Ojai Valley News Blog

By Linda Harmon
Sergio Aragones, who brings smiles to millions, will have his first solo exhibit at the Ojai Valley Museum in our little town, quite a coup.

Aragones, an Ojai resident and prolific cartoonist, is a confident yet unpretentious artist whose illustration and cartoon work have graced more than five decades of American culture with their humor and quirkiness.

Born in Spain and raised in Mexico, Aragones has a broad background.

“Maybe moving to Mexico and not knowing the language, spending a lot of time indoors led me to be more creative,” said Aragones, who is the first and only visual artist in his family. “My mother was raised by nuns and took care of the house. My father came to Mexico as a young man without a job.”

According to Aragones, who speaks three languages, his father was an immigrant who brought his family to Mexico to escape the Spanish Civil War. His father worked his way up in the Mexican movie industry to become a producer and wanted to see his son better himself with a college degree. Aragones was headed for a career in architecture when he left for New York at age 25.

“It isn’t like I didn’t know I could sell my work,” said Aragones, who had sold his work professionally since high school. Young and confident, he departed for the wild life of ‘60s New York with only $20 in his pocket and no English skills.

“I went for a chance to improve and get into better magazines,” said Aragones. “If you wanted to succeed in the business in those days you had to live where the industry was centered.”

Arriving in New York he showed his work around, “but everyone told me my cartoons were crazy and I should show them to Mad.”

He did and the rest is cartoon history.

Aragones’ work has since won popular and critical acclaim winning the Shazam Awards for Best Inker (Humor Division) and the National Cartoonist Society’s Comic Book, Humor Comic Book, Magazine, Book Illustration, Special Features, Gag Cartoon, and Rueben Awards. He has also won the Adamson Award for Best International Comic Strip or Comic Book work in Sweden and the La Plumilla de Plata (The Silver Inkpen) in Mexico.

In terms of popular appeal, if you picked up an issue of Mad magazine in the last 50 years you’ve probably seen his work and smiled at it.

According to Aragones, after getting established he could mail in manuscripts and he moved out to Los Angeles for the climate and more laid-back lifestyle. He started working in television, acting and providing cartoon effects on shows like “Laugh-in” and specials for Cher and Shirley MacLaine.

A milestone in his career was reached in the 1980s when Aragones first introduced his own copyrighted cartoon characters joining Pacific Comics.

“Up until then I had just worked for other comic book companies,” said Aragones, who never wanted to give away his own characters. “When I traveled to Europe in the ‘60s I saw how the artists there owned their own works, not like in this country at the time. So it wasn’t until then that I could publish and keep my own character.”

Groo the Wanderer was born and has since become a phenomenon, with Aragones publishing a Groo comic book a month since the character’s inception. He describes his creation as “… basically amoral and a pretty dumb guy,” adding, “His dog is even brighter than he is.”

“Things never go right with him because he uses the sword instead of the brain,” said Aragones. “He always does the wrong thing.”

Aragones believes Groo is popular in part because it is a pantomime strip, using only pictures to convey the messages.

“People see a lot of text and they get bored,” said Aragones. “This way everyone can understand it no matter what country they are from, or what language they speak.”

That style grew out of studying pantomime, which he took to strengthen the cartooning skills he’d discovered as a third-grade student.

Hooked on pantomime the first time he saw Marcel Marceau in Mexico, Aragones went on to study under Alexander Jodorowsky, a protégé of Marceau.

“Jodorowsky opened a school and I attended because I wanted to learn to apply the freedom of movement to my cartooning,” said Aragones. “And it was fun too … Most of my work is pantomime. They are thinking cartoons. It is a little more complicated. It is an exercise of the mind to try to follow a pantomime cartoon.”

Aragones says another special thing he does in his cartooning is research, to make sure all the technical aspects of his strips are rendered correctly.

“For instance, in Groo if there are tools lying on the ground while he is building something,” said Aragones, “the tools need to be right. Otherwise the viewer is distracted. People can actually build a cartoon boat from one of my strips.”

His research has the added benefit of learning a lot of “hobbies,” which he has used to make projects for his beloved garden, a fountain and hand-carved Mexican-style wooden bench. That’s where he gets his ideas.

“I sit outside in the quiet, no noise, just the birds, and write the story,” said Aragones, describing his workday. “After I have the story, the idea, I go into the office, turn on the TV or whatever for background noise, and ink them.”

He often works late into the night, sometimes using breaks of “The Simpsons” to relax.

Aragones and his wife moved to Ojai from Los Angeles after they came to listen to Krishnamurti. They decided they wanted their daughter to attend Oak Grove School.

“Ojai was really the first time I had lived in a small place,” said Aragones. “I loved it from day one, it’s so peaceful and you know everyone.”

Aragones is busier than ever with his own strips and books, and continues to work for Mad, discovering new avenues for humor.

I heard he even took up knitting from Lorraine at Java and Joe.

I wonder if Groo knows how to knit?

Catch his exhibit, “Mad About Sergio,” Aug. 7 through Oct. 4 at the museum, 130 W. Ojai Ave. Or better yet, meet him at the opening Aug. 22 from 5 to 7 p.m. or at one of his scheduled talks Aug. 30 and Oct. 4.

He’ll make you smile, guaranteed.

For more info go to ojaivalleymuseum.org.