In April 1988, a character representing the average Spaniard, short, half bald, and pot-bellied, landed in a remote place in the galaxy and decided to settle there. That was Goomer, created by Ricardo Martínez and Nacho Moreno, which would live on until the end of 2013. First in El Pequeño País and later in the Magazine of EL MUNDO. But there were fans who, after its end, continued to demand the character's comic strips.
It was then when Ricardo Martínez considered scanning the 1,200 physical pages he had kept for years to have them in digital format. He also decided to translate them into English with the help of his wife, Hazel, originally from Tennessee. Those comic strips ended up in the hands of Brian Walker, son of the legendary cartoonist Mort Walker, who took care of sending Goomer's comic strips to the King Features Syndicate, the worldwide comic distribution company, with classics like Popeye or Prince Valiant.
Those comic strips, which have been published since 2024 on the syndicate's website three days a week -Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, in English and Spanish- have now been awarded the Reuben Award, one of the most prestigious in the genre, in the Online Comic Short Form category. "I am very excited because it is a very nice and historic award. I was sure I was not going to win because it was my first time, there are great cartoonists who have submitted up to three times and have not won. But we won, and I am happy," says Ricardo Martínez from Ohio. The illustrator of EL MUNDO also remembers the co-creator of Goomer, Nacho Moreno, who passed away in 2021. "Nacho is no longer with us, but this award is also his because without him, this character that has brought us so much joy would not exist. He was the one who wrote all the scripts."
Already in 2022, Norma Editorial decided to compile in a comprehensive edition all the Goomer comic strips that Ricardo Martínez and Nacho Moreno had created for 25 years. In that character, as the authors themselves acknowledged, they poured many of their quirks that ended up resonating with many Spaniards. These two volumes included over 1200 stories, as well as a prologue by Santiago Segura, an unconditional fan of these comic strips, collaborations in the magazine El Jueves, advertising campaigns, posters, and tributes to other comic colleagues.
As they are about to celebrate four decades since their creation, just like they did with that remote planet, Goomer has decided to conquer the United States, the birthplace of the most recognized comic strips worldwide. In fact, the one who presented the award to Ricardo Martínez this past Saturday was Jeff Keane, the youngest son of the cartoonist Bil Keane and after his death in 2011, writer and illustrator of The Family Circus, an absolute icon of comic strips that has sold about 13 million copies worldwide. "There were the glories of classic American comics, whom we respected and also wanted to resemble," explains Martínez.