Here comes Captain Plin!

About Jorge Oliver, who has just died in Havana, we can say what’s said about other great cartoonists: he created fantasy worlds and beings to live in them. And these creatures ended up acquiring spirit and strength in the collective imagination, to the point that they manage to transcend their makers.

Jorge Oliver has passed away, but his Captain Plin does not age. That friendly green cat, singular champion of good feelings, has been known by entire generations of Cuban children. His eternal nemesis is also very popular, the rat Rui la Pestex. It’s already known that there’s no great hero without a great villain.

Plin, Rui, and all the inhabitants of the wonderful Cocos Island, make up the essential list of comics and cartoons in Cuba. That creation alone would have been enough for Oliver to earn a position among the best in his profession in Cuba.

But Jorge Oliver was more. Gifted, he leaves hundreds of stories, many of them published in a magazine he worked continuously for decades: Zunzún, of which he was founder and director.

That work for children defined him, to the point that he considered himself an illustrator of children's literature.

But he was also a journalist, writer, animated film director, program host... His comics appeared in Verde Olivo and the weekly Palante newspaper, with a recognizable author's brand.

He directed the media. He was a professor and lecturer. And for several seasons he hosted one of the most popular cinematographic spaces on Cuban television: Cuadro a Cuadro, in which he honored his passion for comics and his recreations for the seventh art.

At age 75, Jorge Oliver has died in Havana. His colleagues lose a reference for hard work and dedication. His audience says goodbye to a committed and enthusiastic creator. But the artist will remain in his legacy.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff