Miguel Ambrosio Zaragoza (31 August 1913 – 30 September 1992), better known as Ambrós, was a distinguished comic strip
cartoonist, most famous for the comic book series
Capitán Trueno
El Capitán Trueno (lit. "Captain Thunder") is the hero of a series of Spanish comic books, created in 1956 by the writer Víctor Mora and illustrated mainly by Miguel Ambrosio Zaragoza (Ambrós). The comics were published continuously between ...
(Captain Thunder).
Career
Ambrós started his professional life as a
teacher
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
, and taught children until the end of the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
. After Franco took over in 1939, he quit teaching, due to political and moral reasons; he did not want to be a mouthpiece for
Falangist
Falangism ( es, falangismo) was the political ideology of two political parties in Spain that were known as the Falange, namely first the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FE de las JONS) and afterwards the Fal ...
ideals. He went to work with his parents in the
field
Field may refer to:
Expanses of open ground
* Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes
* Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport
* Battlefield
* Lawn, an area of mowed grass
* Meadow, a grass ...
s instead.
In 1946, he met with Juan Puerto, founder of the ''Editorial Valenciana''. Ambrós showed him the comic that he had been working on, ''El Guerrero del Antifaz'' (The Masked Warrior), and, impressed, Puerto opened the possibility for Ambrós to draw some humorous comic strips for his editorial. In the same year, Ambrós left
Albuixech
Albuixech (, modern Valencian spelling: , es, Albuixech) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Horta Nord in the Valencian Community
The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomou ...
for
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 ...
, where he began to make a living drawing comics for an array of small magazines, including his adventure series ''Dos Yanquís en África'' (Two Yankees in Africa), published by Bergis Mundial, and a range of comics for the weekly magazine, Chispa.
His first substantial success came when he was asked to illustrate the series ''El Caballero Fantasma'', (the Ghost Horseman,) written by Federico Amorós. Published by Grafidea, the series followed a character with noticeable similarities to
el Zorro. Things hit a halt when another publisher, Saturn, demanded that the character be killed, as they had already a series named El Caballero Fantasma. Rather than stop publishing the series, Amorós carried it on, but from the perspective of the Ghost Horseman's protégé, ''El Jinete Fantasma'' (The Ghost Rider.) Rather than damage sales, as had been expected, sales went through the roof. Due to the success of El Jinete Fantasma, Ambrós was rewarded by a contract with the famous ''Editorial Bruguera''. While working for Bruguera, he illustrated Pulgarcito's ''La nave del tiempo'' (The Time Ship), of which ten annuals were published.
His greatest fame yet was to come in 1956, when he was approached with the job of developing and illustrating
Capitán Trueno
El Capitán Trueno (lit. "Captain Thunder") is the hero of a series of Spanish comic books, created in 1956 by the writer Víctor Mora and illustrated mainly by Miguel Ambrosio Zaragoza (Ambrós). The comics were published continuously between ...
from the synopsis provided by the writer,
Víctor Mora.
Capitán Trueno
El Capitán Trueno (lit. "Captain Thunder") is the hero of a series of Spanish comic books, created in 1956 by the writer Víctor Mora and illustrated mainly by Miguel Ambrosio Zaragoza (Ambrós). The comics were published continuously between ...
was published both in Pulgarcito magazine and as a biweekly comic book. After the 22nd edition, a new Capitán Trueno comic book was published every week, pushing Ambrós into a frenetic work schedule. Until the 35th edition, Ambrós did all illustration on his own, but thereafter, he was assisted in the creation of many editions (36, 38-45, 47-168 and 173-175) by a
colourist
In comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black-and-white line art. For most of the 20th century this was done using brushes and dyes which were then used as guides to produce the printing plates. Since the late 20th century it is ...
by the name of Beaumont. Capitán Trueno occupied a central place in Pulgarcito magazine also. Shifting 350,000 copies at its peak, it achieved an unequalled level of popularity for a Spanish comic.
However, this resounding success did not bear any financial reward for Ambrós, who was working at a frantic pace for a relatively meagre sum. Thus, he quit Capitán Trueno after edition 175. In 1960, he moved to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...
to try to start a career as a painter, but he failed to find fortune and returned to
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 ...
in 1964, where he would work for Bruguera yet again. Although he did not want to start drawing Capitán Trueno again, preferring to draw
Tarzan
Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...
and
Rintintin comic strips and to illustrate the magazine's short stories, he was obliged to draw 'Trueno Extra' comic books from September 1964 onwards. He would only illustrate three editions. He left Bruguera in 1965 and started to work for the Editorial Valenciana, for whom he drew many comic strips, including El Corsario de Hierro, (The Iron Privateer,) another
Víctor Mora character.
In 1981, Ambrós retired from the world of comic books, and, except for a one-off edition of Capitán Trueno for Editorial Toutain's ''History of Comics'', he would never return. He received the ''Gran Premio del Salón del Cómic'' prize for his contribution to comics in 1989, and he would die three years later. Capitán Trueno, and, indeed, the history of Spanish comics, would be very different without Ambrós' input.
Sources
External links
An interview with AmbrósCapitán Trueno, online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambros
1913 births
1992 deaths
Spanish comics artists
People from Horta Nord