Gaturro: The Comic Character in Hot Water for Alleged Plagiarism and Why Fans Are Divided

Year 1971. Quino draws a ‘Mafalda’ strip in which her father, at the beach, encourages his son Guille to build a sandcastle, only to discover that he has created sand apartment buildings (“I can’t waste time on these stupid things, I’m building apartments”). Another masterpiece among the many by the master of humor.

Year 2006. Nik draws a ‘Gaturro’ strip in which, at the beach, the protagonist encourages Gaturrín to build a sandcastle, only to discover that he has created sand apartment buildings (“What castle? Now the business is to build apartment towers”). One might think it’s a coincidence, but it’s just the umpteenth plagiarism by an author who has lived off copying others… and has faced the consequences.

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Who steals from a thief

Nik began drawing Gaturro in 1993, and even then, some said that its protagonist was a kind of Garfield, something of which Jim Davis is fully aware. Thirty years of cartoons and marketing later, the adult audience has not embraced it. As evidence, take the case of the Paseo de la Historieta in Buenos Aires, where Gaturro’s statue was the only one vandalized in mid-2022 with graffiti and various drawings. They took it away to repair it and installed something called “anti-vandalism technology”: two small fences. In just one day, the statue ended up worse than before, and they had to remove it again.

Why does nobody like Gaturro? Quino himself stated in an interview that nobody can stand Nik, and it’s not without reason: among the evident plagiarisms are ‘Calvin and Hobbes’, Roberto Fontanarrosa, Juan Carlos Argüelles, Caloi, Leo Arias, CartoonHarry, or ‘Garfield’, among many others. These artists have suffered from an artist who seems to have a penchant for copying others’ work. However, to his credit, it must be said that Nik has never avoided the question regarding these allegations. Nonetheless, his response has been criticized and considered unsatisfactory by many.

“You find two or three drawings that resemble something pre-existing, and that’s enough to create controversy,” he once commented. Perhaps it’s the anger over his success in marketing his character (Gaturro has starred in movies, animated series, and has attractions in various parks) or simply the fact that he has never shown remorse or apologized for plagiarism. Either way, the truth is that the public has never given a warm reception to this supposedly wry cat who, frankly, smells like last week’s Tupperware.

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