Dies the historic graphic humorist Jordi Amorós, the subversive 'Ja'

BarcelonaOne of the pillars of our graphic humor, Jordi Amorós (Barcelona, 1945), known by the pseudonym of Ja, a master of satire and a pioneering filmmaker, has died at the age of 82. He was one of the big names of the mythical El Papus, with which he faced about eighty lawsuits and even a court-martial, and remained active in magazines such as El Jueves and Mongolia. A publicist, screenwriter, animator, and producer, he directed the State's first adult animated film, Historias de amor y masacre; the animated series Mofli, el último koala, and the film Despertaferro!It was in the first satirical magazines, such as Mata Ratos, Pacha, Barrabás, El Cuervo and especially El Papus, in which he collaborated in all issues, where he unleashed his irreverent, scathing and anti-system humor, which was fodder for complaints and censorship. Some of his most subversive series and characters were born in this magazine, such as Sor Angustias de la Cruz, an anticlerical nun, and Encuesta Papus. "I became a regular at the courts. A judge would come out who basically dedicated himself to insulting me and threatening me with sanctions, and then, when the reprimand was over, the same judge would ask me for a drawing for his children," he explained to ARA. The attack on Carrero Blanco caught him in court. In 1975, his book Humor sexual sano was also censored and withdrawn from the market. In 1977, he was arriving at the editorial office of El Papus, on Tallers street, when the bomb from a right-wing faction exploded against the weekly, killing the building's doorman and injuring seventeen people.

Parallel to the comic strips, his passion was animated cinema. He had started making computer animation for advertising in the 1960s and in the late 70s he would unite the two worlds in the pioneering Historias de amor y masacre, produced by Equip, which he had founded with Víctor Luna. It was the first adult animation film made in Spain, a transgressive project that brought together independent stories created by top figures in satirical comics of the time: Chumy Chúmez, el Perich, Ivà, Fer, Gila, Óscar Nebreda, and Amorós himself. At the premiere in A Coruña, he already had to leave before the screening ended because his portrayal of a primitive Spain enraged the audience. The film was marginalized by cinemas and misunderstood by critics, but the cartoonist considered the investment well spent. "It was a film ahead of its time. Besides, comics have always been 20 years ahead of the industry," he recalled to ARA when he was honored at Animac in 2017. when he was honored at Animac in 2017.Afterwards, he continued directing commercial animation projects such as the shorts Gugu

and Prima Donna, the television series Mofli, el último koala (1986), and the film Despertaferro! (1990). The Catalan Film Academy named him an honorary member in 2020.Amorós also maintained his activity as a cartoonist, more irreverent and uninhibited than ever. The theorist Francisca Lladó places him, like Gin, Ivà, and Óscar, among the "uglify" cartoonists, influenced by Jean-Marc Reiser, with a quick and spontaneous line in service of the story. He was one of the iconic signatures of El Jueves

, with the wild series El Obispo Morales and Hombre pobre, hombre rico, in which he attacked capitalism, and later in the magazine Mongolia. His anti-dogmatism accompanied him throughout his life. That is why someone who was a target of clerics and a radical spirit could state in ARA, after the Charlie Hebdo tragedy: "If something as silly as drawing a picture can end in tragedy, it's better not to do it. Despite the controversy it caused, I agree with what Pope Francis said: 'If you mess with my mother, don't be surprised if I punch you in the face.'"