman; a libertine, independent and attractive.Despite this success in both in the Spanish and Argentine press, the comic had been the target of strong criticism and denunciations for alleged sexist and degrading content.[13]

However, in recent years, the comic's has been republished in new editions, maintining the character alive within both the Spanish and Argentinian pop culture.

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Clara de Noche, vol. 1 (Clara de Noche, #1)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  2. ^ Roach 2017, p. 68.
  3. ^ "CLARA DE NOCHE | TOP-COMICS". Luis Alberto (in European Spanish). Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  4. ^ Garcia, Fernando Ariel (29 September 2014). "ADIÓS A CLARA DE NOCHE". LA BITACORA DE MANECO. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  5. ^ Roach 2017, p. 42.
  6. ^ a b "FFF - Fumetto, CHIARA DI NOTTE". www.lfb.it. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  7. ^ Markos (24 July 2008). "Klara - Prozor u svijet stripa". www.stripovi.com (in Croatian). Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  8. ^ Magneron, Philippe. "Clara de noche - BD, informations, cotes". www.bedetheque.com (in French). Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  9. ^ "Falleció Carlos Trillo, un grande de la historieta argentina". www.clarin.com. 9 May 2011. Archived from the original on 12 May 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  10. ^ a b Martínez, Alejandro (7 December 2017). "Clara de Noche, de Bernet, Trillo y Maicas". Es la hora de las tortas!!! (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  11. ^ Marinelli, Diego (10 May 2011). "Carlos Trillo: Murió en Londres un grande de la historieta argentina". Clarin. Retrieved 4 March 2019 – via PressReader.
  12. ^ Trillo, Maicas & Bernet 2017, p. 6.
  13. ^ Acevedo, Maria Alejandra (December 2010). "Ensayo sobre fábulas de heterodesignación y textos de resistencia en las historietas" (PDF). Carrera de Ciencias de la Comunicación. Retrieved 23 May 2022.

Bibliography

edit
edit