Ausreprints

...covering Australian comics

Geminis by James Zee

Font's own style

page 1
Les Robinsons de la Terre: ("The Robinsons of Earth") Pif Gadget 518, 1979 (Vaillant , France) by Alfonso Font and Roger Lécureux.

In 1975, Font moved to Paris, which he described as the "magnet for many of us in those days, whether cartoonist, painter, singer, actor or novelist—or simply those who wanted to breathe freedom in a democratic country."1

He acknowledges being influenced at the time by Michelangelo Antonioni (1912-2007)2 and French "nouvelle vague" filmmakers3—who advocated freedom of expression and technique in films.4 This period sees his artistic maturity emerge, as the former Brecciaesque tone gives way to a more fluid and cartoony, but detailed, style that proved popular in Spain.

page 1
Huragan en felicia (Tequila Bang): Papel Vivo 11, 1979 (Ediciones de la Torre, Spain) by Alfonso Font and Victor Mora.

He collaborated with French comic magazine Pif Gadget,5 including "Les Dossiers Mystère" with scripter B. Solet and Spanish artists Carlos Giménez (b.1941) (who also worked on Gringo) and Adolfo Usero (b.1941) in 1978; and popular space opera Les Robinsons de la Terre with Roger Lécureux (b.1925) in 1979-82, a series reportedly cut short due to disagreement between the writer and artist.6

Font drew the one-off story "Les Compagnons d'Atlantis" for Super-As in 1980, on a script by Victor Mora (Sunday) in 1980. He later worked with Mora again after returning to Spain around 1984, first on Sylvestre, a series of thee-page humourous strips, and then the popular Tequila Bang,7 the story of an uninhibited revolutionary woman.

page 1
La Caza (Cuentos de un Futuro Imperfecto): 1984 (Spain) by Alfonso Font. (The story title tranlates as "The Game".)

From 1980, Font began writing as well as drawing, and established him internationally. This work ranges from Rohner (Norma, 1989), the story of a 19th centry sailor who is a friend of Robert Louis Stevenson; to Bri d'Alban (Cimoc, 1995) about the crusade against the Cathar heretics of Occitan; Historias Negras (Toutain Editor, 1979) in the Spanish Creepy; and the humourous strips En busca del Cimoc perdido (Cimoc, 1982).

His most famous self-authored works are science fiction series: Cuentos de un Futuro Imperfecto,8 short stories about dystopian futures; Clarke & Kubrick,9 about two low-life characters; and El Prisionero de las Estrellas,10 a blend of The Prisoner and Mad Max—and a rare story published in English in 2008.

Prisoner of the Stars [nn] (June 2008)
Prisoner fo the Stars: (IDW Publishing, US), 2008 by Alfonso Font.

In 1993 Font received the Grand Prize of Salón del Cómic de Barcelona and the prestigious "Yellow Kid" award in 1996. Following the decline of the Spanish comic market in the 1990s, he has worked in France and Italy, notably drawing Mauro Boselli's scripts for the iconic Italian western series Tex.11

References

1
Font, interviewed December 2008-January 2009 at www.tebeosfera.com.
2
In his 1955 film Le Amiche, Italian film maker Michelangelo Antonioni abandoned conventional narrative and experimented with apparently disconnected events, using long takes as a trademark cinematic style. He rose to international fame with three English language films, Blowup (1966), Zabriskie Point (1970) and The Passenger (1975). His films explore the directionlessness left by the passing of outdated moral values, with the characters suffering empty lives concealed only by the pursit of pleasure and possessions. See en.wikipedia.org.
3
"Nouvelle Vague" was a group of French filmmakers who emerged in the late 1950s, reacting against the structures of French cinema. The works are characterised by spontaneity and often filmed out of the studio with very little money—but marked with enthusiasm, immediacy and a desire for freedom. The movement's most famous figure is Jean-Luc Godard, but its lasting impact is through influence on directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. See en.wikipedia.org.
4
See the 29 November 2007 interview by Toni Boix at www.zonanegativa.com.
5
Formerly called Vaillant, Pif ran from 1945 to 1992 and is one of the most important French comics of the 20th century. However, by the 1970s, it had lost most of its artistic qualities and public interest. See lambiek.net. Font created several series for this title, beginning with the police drama Sandberg, Père et Fils with Patrick Cothias in 1975-77. This project was cut short by the publisher who considered it too confrontational for a magazine aimed at children.
6
Reported at www.glenatbd.com.
7
Originally published in serial form in La Calle and collected in two albums in Papel Vivo from De la Torre with new covers by Font.
8
The title translates as "Tales of an Imperfect Future". This series, including 14 separate short stories, first appeared in Toutain Editor's 1984 between issue 22 and 40. It has been partially collected in editions by Rambla in 1982 and Norma in 1990.
9
Two Cuentos de un Futuro Imperfecto stories ("Rain" and "Ciberiada") featured Clarke and Kubrick, a homage to the author (Arthur C. Clarke) and director (Stanley Kubrick) of 2001: A Space Odyssey. They then featured in a new series C & K Spatialist Ltd in the first issues of Rambla in 1982. New episodes later followed Cimoc.
10
Initially from Cimoc, with the first part translated as Prisoner of the Stars and released by IDW Publishing, US, in 2008.
11
See texwiller.blog.com. This series is published in Spain as Texas Bill, but does not seem to have had an English language translation in recent years. There are some 1970s English translations.
Article status

Ausreprints ID

  • 11

Article details

  • By James Zee
  • 1 August 2009

Previous

Next

Can you help?