Genesis of Geminis

Climax Adventure Comic 18: (KG Murray, Australia) 1975.

The Australian run of Geminis began mid-1975 in Climax Adventure Comic, before transferring to Super Giant Album for the concluding episodes.¹

Composed of eight episodes of 20 pages each, Geminis is an espionage story set during the first world war, from July 1914.

Tela de araña: ("The Spider's Web") episode 1 of Geminis from Spirit 19, December 1976 (Garbo, Spain).

The series' title character Phil Jackson assists British Intelligence as anonymously as "Geminis", while being pursued by them for treason. He moves across the theatre of World War I, facing an array of archetypal villians, including German, British and Soviet soldiers and spies.

Geminis was created in 1973 at the suggestion of Selecciones Ilustradas director, Josep Toutain, specifically for international syndication and with an eye to the European market.²

Papel Vivo 10: (Ediciones de la Torre, Spain) 1979

All scripts are by Carlos Echevarría³ with art by Alfonso Font (b.1946).⁴ Font's art at this time reflects the work of Alberto Breccia (1919-1993), regarded as a master of black and white comic art.⁵

The KG Murray Publishing Company began printing this series soon after its creation, so it's possible Australians were among the first in the world to read the series.⁶ Around the time Geminis was first published in Spain, Font observed: "I am...a professional of thirteen years experience, yet only three or less for this country [Spain]... One begins to doubt by now if he is born here in Spain or in the Antipodes. To be published in a lot of different countries is flattering, but to not be published in your own country is frustrating."⁷

El juego del escondite: ("A Game of Hide-and-Seek") episode 2 from Spirit 20, January 1977 (Garbo, Spain).

It seems that Toutain brought Font and Echevarría together specifically for this project, as the partnership did not emerge spontaneously out of the "social club" environment that prevailed at Selecciones Ilustradas. Asked about working with Echevarría, Font commented, "We did not have a significant relationship. The few times we spoke, when we met at Selecciones, our meetings were cordial, but limited to professional contact."⁸

This was the creators' only joint work and their careers subsequently moved in different directions.

Echevarría became a prolific but largely anoymous scripter for many SI projects, and remains unrecognised despite a considerable body of work. In Font's case, Geminis provided a turning point in his career as he began to take the creative risks needed to become one of Spain's most accomplished comics' artists.