An urban legend attributes to Groucho Marx the phrase “These are my principles, and if you don’t like them, I have others”. It actually appeared in a New Zealand newspaper in 1873, in the form “These are my principles, but if you don’t like them I’ll change them.” The attribution of the quote to Groucho was first published in the Legal Times in 1983, some years after his death. In any case, this formula describes the politician who accommodates his speech, to say what the public wants to hear.
Groucho Marx and his thoughts were so influential that they even reached the Spanish Transition: certain sectors showed disenchantment with what the left had contributed to this whole process of change. Many progressives of the time began to joke that they were Marxists, but of the Groucho trend. The fourth of the six Marx brothers, with his books Groucho and I and Memoirs of a Mangy Lover, had made a strong impression among his readers with his philosophy. , humor and irony. In this context, Enrique Ventura and Miguel Angel Nieto (who were first cousins ​​to each other) created a series of comic strips, entitled Grounidos in the desert, in which the protagonist was called Julius, and his appearance was that of the actor in his famous movies of the 30s and 40s
Although the protagonist of the series was, clearly, an alter ego in the world of Groucho Marx’s comics who, without trade or benefit, travels through this world and through others living surreal situations, the two cartoonists never clarified if it was Groucho or not, but it is obvious that this is so, especially if we take into account that the real name of the actor who played the role of Groucho Marx was none other than Julius Henry Marx.
Miguel Angel Nieto was born in 1947, and Enrique Ventura was born the year before. Their relationship was always very close. So much so that, at the same time, they left university studies: Nieto was going to be a doctor and Ventura was going to be an architect. Both intended to dedicate themselves to advertising, but very soon they launched into the creation of their own comics, with Nieto as a scriptwriter and Ventura as an artist.
The two authors collaborated for 25 years on this series, until the untimely death of the screenwriter, Miguel Angel Nieto, in 1995. Ventura followed the series alone, which is still published in El Jueves. From 2013 to 2016, the screenwriter was Ventura’s great-grandson, Ion Arretxe, who died prematurely in 2017, who signed precisely with the pseudonym Great-grandson.
Grounited in the desert became, after the disappearance of Martinez el Facha in 2015, the oldest series on El Jueves. In 2016, Dolmen Editorial publishes a compilation of the first year of the series created by Ventura and Nieto, and starring Julius, although he is popularly known as Groucho. Many of these pages have not been republished since their original publication in the magazine.
The series debuted in El Jueves nº 85 (January 1979), and has continued without interruption since then, except for a few weeks in 1983, in which Grounited in the desert was replaced by Harponazos, by the same authors, but starring Harpo. Marx. The success of its long duration lies in its timeless, absurd, lucid, fresh and surreal humor, which does not avoid poetic moments, with ingenious situations and with a graphic level that is always very high.
Grounited in the desert usually has one or two pages in each number of El Jueves, and each page is normally divided into about nine vignettes on a black background. The protagonist normally acts as a flirt, courting all the girls he meets. The dialectic of the character is fundamental in the script, and there are no limitations in the use of surreal humor. Julius can perfectly enter the world of fantasy, dreams or even interact with his creators, always showing great irony and intelligent humor. Some comics show the character in visual or dialectical stories close to the poetic world. Grounited in the desert has become an endearing series for most readers of El Jueves.
