He came to the United States from Mexico when he was 24, speaking no English and without money. All he had was the dream to work as a professional cartoonist. For millions of fans, he's become a living legend. Anyone who's grown up with Mad magazine knows the work of Sergio Aragones. Today you'll have a chance to meet the man behind the mustache, when he signs copies of the new book Mad's Greatest Artists: Sergio Aragones, a collection of five decades of his best work. In an interview in the book with former Mad editor Nick Meglin, Aragones discusses his signature creative style, often referred to as pantomime humor. “Pantomime is difficult because you have to synthesize all the elements of the gag to a minimum without text,” Aragones notes. “In my early years I couldn't understand cartoons and comic strips in the American magazines, but the Spanish-translation magazines that carried those same features taught me great respect for artists who create gags with just visuals. 'Silent humor' not only lifted language barriers … to me it revealed a deeper kind of artistry in the same way that Jean-Louis Barrault, the Japanese Noh theater, Chaplin, Keaton, Marceau and Tati have.” Laughter transcends language: Meet the award-winning cartoonist who's been proving this for half a century. Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd., W. Hlywd.; Sat., Oct. 23, 5 p.m.; free, book is $29.95. (310) 659-3110. Also at Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood, 225 26th St., Santa Monica; Thurs., Oct. 28, 7 p.m.

Sat., Oct. 23, 5 p.m., 2010

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