Please note that this article is written from a comic fan’s viewpoint. I’m not an artist, I don’t work within the comics industry, these
are just my personal views. Alonso's biography. ‘Born in Valle de Trapagarán (Euzkadi), Matías Alonso Andrés has illustrated several Spanish adventure comics for the publishing houses Grafidea and
Valenciana in the 1950s and 1960s. For Grafidea, he has worked with scriptwriter Pedro Muñoz on 'Luis Valiente', 'El Charro Temerario', 'La Capitana',
'El Amuleto Verde' and 'Jarko, el Temible'. At Valenciana, he took over Manuel Gago's 'El Guerrero del Antifaz' for several episodes. He also drew stories
and covers for the collection 'Hazañas de la Juventud Audaz'. Alonso has additionally worked for magazines like Flecha Roja ('La Isla del Tesoro'), El Boletín and Jaimito. In the 1960s he began working for the British
publishers D.C. Thomson and Fleetway on titles like Air Ace, Battle Action, Commando, Eagle, The Victor and Twinkle. He eventually switched to painting.’
(From http://lambiek.net) One of my favourite artists from The Victor is Matías Alonso. Alonso, a Spanish artist for me provided a breath of fresh air to the comic strips he drew
for The Victor and other works. It was his style that leapt off the page at the reader. He provided at least a half-page splash at the beginning of each
issue and best of all close up shots of characters faces sometimes (shock horror) in circular frames! (See an example of Alonso’s splash pages below).
Many of the other artists drew their artwork within vertical and horizontal frames, with the characters usually seen in the middle distance. Alonso also used interesting ways of linking two different panels of a story together. For example, in the two panels below, the
artist connects the panels using a stream of bullets. (Image from the Victor Summer Special 1982 issue).
For me, his drawing of jungles was masterly. The jungle takes over each frame, it’s there in the foreground, middle distance and background. It’s possible to feel the heat, hear the sounds of the jungle and the whine of the insects. This is how I would imagine a jungle to be like. (Please see the example below). Having said that, his idea of building styles found in a jungle wasn’t strictly accurate, as European style castles and other buildings appeared in his drawings. But that for a young boy (and as an adult today), merely added to the romance of the strip.
Alonso was responsible for bringing to life many famous Victor characters for example Shiwa Sands, the boy hunter; Task Force with Tusks; The Day of the Bugaboo.
Alonso also tackled science-fiction stories such as Hork the Hunter. Below are three images from this series.
Alonso also drew some issues of D.C. Thomson's Commando war booklets. (I believe he drew thirty-four issues. This information from the D.C. Thomson Commando office). Below are two pages from two Commando booklets, that Alonso provided the artwork for. Left, Johnny the Jinx (original issue 301, re-issued as issue 4359) and on the right Operation Pacific (issue 1175).
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Other Commando booklets that Alonso drew include:-
Click on the buttons below to be taken to those Alonso strips that have been reviewed on this site.
For a list of other strips Alonso drew for the Victor (not a complete list yet), please visit the Victor Index page, via the button below. My thanks to Colin Noble for providing further information about this artist's work.
The Victor Index. |
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