Initially, they were private detectives operating as Mortadelo y Filemón, Agencia de Información, but now both serve as secret agents in the T.I.A.

The series frequently uses slapstick humour whereby the characters constantly suffer mishaps - such as falls from heights, explosions, and being crushed by heavy objects.

("grandmother"), they interact with their boss, the bad-tempered Superintendente Vicente; with Professor Bacterio, a black-bearded, disastrous scientist parodying James Bond's Q; and with the fat, blonde secretary Ofelia, a parody of Moneypenny, whose attempts at seducing Mort or Phil always fail.

After the 1980s, the albums have featured current news, like computer sabotage, the AVE, Islamic terrorism, Spanish and European politics, and specials for the Olympic Games and the football World Cup.

Examples have included a water tap sprouting from a tree, two mice chatting, and a vase containing a foot or an eggplant.

In the final page of the album El 35 aniversario (1993), featured a New York scene with an aeroplane crashing into the World Trade Center.

There are two live-action movies based on the series, one of them made in 2003 in Spain titled La gran aventura de Mortadelo y Filemón (Mort & Phil: The Big Adventure).

Mort is a bald detective with pebble glasses and a long nose who usually wears a black frock coat.

His favourite hobby is wearing all sorts of (sometimes outrageous) disguises - professional and historical clothes and gear, animals, inanimate objects, even small-sized vehicles like miniature blimps and mopeds - which he mostly dons for special tasks or when he is on the run from Phil or his boss, and which all include his signature collar which obscures part of his mouth.

Vicente is bald and has a dense moustache, which makes him the object of mocking abuse by his underlings as a human walrus.

He is very short-tempered and usually gets angry with Mort and Phil because they fail in their missions, making a mess of everything - occasionally at the expense of his own possessions.

She is quite touchy about her lack of luck with a relationship and being called fat; she reacts with corresponding violence when either of topics are brought up; and with her considerable weight, this is nothing to be ignored.

He is always put in as a comic relief character; his short-sightedness causes him to react in ways which causes some inconvenience to Mort and Phil if they happen to cross his path.

He habitually tinkers with mechanical devices, turning many of them into rocket-powered (hence his name) or hazardous contraptions, and because he neglects to warn other people about his modifications, often causes a lot of grief to any adults in his vicinity.

There are also parodies of numerous celebrities and political personalities such as Ronald Reagan, José María Aznar or (in three albums in 2017) Donald Trump.

[3] There are two live action films based on the comic: Mortadelo & Filemon: The Big Adventure by Javier Fesser (2003) and Mort & Phil.

A video game based on Mort & Phil, entitled El sulfato atómico,[4] was developed by the Spanish company Alcachofa Soft, creator of Drascula: The Vampire Strikes Back.