Memín Pinguín is a fictional character from Mexico. Stories featuring him, a very poor Cuban Mexican boy, first appeared in the 1940s and have remained in print since. The character is known as Memín Pingüín by some Mexicans due to a publisher's change, when they found that the word pinga, whence pinguín, was a slang term for "penis" in some countries, but later it was restored to Pinguín.
Memín was a creation of the late and famed writer Yolanda Vargas Dulché, and currently, there are talks about making a motion picture based on the magazine and its characters.
Memín was first featured in the 1940s in a comic book called "Pepín" and was later given his own magazine. The character originally was created by Alberto Cabrera in 1943, and later was drawn by Sixto Valencia Burgos. Valencia exaggerated the character by the instruction of Yolanda Vargas Dulché. Valencia also cites Ebony White as an influence.
The original series had 372 chapters printed in sepia, and it has been republished in 1952 and 1961. In 1988 it was re-edited colorized, and in 2004 was re-edited again. Valencia worked on the reissues over the years, updating the drawings (clothes, settings and backgrounds) for the re-edits. It contains comedy and soap opera elements.
However, since 2008 Valencia no longer works on the comic, having departed publishing house Editorial Vid.
In addition to Mexico, Memín remains a popular magazine in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Panama, Colombia, and other countries. At its peak, it had a weekly circulation of one and a half million issues in Mexico; as of mid-2005 it sells over 100,000 issues a week.
Read more on the Memin Pinguin Story here...