Geminis by James Zee
Font's own style
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."11Font, interviewed December 2008-January 2009 at www.tebeosfera.com....
He acknowledges being influenced at the time by Michelangelo Antonioni (1912-2007)22In his 1955 film Le Amiche, Italian film maker Michelangelo Antonioni abandoned conventional narrative and experimented with apparently disconnected events,... and French "nouvelle vague" filmmakers33"Nouvelle Vague" was a group of French filmmakers who emerged in the late 1950s, reacting against the structures of French... —who advocated freedom of expression and technique in films.44See the 29 November 2007 interview by Toni Boix at www.zonanegativa.com.... 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.
He collaborated with French comic magazine Pif Gadget,55Formerly called Vaillant, Pif ran from 1945 to 1992 and is one of the most important French comics of... 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.66Reported at www.glenatbd.com....
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,77Originally published in serial form in La Calle and collected in two albums in Papel Vivo from De la Torre... the story of an uninhibited revolutionary woman.
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,88The title translates as "Tales of an Imperfect Future". This series, including 14 separate short stories, first appeared in Toutain... short stories about dystopian futures; Clarke & Kubrick,99Two Cuentos de un Futuro Imperfecto stories ("Rain" and "Ciberiada") featured Clarke and Kubrick, a homage to the author (Arthur... about two low-life characters; and El Prisionero de las Estrellas,1010Initially from Cimoc, with the first part translated as Prisoner of the Stars and released by IDW Publishing, US, in... a blend of The Prisoner and Mad Max—and a rare story published in English in 2008.
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.1111See texwiller.blog.com. This series is published in Spain as Texas Bill, but does not seem to have had an...