Vth Comic Book Encounters

For Your Pleasure
Miguel Ángel Martín

This year the Festival is dedicating an exhibition to the comic artist, scriptwriter, illustrator and poster creator Miguel Ángel Martín (León, 1960).

He has received an infinite number of awards, including the prestigious Yellow Kid for the Best European Comic Artist (1999) or the Attilio Micheluzzi Grand Prize awarded by Comicon in Naples (2003).

Few authors have achieved such recognisable graphics, such translucent reading and such a controversial and particular thematic world. He declares that he is influenced by the most radical and underground electronic music scene and his work betrays a fondness for technology, science and pornography.

His extensive bibliography includes titles such as Psychopatia Sexualis, Anal Core, Brian the Brain, The Space Between, Rubber Flesh, Snuff 2000, Kyrie, nuevo europeo or his recent graphic novel Playlove.

Allá: Ciudades y gentes
Isabel Mancebo

Isabel Mancebo Balda was born in Pamplona in 1971.

She has been interested in Art her whole life after discovering that this was how she could express herself.

She got a degree in Fine Arts from the University of the Basque Country and put into practice everything she’d learnt plus what she invented for herself. After travelling and working in many different places, she now lives in San Sebastian, where she experiments with her work and her way of transmitting it.

She vindicates comic books to strengthen their importance in modern art. She sees comics as a way of expressing yourself, not just as a vehicle to produce the work.

Euskadi Fantastikoa IV
Ángel Unzueta / Sanvi

Superheroes in Euskal Herria?

Superheroes? Round here? Well, maybe, although we really doubt they exist and it’d be a hard job to find them. What would not be so difficult, however, is finding people who draw them for a living, either realistically or as a parody.

Ángel Unzueta falls into the first category. He has been drawing superheroes since 1993 for different publishers, including the most important two in the business Marvel and DC.

Sanvi (Álex Sanvicente) falls into the humour category as creator of comic strips and short stories for magazines such as Trama or Mister K, where he adds his touch of humour to the more serious characters from the superhero universe.

Although it is fair to say that this task as superhero artists is only a small part of the work that these two great artists churn out. We can come across Unzueta working in his advertising studio whilst completing an album project for the European market and Álex working with some of the most important European comic magazines such as Spirou or developing a series in Xabiroi.

Mundo Macanudo
Originales de Liniers

“Liniers draws a hard world very gently. A melancholic joy diametrically opposed to an idiotic happiness. His work is nice and funny. And he is a great guy”. This is what Maitena says about Liniers, the graphic author to whom is dedicated the exhibition Mundo Macanudo.

Penguins, robots, rabbits, a teddy bear called Madariaga or a cat named Fellini are some of the regular characters on the comic strips of this argentinian, filled with clever humour, unmistakable draw and an disturbing vision about human foolishness, love and the passing of time.