San Roque remembers Carlos Pacheco on what would have been his 66th birthday

Carlos Pacheco Perujo would have turned 66 this Saturday, November 14. He was born in San Roque in 1960 and died on November 9, 2022 due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Four years later, the San Roque City Council highlights his figure as one of the most internationally recognized superhero cartoonists. His work is present in the municipality. The Centro de Arte Contemporáneo (CAC) hosts a permanent exhibition with part of his work, inaugurated on March 21, 2025, which shares the building with the work of another San Roque native, Andrés Vázquez de Sola. The exhibition is based on the agreement signed on July 22, 2024 between the mayor, Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix, and Alejandro Pacheco, the cartoonist's son, by which the latter ceded to the City Council for 25 years some 700 works by his father. The mayor has stated that «I am proud of my friendship with Carlos Pacheco, for whom I have always felt great admiration and esteem». Ruiz Boix also thanked the cartoonist's son for his work to preserve the work and the Asociación Cultural Carlos Pacheco for its outreach work, with a website and a documentary whose preview was presented at the Cómic Con de Málaga. Among the recognitions he accumulated were his appointment as «Best Newcomer of 1996» by the American magazine «Wizard» and his presence in that publication's top ten since 1997, until reaching first place in 2001. He has been a favorite son of San Roque since 2001 and has an avenue named after him in the municipality since 2016. In January 2024, the Ministry of Culture posthumously awarded him the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts. He worked for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, often alongside inker Jesús Merino, with a style inspired by authors such as Neal Adams and John Buscema.