[dan]

A doctrinal tendentious comic...

Link to the book: Pelayos 014

[paw broon]

Yes indeed. This, and the others in the series are the result of being published during the Spanish civil war- and while General Franco was setting up his right wing dictatorship.  He was a monarchist at the time and the King was still accepted. 
Anyone who's interested shouldn't take these few lines as gospel and should consult the history books for accurate accounts of the time.

[mr_goldenage]

The winner always writes history their way.....spoils of war and all that rubbish you know? Monarchs are not very far removed from Dictators now are they?

Mr_Goldenage

[jimmm kelly]

But after Franco's death, the King was instrumental in the restoration of democracy to Spain.

[MarkWarner]

Well ... I am getting drawn into politics ... O DEAR ... O DEAR!!!

That always looked the way, but Juan Carlos did very well out of it! Democracy saved his bacon and got the family right back to a very safe #1 spot. But basically he had to abdicated (in my version anyway) after the heat was on for going hunting elephants whilst also being honorary president of the Spanish branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature. Slight hypocrisy there!

"In July 2012, WWF-Spain held a meeting in Madrid and decided with 226 votes to 13 to remove the king from the honorary presidency. He later apologised for the hunting trip." Pretty damning to sack your king!

Also according to Wikipedia:

"Juan Carlos also hunts bears; in October 2004, he angered environmental activists by killing nine bears, one of which was a pregnant female, in central Romania. It was alleged by the Russian regional authorities that in August 2006 Juan Carlos shot a drunken tame bear (Mitrofan the Bear) during a private hunting trip to Russia; the Office of the Spanish Monarchy denied this claim."

So I am certainly NOT his #1 fan!

But onto even bigger issues. As far as I am concerned Franco was a major baddie and no one is going to revise that on this site whilst I am an admin!

[jimmm kelly]

I wasn't aiming to be political, but I thought it needed to be said that there was more to the story of Franco and the Spanish monarchy. And this breaking news just in . . . Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

[MarkWarner]

Oh that's cool! Am going to wave my red flag to celebrate the news .. lol

[jimmm kelly]

I wonder if I need to explain an SNL reference--or if this is universally understood.

[MarkWarner]

Explain ... as it isn't

[jimmm kelly]

There was a late night television program that debuted on NBC in the 1975-76 season, broadcast live (to the East coast) on Saturday night/early Sunday morning--now known as SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. In that first season, Chevy Chase hosted a a mock newscast.

Late in 1975, Francisco Franco held on to life for several weeks and the mainstream news media would report on slow news days that "Generallissimo Francisco Franco is still alive"--especially on NBC's NIGHTLY NEWS hosted by John Chancellor, where this headline led the news. Until finally Franco did die (November 20).

Then on the fake SNL newscasts, Chevy Chase started to report that "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead." This became a running gag on the show for months and months and a catch phrase in popular culture.

And to this day Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

[MarkWarner]

Ah right I am in England .. so

1) Googled it and guessed it was Saturday Night Live you were referring to. but was none the wiser

2) I was 14 at the time and I remember it well (or thought I did but am less sure after looking it up) I know it dragged on .. but I could have sworn there was a leg amputation .. must be getting confused with someone else on that point!

[MarkWarner]

Ah after further investigation the missing leg was Tito! Amazing how things merge in your memory  .. I'd have stacked a tidy sum on that being Franco!