A Man Called... Sunday

Ringo 24, 1973: The first Australian appearance of Víctor de la Fuente and Víctor Mora's Sunday (KG Murray, Australia).

Alongside the comic's lead character, KG Murray's Ringo 24 gave cover-billing to a new series: "Introducing-- A man of courage who rides alone. A man called... Sunday".¹

Episode 1: by Víctor de la Fuente and Víctor Mora in Ringo 24, 1973 (KG Murray, Australia).

From 1973 to 1977, Sunday appeared every issue and usually received cover promotion. The final Sunday episode is in Ringo 41, the comic's second last issue. Remarkably for KG Murray, all 18 episodes were printed in order and on a regular schedule.

Episode 2: Il Implacable: by Víctor de la Fuente and Víctor Mora in Saloon 1, 1981 (Hitpress, Spain).

The new series told the story of a Union colonel who returns from the civil war to discover his son missing and his wife killed by southern bandits. Sunday sets out to find his son, traversing the far-west and helping the people he meets.

Episode 3: by Víctor de la Fuente and Víctor Mora in Ringo 26 (KG Murray, Australia).

Sunday is not a typical western protagonist for the time. He is a pacifist who repeatedly echoes, "Do not call me colonel, I remember the war". The series covers topics that were progressive for comics of the time, including unionism, abuses of the wealth, military corruption and freedom of the press. The stories are tinged with bitterness and the violence is not glorified.

Sunday was a product of the Spanish Selecciones Ilustradas agency, created in 1968 by artist Víctor de la Fuente (b. 1927) ² and author Víctor Mora (b. 1931).³ It was the first of several collaborations,⁴ and just one of the westerns Víctor de la Fuente created and worked on during his career.⁵

Although it is frequently reported that Victor de la Fuente drew all of the Sunday stories, the series is the work of more than one Fuente. Their story illustrates much about the motivations and operation of the Selecciones Ilustradas agency.