Mortadelo endured three major historical stages under the direction of Vicente Palomares, Jordi Bayona, and Armando Matías Guiu.
1970–1983 The first issue of
Mortadelo was released on 23 November 1970 and was given out free of charge by the magazine
Tío Vivo. Subsequent issues cost 6
pesetas. The earliest issues feature the work series of Ibánez,
Vázquez, and
Escobar in addition to others such as
El Corsario de Hierro. The magazine, along with
Super Pulgarcito replaced
Gran Pulgarcito, which was originally published by Vicente Palomares Melo. The publication spanned 32 pages (16 of the pages were full color while the other 16 were bi-color) and a print size of 26 x 18 cm.
1984–1986 In 1984, the magazines
Mortadelo and
Super Mortadelo merged. The resulting magazine was called
Mortadelo, but maintained the numbering of
Super Mortadelo.
1987–1991 The third stage was published by Ediciones B and sold at a price of 140 pesetas (97 U.S. cents). It featured comic artists such as
Joaquín Cera, Maikel,
Marco, Miguel and Juan Carlos Ramis. ==Main series==