Alfonso Font (born 28 August 1946) is a Spanish

comic book artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

Biography

Alfonso Font was born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Spain. He began his

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

career in the 1960s as apprentice in the local Editorial Bruguera studio, working mostly at western, war, mystery and horror series, especially for foreign publishers. In the 1970s he worked for the British publisher

Fleetway Fleetway Publications was a magazine publishing company based in London. It was founded in 1959 when the Mirror Group acquired the Amalgamated Press, then based at Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London. It was one of the companies that merg ...

to several comics, in particular war series such as ''Black Max''; later he would also work for American publishers

Warren Publishing Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren (publisher), James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include ''After Hours (magazin ...

and

Skywald Skywald Publications was an American publisher of black-and-white comics magazines, primarily the horror fiction, horror anthologies ''Nightmare'', ''Psycho'', and ''Scream''. It also published a small line of comic books and other genre magazine ...

. During the latter decade, he shortly moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, where he collaborated with the magazine ''

Pif gadget ''Pif Gadget'' was a French comic magazine for children that ran from 1969 to 1993 and 2004 to 2009. Its readership peaked in the early 1970s. Predecessors ''Pif'' has its origins in ''Le Jeune Patriote'', a youth magazine published by French Co ...

'' for which, among the others, he created the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

series '' Les Robinsons de la terre (The Robinsons of Earth)''. In 1972 he illustrated the series ''Geminis'', written by

Carlos Echevarría Carlos Echevarría is a film and television actor, producer, and writer. He works in the cinema of Argentina.Carlos Echevarría ...

, dealing with espionage adventures set in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Between the 1970s and the 1980s Font realized his most famous series: ''Historias negras (Dark Stories)'', a collection of eighteen short, dark humorous adventures, and the science-fictional '' Cuentos de un futuro imperfecto'' (''Tales of an Imperfect Future''). This was followed in 1982 by the similar, though more hilarious '' El prisionero de las estrellas'' (''The Prisoner of the Stars''), an ecological-themed series, and '' Clarke y Kubrick, Espacialistas Ltd'' (''Clarke & Kubrick: Spatialists Inc.''). Though the two main protagonists' names are those of the creators of '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', author

Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...

and film director

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

, this series' is mostly inspired by

Robert Sheckley Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was an American writer. First published in the science-fiction magazines of the 1950s, his many quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist, and broadly comical. ...

's short stories. In 1982 he also released an erotic comic series entitled ''Carmen Bond''. In 1985 Font created ''Jon Rohner'' (initially as ''Jann Polynesia''), a comics about a seaman's wanderings inspired by tales of authors such as

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

and

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

. The series won the

Haxtur Award The Haxtur Award (''Premios Haxtur'') is a Spanish award for comics published in Spain. It is awarded annually at the Salón Internacional del Cómic del Principado de Asturias (International Comics Convention of the Principality of Asturias). It ...

in 1990 as "Best Short Comics" in the Salón Internacional del Cómic del Principado de

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and municipality by population in the autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea in the Bay of Biscay, in the cent ...

. In 1987 he created ''Taxi'', about a young female taxi driver who lives a series of spy adventures. The Italian magazine ''L'Eternauta'', in 1988, published his series ''Alice e gli Argonauti'' (''Alice and the

Argonauts The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, '' Argo'', ...

''), a science fictional adventure of a young girl searching for her father, imprisoned by a dictatorial government. Also in Italy, he published a series of self-contained stories entitled ''Private Eye'', about a private detective, and ''Bri D'Alban'', about the clash between the Catholic church and the Cathar heretics during the early 13th century. In 1993 Font received the Great Prize at the

Barcelona International Comic Fair Barcelona International Comic Fair is an annual fair and convention of authors, publishers and comic readers, managed by . It takes place in the city of Barcelona since 1981, and is an event of reference on the Spanish comic market. Prizes The Pri ...

, in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, for his whole career. In 1996 he received the

Yellow Kid The Yellow Kid (Mickey Dugan) is an American comic strip character that appeared from 1895 to 1898 in Joseph Pulitzer's ''New York World'', and later William Randolph Hearst's ''New York Journal''. Created and drawn by Richard F. Outcault in th ...

Award at the

Lucca Comics & Games Lucca Comics & Games is an annual Comic book convention, comic book and gaming convention in Lucca, Italy, traditionally held at the end of October, in conjunction with All Saints' Day. It is the largest comics festival in Europe, and the second ...

event, in

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one o ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In 1998 Font drew for

Sergio Bonelli Editore Sergio Bonelli Editore (formerly CEPIM and other names) is a publishing house of Italian comics founded in 1940 by Gian Luigi Bonelli (1908–2001). It takes its name from its former president, comic book writer Sergio Bonelli (1932–2011), son of ...

a special comic book for ''

Tex Willer Tex Willer is the main fictional character of the Italian comics series ''Tex'', created by writer Gian Luigi Bonelli and illustrator Aurelio Galleppini, and first published in Italy on 30 September 1948. It is among the most popular characters ...

'' (#12, 1998). Four years later he became a regular member of the staff working at ''Tex'' ongoing series; in 2012 he also worked at a short story of ''

Dylan Dog ''Dylan Dog'' is an Italian horror comics series created by Tiziano Sclavi and published by Sergio Bonelli Editore since 1986. The series features the eponymous character, a paranormal investigator who takes on cases involving supernatural ele ...

''. In 1999, with writer Ewald Fehlau, he adapted

Jason Dark Jason Dark is the 'nom de plume' of Helmut Rellergerd, a prolific author of horror detective fiction in the German language. His work has been favourably compared to that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Helmut Rellergerd Helmut Rellergerd (born Jan ...

's ghost hunter for German Publisher Bastei Verlag. In 2004 he was one of the artists called for the revamping of ''Pif Gadget'', appearing with the pirate comic ''Les Aventures de Trelawney'', written by

Richard Marazano Richard Marazano (born 27 January 1971) is a People of France, French cartoonist. His work has been published in many European countries including France, England, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Swiss, Italy as well as worldwide in t ...

. In 2010 he provided art for the medieval historic series '' Heloise de Montfort'', also with script by Marazano. Starting in 2003, many of his classic stories were reprinted in Spain, in books such as ''Historias negras (Dark Stories)'' (2003), ''El as negro (The Black Ace)'' (2004), ''Barcelona al alba (Barcelona at Dawn)'' (2004), ''Federico Mendelssohn Bartholdy'' (2007), ''Jon Rohner, marino (Jon Rohner, sailor)'' (2008), ''Historias negras (Dark Stories)'' (2017), ''Taxi'' (2018), ''La flor del nuevo mundo (The Flower of the New World)'' (originally published as ''The Epos of Chile'') (2018.) He is still active, and his most recent album, ''Aloma: The Treasure of the Temerario'' was published in Germany in 2018.

References

External links

Official website

Profile at Slumberland

at

ABC (newspaper) ''ABC'' () is a Spanish national daily newspaper. It is the second largest general-interest newspaper in Spain, number one in Madrid, and the oldest newspaper still operating in Madrid. Along with '' El Mundo'' and '' El País'', it is one of Spa ...

, 28 February 2019]
Review of The Flower of the New World
at

, 26 April 2018]
Review of Dark Stories
at Comic Para Todos, 6 June 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Font, Alfonso 1946 births Living people People from Barcelona Spanish comics artists Spanish comics writers