Series Mort & Phil Artists Ibáñez Issues 145-150 Originally published 1983 Date 1983 Artist Francisco Ibáñez Talavera | Writers Ibáñez Published in Super Mortadelo Date of publication 1983 Publisher Editorial Bruguera | |
Similar Los diamantes de la gra, El plano de Alí‑Gusa‑No, ¡Soborno! | ||
¡Hay un traidor en la T.I.A.! (English: There is a traitor in the T.I.A.!) is a 1983 comic written and drawn by Francisco Ibañez for the Mortadelo y Filemón (Mort & Phil) comic series.
Contents
Publication history
The comic strip was first published in the Super Mortadelo magazine in 1983, issues #145 to #150.
Plot
As of late, the T.I.A. operations' failure rate has suddenly increased exponentionally because somehow their secret plans are becoming known to the enemy before they are even executed. When the latest undertaking - protecting a secret embassadorial courier - fails because his undercover guardians are purposefully taken out beforehand, and the courier is subsequently massacred down to his left ear, El Super finally comes to the conclusion that there must be a traitor within the T.I.A.'s ranks. To flush him out, he assigns Mortadelo and Filemon to the case.
However, Mortadelo and Filemon have to find out to their chagrin that detecting a traitor in an organisation where handling secret documents is a part of everyday's work is not as easy as it seems, and they end up running afoul of several colleagues, including Ofelia, Professor Bacterio, and - at one point - even each other. Meanwhile, the T.I.A.'s field losses continue to mount; El Super loses even more of his already fragile patience and subjects Mortadelo and Filemon to a series of gruesome disciplinary actions in order to "dedicate" them to their assignment.
In the end, Mortadelo and Filemon begin to suspect El Super himself, and after some chaotic mishaps during their attempts to expose him, they finally think of asking him about what is done with the secret plans before they are implemented. El Super states that they are regularly delivered to the T.I.A. encryption department in the building next door, but since he distrusts the internal mail and the phone, he conveys the plans in what he considers a completely fool-proof manner: by leaning out of the window and yelling then, uncoded, across the street! (This method, of course, gives interested eavesdroppers ample opportunities to intercept the plans to their advantage.) Angered at having been ordered to clean up this self-inflicted mess, Mortadelo and Filemon lash El Super to a scoop wheel and a piece of cactus to their boss' rear side, marking him as the jackass of the day.