El Capitán Trueno (lit. "Captain Thunder") is the hero of a series of Spanish

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s, created in 1956 by the writer Víctor Mora and illustrated mainly by Miguel Ambrosio Zaragoza (Ambrós). The comics were published continuously between 1956 and 1968, with Trueno eventually becoming the most popular Spanish hero comic of all time: at its height it sold more than 170,000 copies every week. The series was inspired by

Hal Foster Harold Rudolf Foster, FRSA (August 16, 1892 – July 25, 1982) was a Canadian-American comic strip artist and writer best known as the creator of the comic strip '' Prince Valiant''. His drawing style is noted for its high level of draftsmanship ...

's ''

Prince Valiant ''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'', often simply called ''Prince Valiant'', is an American comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretc ...

''.

Publication history

The comic was first published in 1956. Portions of the comic books have also been published in several Latin American countries, Italy (as "Capitan Tuono"), Greece (having its own title "ΤΡΟΥΕΝΟ", by Nikolaos Deligiorgis editions), Portugal and France. The series suffered some limited censorship during the

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...

. Censors were concerned, for example, that Capitán Trueno and Sigrid were traveling around the world unburdened by matrimonial ties (''vínculos matrimoniales'').

Characters and story

El Capitán Trueno is a 12th-century

knight-errant A knight-errant (or knight errant) is a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature. The adjective ''errant'' (meaning "wandering, roving") indicates how the knight-errant would wander the land in search of adventures to prove his chivalric v ...

, assisted by his faithful companions the cunning adolescent Crispín and the huge gourmandiser Goliath. His eternal dame is Sigrid of

Thule Thule ( grc-gre, Θούλη, Thoúlē; la, Thūlē) is the most northerly location mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography. Modern interpretations have included Orkney, Shetland, northern Scotland, the island of Saar ...

, an energetic

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

princess who takes part in many of the adventures of the trio. In successive books, Capitán Trueno and his friends travel the whole world enforcing justice and freedom against bullies and tyrants, never using more violence than necessary.

In other media

Film

The character appears in the 2011 film ''Capitán Trueno y el Santo Grial'' (aka ''Captain Thunder and The

Holy Grail The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miracu ...

''), directed by Antonio Hernández, with actor

Sergio Peris-Mencheta Luis Sergio Peris-Mencheta Barrio (born 7 April 1975), better known as Sergio Peris-Mencheta, is a Spanish theatre, cinema, and television actor, as well as a theatre director. Life and career Luis Sergio Peris-Mencheta Barrio was born on 7 Apri ...

in the lead role.

Video game

A video game was released by

Dinamic Software Dinamic Software was a Spanish video game producer and publishing company. It was founded in 1983, and its activity ceased in 1992, comprising the Golden Era of Spanish Software. One year later, a part of its owners founded an independent compan ...

for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Si ...

and MSX.Capitán Trueno on Generation MSX
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Popular culture

''El Capitán Trueno'' has been the subject of several popular songs; by Asfalto, in their eponymous 1978 debut album, and by Spanish pop veteran Miguel Bosé in his song "El Hijo del Capitan Trueno" (Captain Thunder's Son) from his 2001 album ''Sereno''.

References

External links

''El Capitán Trueno'' on-line
* Comics characters introduced in 1956 Fictional knights Fictional Spanish people Spanish comics characters Spanish comics titles 1956 comics debuts Comics set in the 12th century Comics set in the Middle Ages Comics adapted into video games Superheroes {{Comics-char-stub