Macanudo: Optimism is for the Brave

By Liniers. Published by Fantagraphics. 

Hardcover, 176 pages, Colour, 2023. 

The second volume in Fantagraphics’ English-language collection of the internationally beloved newspaper strip.

Elves, witches, forest monsters, unicorns, children, talking cats and penguins… plus zombies with fitbits, Stephen King’s Christine working as an Uber, and office politics? The bounds of a daily comic strip don’t restrict Macanudo’s imagination or subjects.

With the range of The Far Side, the whimsy of Mutts, and the heart of Calvin & Hobbes, artist Liniers brings his distinctive illustrative line and sensitive watercolors to whatever crosses his mind on a given day. Readers of the previous volume will recognize some recurring characters and stock players, but each book stands alone, and every strip builds its own world. Whether commenting on pop culture, society, or the environment, or celebrating art, nature or the act of reading, Liniers (Ricardo Siri) expresses his thoughts with joy and beauty. Most of them are pretty funny, too.

Beginning in 2002 in Buenos Aires, Macanudo steadily gained popularity around the world, and has been appearing in US newspapers since 2018. Optimism is for the Brave is the second of a series of volumes collecting Liniers' groundbreaking strip.