Praise
Though her family was solidly middle class, Mafalda didn’t let that fool her into thinking that everything was fine in her unequal society. She was too sharp for that, too observant . . . She worries about the kinds of things that many parents want to protect their children from even noticing—poverty and war and repression . . . The expansive, bighearted politics of Quino’s strip feel out of step with this terrifying moment, but, then again, that may be precisely why now is the right time to return to its heroine.
— Daniel Alarcón, The New Yorker
When wider American audiences do meet Mafalda, they’ll find a girl who resembles Ernie Bushmiller’s iconic character Nancy, but whose antics are entirely her own. Mafalda reaches for outer space on a seltzer-fueled jetpack, and is open to all kinds of experience. Even if she’s unlikely to help Democrats and Republicans get along, her brand of innocent but opinionated curiosity could show the so-called adults in the room how to do better by future generations.
— Benjamin P. Russell, The New York Times
When I was growing up in Argentina in the early aughts, in the middle of yet another political crisis, Mafalda taught me how to think politically. . . [Mafalda] is bound to educate nonconformist children in conformist times.
— Julia Kornberg, The Paris Review
Mafalda is such a singular character and a singular world. There is so much depth, so many kinds of humor, to be found in this simple looking strip. Throughout the writing and researching of this article, I’ve kept Mafalda on my desk and keep returning to it, flipping through it and reading strips at random. I have yet to get tired of it.
— Alex Dueben, Literary Hub
Mafalda is feisty and fearless in her criticism of the Vietnam War, global politicians, her parents (her poor, poor parents), her friend Susanita’s lack of feminist ambitions, and humanity’s inability to make any kind of progress . . . a must-read for comics aficionados of any age.
— Words Without Borders
