The historic graphic humorist Jordi Amorós, the subversive Ja, dies

BarcelonaOne of the pillars of our graphic humor, Jordi Amorós (Barcelona, 1945), known by the pseudonym Ja, master of satire and pioneer 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 first animated film, Historias de amor y masacre, the animated series Mofli, el último koala, and the film Despertaferro.It was in the early satirical magazines, such as Mata Ratos, Pacha, Barrabás, El Cuervo and especially El Papus, in which he collaborated in all issues, that Ja displayed his irreverent, biting, 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 who basically dedicated himself to insulting me and threatening me with sanctions, and then, when the reprimand ended, the same judge would ask me for a drawing for his children," he explained to ARA. The attack on Carrero Blanco caught him at the courthouse. In 1975, his book Humor sexual sano was also censored and withdrawn from the market.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 exploded by a faction of the right 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 60s and in the late 70s he would unite the two worlds in the pioneering Historias de amor y masacreIn 1977, he was arriving at the editorial office ofwhen they celebrated him 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 unbridled than ever. The theorist Francisca Lladó places him, like Gin, Ivà and Óscar, among the "ugly" cartoonists, influenced by Jean-Marc Reiser, with a quick and spontaneous stroke at the service of the story. He was one of the iconic figures of El Jueves, with the wild series of 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 the clericals and a radical spirit could affirm in ARA, after the tragedy of Charlie Hebdo: "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.'"