Could ET have been fooled by Melvin?

The first stage of ET

Is there anyone who has not seen the movie ET Extra-terrestrial at least once? Directed by Steven Spielberg, this film about a friendly creature from another planet was released in 1982 and soon achieved the status of a cinematic classic. In the year Despite belonging to the 1980s, no sequel was ever made or the possibility of a remake was ever considered, ET the film continues to fascinate young and old and has never gone out of style.

But what if we told you that this alien is a copy of another comic book called Melvin, albeit a much less benevolent one? To know what we are talking about, you should continue reading this article.

Melvin’s origin

It all started in 1975, created by the Catalan cartoonist Joaquin Blazquez for the American publisher Warren Publishing, the foreigner known as Melvin, the main character of the comic strip Then One Misty Christmas Eve was published in Vampirella magazine issue 49 (1969) – 1983), part of the cover can be seen under this article . The editorial existence of this strange character could have remained a simple story. Six years later, when ET, Extraterrestrial was released in theaters, Joaquin Blazquez convinced himself of the physical similarity between the protagonist of the film and Melvin. It can only be said that it is a crime of concealment.

The controversial similarity between ET and Melvin

The arrival of the eighties, cinema became one of the most fruitful industries, many cartoonists, like Joaquin Blazcze himself, sent illustrations to production companies, hoping to get some profit from the world. Perhaps someone in Steven Spielberg’s team, who wanted to make an alien movie that would appeal to children and adults, accidentally stumbled upon Melvin’s design and perhaps unknowingly used it as inspiration to create ET. For the Catalan cartoonist, he did not see a cent of the income from the successful film.

Joaquin Blazcéz, who called it unfair, did not sit idly by, but after seeing the film, he wrote a letter to Hollywood, especially Steven Spielberg, asking for an explanation of what happened and recognition for his work. However, the director of the cinema never replied.

Far from giving up, Joaquín Blazquez decided to go to the newspaper La Vanguardia (in operation since 1881) to tell the story. However, despite going to the newspaper on several occasions, no one paid any attention except for a young intern named Victor Amela who wanted his first report. The cartoonist was interviewed for forty minutes. He showed examples of Melvin and ET to show the great similarities between both characters.

Knowing that the resemblance between the TV host and Melvin was real, Spielberg wrote an article for ET titled Victor Amela, Victor Amela’s design. However, upon further investigation, United’s artistic director Ed Berreu stated that no Spanish voiceover was involved in the aforementioned feature film, and that he and Carlos Rambaldi wanted to be ET under Steven Spielberg’s direction. A mix between Albert Einstein and a pug dog were the real people responsible.

The results of the debate

Taking into account what was mentioned in the previous paragraph, we should not be surprised that two years after the interview, the results are meaningless, because neither Spielberg nor anyone involved in the film ET has ever responded, except to worsen the mental health of the cartoonist.

Joaquin Blazquez says ET killed him. And maybe this is one way of looking at it, because Melvin’s unfairness and blatant fraud may have caused the cartoonist to mix drugs and alcohol, which in 2011 ET the Extra-Terrestrial four years after its theatrical release. His body rests in a casket in the Montjuic cemetery.

It is not for us to judge whether Joaquin Blazcze was right, or if the physical resemblance between ET and Melvin is simply a coincidence. Nor can we know whether Steven Spielberg didn’t respond to the Catalan cartoonist’s messages because he didn’t believe he had any reason not to give himself up or justify himself. But one thing is very clear: the next time we watch the movie ET Extra-Terrestrial, we will see it through different eyes and we can’t help but remember Melvin.