Mafalda HC Vol 1

An acerbic 6-year-old skewers societal foibles. Mafalda, an Argentinian comic strip star from the 1960s, is a veteran of the cartoon scene, but she may not be entirely familiar to an English-language audience. Thankfully, this first entry in a planned five-volume series is poised to correct that. With its forthright, articulate, and frequently bickering cast of children, comparisons to Charles Schulz'sPeanuts are inevitable--though Mafalda's quips and crises usually veer more toward the sociopolitical than the existential. Mafalda rails against Argentinian leadership, decries wars and social crises abroad, and stands as a staunch advocate for women's rights, played in humorous contrast to her frequent antagonist, Susanita, a girl who carries around a baby doll and swoons over her unexamined dreams of being "a mommy." Mafalda and her friends are depicted as distinctive, recognizably broad comic-strip personalities, with outsize heads, simplified expressions, and paper-white skin. Though the times and locale are obviously quite different, Mafalda's English-language translation and reissue feels similar to that of Lat'sKampung Boy. This cultural text provides a window into a specific milieu in a particular country's history while also speaking to universal experiences and ever-pertinent questions of societal change and unrest. A historical comic strip with ongoing relevance and plenty to laugh about.(Graphic fiction. 7-13) COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.