[Meeting…] Goliath

One of the greatest legacies of the defunct Bruguera publishing house is found in the characters who gave name to an entire school of national comics, characterized by simple graphics, a humorous theme dotted with gags and short, self-contained stories, which had their most famous publication in the Pulgarcito magazine. But his production also included another of realistic aesthetics and serial format characterized by its suspenseful endings, usually in a hurry, as a strategy to make the reader want to know the outcome in the next issue.

Some of these comics enjoyed great fame and significant longevity. Specifically, there is one that stands out among all of them and whose echo resonates even to this day. I'm talking about Captain Thunder, whose protagonist, from whom the series takes its name, is the living embodiment of the medieval chivalric ideal: the unbreakable Christian faith, the vocation to help the helpless in a totally selfless way, the honorable, pious and magnanimous treatment of the defeated enemy, chivalry towards the ladies and, of course, impeccable combat skills. However, this time I am going to present another character that is less perfect and more “human” in terms of character. I mean Goliath, one of the captain's inseparable friends and comrades-in-arms.

They call me the “Nutcracker”

The name Goliath is directly taken from the biblical giant of Philistine origin who was defeated by the Israelite David, and the truth is that it honors him. This is a man of tall and very corpulent, with short dark hair, a beard and a patch that covers his one-eyed eye. He is dressed in a short striped tunic variable color depending on the colorist, although it was the blue color with which he became famous. The first time we were able to see him was in the first adventure of Captain Thunder, shortly after the appearance of the protagonist, while he observed with his other great friend, the young Crispín, the titanic duel that the captain was going to fight against Richard the Lionheart himself, king of England and leader of the Christian expedition that, within the framework of the Third Crusade (1189-1192) was preparing to reconquer Jerusalem. But that role of passive spectator was not going to last long. He would soon come into action, which will become a constant throughout the adventure.

Captain Trueno's gigantic friend is a born fighter. In fact, it is one of his two main hobbies, and he can go into depression if he spends long periods without dealing blows. And the truth is that in combat it is quite a gale. Is capable of defeating troops that outnumber him several times (whether they are Saracens, Vikings, native Africans or Amerindians, Asians or “strayed” Christians, it doesn't matter), causing terror and confusion to spread everywhere. This is due (in addition to its great strength) to the almost unlimited resources it uses. In addition, he has his famous club, which he sometimes calls "toma-toma", and is capable of tearing out poles and using them for that purpose, grabbing enemies to throw them on others or, directly, using them to make his way, or employing the technique that earned him his nickname: hit your fists with your fists or, better yet, collide the heads of two (or more!) enemies to knock them out. In these fights he always appears happy and carefree, humming “they call me the Nutcracker”  either joking at the expense of his opponents when he manages to defeat them.

For a certain time, readers of the series did not know how long the friendship and alliance on the battlefield, which is assumed to be very long, between the three members of the group, dates back. It was not until issue 218 when, with Goliath in danger of death, a worried and nostalgic Captain Thunder remembers, in the form of flashbacks, the first meeting between both characters during his youth. Since I usually avoid going into details to invite the reader to read the comics for themselves, I will only say that thanks to this we will know that Goliath comes from humble origins as a lumberjack, and that the meeting with the Captain will mean a before and after in his life, dedicating it ever since to defending the weak and oppressed. We will also know how Crispín ended up in his care. Since then, his loyalty to the captain and the rest of his friends was unwavering, reaching the extremes of being willing to sacrifice his own life if necessary, as will become evident in several life or death situations.

Dos párrafos atrás dije que la lucha es una de sus dos aficiones principales. En este apartado voy a hablar someramente de la otra, que es la comida. Si algo define a Goliath, es por su glotonería. El apetito es un mal que rara vez parece abandonarle, y no dudará en hacerlo notar a viva voz. No debe extrañarnos, pues, que decida llenar su estómago cuando tenga la menor oportunidad, incluso si se encuentra en mitad de una batalla (ya comenté que incluso puede llegar a usar la alimentos o utensilios de cocina en el combate). Resulta imbatible en los concursos de comida, derrotando a los comedores más consumados. Su plato favorito es la vaca asada (“vaquitas”, como las suele llamar) algo que le dará bastantes problemas cuando se encuentre en tierras hindúes, donde suele provocar la ira de los lugareños, que las consideran sagradas.

Otro rasgo fundamental de este personaje estriba en su carácter simpático y su buen corazón. Como esbocé en el apartado anterior, se trata de unp ersonaje vivaz y jovial, siempre dispuesto a las bromas exentas de malicia, usualmente rematadas encarcajadas. Tampoco repara expresar muestras exageradas de afecto o gratitud. Asimismo, posee una serie de muletillas muy características, destacando la famosa “¡por el gran batracio verde!”. Todo ello hará de él un personaje bastante entrañable y todo un alivio cómico que, desgraciadamente, se irá exagerando paulatinamente hasta adquirir un carácter casi bufonesco (gags desencadenantes de situaciones ridículas y hasta degradantes para el propio personaje, una gesticulación totalmente histriónica que le da un aspecto un tanto bobo, etc.), aunque seguirá conservando sus conocidas virtudes e incluso hará alarde de astucia, ganando una relativa autonomía del Capitán en determinados momentos de algunas aventuras. Este fenómeno coincide con la evolución del argumento de la serie en su conjunto, el cual pasó de un de tono serio inicial, e incluso casi oscuro en ciertos tramos, a otro con una mayor cantidad de tintes cómicos, hecho que tiene su correlato en un grafismo más simple y relativamente caricaturizado.

Conclusion and recommendations

Goliath, un fornido guerrero y uno de los mejores amigos del Capitán Trueno, se ha ganado un sitio de honor entre los personajes más famosos del cómic español gracias a su fuerza portentosa, su entrañable simpatía y su cómica glotonería. Si bien el Capitán mantuvo hasta el final su estatus de protagonista absoluto e indiscutible, tanto el gigantón como Crispín dispondrán de sobradas ocasiones para demostrar su valía e incluso para salvar el pellejo de su amigo en más de un lance.

Para el caso concreto de Golitah, las recomendaciones las voy a circunscribir a las aventuras clásicas de la serie de Captain Thunder publicadas por la editorial Bruguera entre 1956 y 1968, más concretamente los cuadernillos de historietas o comic book, iniciado por la Colección Dan y continuado por Super Aventuras, y para precisar aún más, alrededor de la primera mitad, es decir, antes de que lo convirtieran en un bufón. Esto se debe no sólo a que son las más famosas, y por tanto las más fáciles de encontrar en el mercado de segunda mano, sino porque, esta vez sí, la actual Ediciones B ha cumplido sobradamente con esta serie y existen reediciones en formato facsímil, que agrupan los 618 cuadernillos en 13 tomos, así como nuevas ediciones de la serie Trueno Color de finales de los 60 (eso sí, todavía van por el 12 de un total de 298, y avanza muy parsimoniosamente).