On 2 December 1995, the editorial project El Periòdic d’Ontinyent was launched, and I was invited to produce a weekly comic strip for the publication. The section was titled Vosté perdone (Sorry), a statement of intent that worked as an ironic warning: neither public figures nor scenes from everyday life should be surprised if they appeared mildly ridiculed. Rather than seeking discredit or direct mockery, the strip aimed to observe the city’s daily life through a deliberately innocent form of humour, free from malice or destructive intent. But, as the saying goes, those who take offence often reveal more than they intend.
Throughout that period, the working process involved weekly meetings (initially with Guillem Llin and later with the newspaper’s editorial board), usually on Tuesdays, as the final artwork had to be delivered on Thursdays for publication in the Saturday edition. In these meetings, the most prominent news stories of the week were reviewed in order to decide which might best lend itself to the strip’s humour.
The section managed to remain active despite several attempts at suppression and pressure from different quarters. Eventually, in 2002, that pressure became unsustainable and I decided to bring the strip to an end after years of continuous publication. The final strip was published on 21 September 2002, in which I appeared myself, saying farewell with a tired and somewhat fed-up expression.
The positive reception of Vosté perdone among the newspaper’s readers eventually led to the publication of a collected volume featuring a selection of the best strips: a total of 134 out of more than 250 published in the newspaper, plus one previously unpublished. Titled Ontinyent fa riure (Ontinyent is laughable), the book, elegantly laid out by Pep Gramage, was accompanied by texts written by the newspaper’s editor, which gave each strip a more timeless reading and provided context for the work as a whole.
It should be noted that the title was not well received in certain particularly critical circles, which only served to confirm the section’s uncomfortable and provocative spirit, albeit always expressed with a light touch.
If you are interested in the book, please get in touch with me: web@vicentbeneito.es
To coincide with the publication of the book, an exhibition was organised at the neighbourhood residents’ association hall of El Llombo, where both original pencil sketches and the final inked versions could be seen, along with a video showing various drawing processes. The exhibition, however, attracted limited attendance due to a heavy downpour that hit the town during the week it remained open.