This was held from August 23 to Septemat the National Museum of Cartoon Art in its impressive initial temporary premises in Carriage Row, Eversholt Street, London NW1. Within a year of starting at The Cartoon Art Trust, I worked with Claudio Rojo, the Cultural Attaché from the Embassy of the Argentine Republic, in co-operation with the International Cartoon Festival Knokke-Heist, Belgium, to stage a major cartoon exhibition of El Humor Grafico Argentino. I will never forget my visit to Rio de Janeiro’s first Comics Biennale in 1991, when I was lucky enough to meet both Solano Lopez and Alberto Breccia at a gallery exhibition of their original pages.
Peter Stanbury and I admired their work so much, we blew up an image from it in stark black and white on the front cover of the tenth Escape, the first squarebound issue from Titan Books. It’s no coincidence that one of the first, and at 20 pages the longest ever, of the translated stories in our 19 issues of Escape magazine was the powerful fifth Joe’s Bar episode by Muñoz & Sampayo.
Without knowing they were from Argentina, I grew up also loving the artwork of Bruno Premiani and later José Garcia-Lopez for DC Comics and still more Argentinian talents published across Europe.
Unknown to me, when I was a kid reading Kelly’s Eye, Galaxus, Janus Stark and other classic British adventure comics of the 1960s, I was transported by the moody dynamism of artist Solano Lopez. My passion for Argentinian comics and cartoons goes back a long way. Comica Argentina grew out of a moment of inspiration last year from my good friend and Argentinian cartoonist Sylvia Libedinsky who suggested that we set up an exhibition and events about Argentinian comic art in London to coincide with the bicentennial this year of Argentina’s independence from Spain in 1810. You may not realise it, but if you enjoy great comics and cartoons, then you probably love at least one Argentinian artist, whether it’s the colourful pantomime comedies of Mordillo, the dazzling superheroics of Juan Bobillo or the late Carlos Meglia, or the gritty elegance of Eduardo Risso. Comica Argentina: A Rich Culture Of Cartoons & Comics
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