The two heroes are sympathetic and nervous Pete, a bank
robber West, and Chett, an acrobat flyer. Pursued by the police, Pete goes to
El Paso with intention of moving to Mexico, and forces Chett to take him in his
plane. There they fall into the hands of the Mexicans who force them to work for
them as mercenaries, and, the surprises of the events that occur at breakneck
speed, passing from one side to another, living during the Mexican Revolution
in a foreign country, happy full of vitality, with a zest for life, courage ...
and a desire to fill their pockets.
Pete is an outlaw, a specialist in handling explosives,
who claims to be interested in only one thing: money. Chett, is an aviator and
a dandy acting for art's sake.
It seems that everything between them, but the thunderous
passage of history (in this case the Mexican revolution in the early twentieth
century with a colorful bunch of heroes, scoundrels and murderers) eventually
joins them again and again. Sometimes in friendship and occasionally the
contrary, which reignites into fireworks, in this case the Mexican style.
1979-1996
Authors: Jean-Michel Charlier, Guy Vidal
Artist: Victor de la Fuente
Issues: 6
Victor de la Fuente was born in Ríocaliente, Spain on
April 12, 1927 and started his comics career in Adolfo López Rubio's studio in
1945. In this period he worked for Spanish magazines such as Chicos, Flechas y Pelayos and Zas.
In his mid-40s he moved to South America, first to Cuba, then to Argentina and
Chile, where he signed a contract for Editorial
Zig Zag. In 1957 he became director of the El Peneca magazine and founded his own advertisement agency.
In 1961 he returned to Spain, and subsequently worked for
local publishers as well as British ones including Fleetway and DC Thomson.
In 1968 he started a collaboration with the French magazine Pilote, published by Dargaud, with the
series Les diamants sanglants ("The bloody diamonds"). The following
year he began the western comic Sunday, written by Víctor Mora and published by
Spanish Selecciones Ilustradas.
From 1969-1971, de la Fuente wrote and drew the heroic
fantasy series Haxtur for the Spanish magazine Trinca; in 1971 he also drew a single story for American publisher
Warren, "I Am Dead, Egypt. Dead", written by Doug Moench, which
appeared in Eerie #25. The story won the 1972 Warren Award for best story. In
1972 he created, again for Trinca, the post-apocalypse series Mathai-Dor, which
remained unfinished due to rights problems. In the same year he moved to
France, and executed the erotic-western series Mortimer for Italian publisher
E.P. In 1973 Haxtur won two awards at the Trieste and Genoa comics festivals in
Italy.
In 1974 he created another western series, Amargo, for Hachette.
In 1976 he took part in the comics adaptation of the Holy Bible and the history
of France for Larrousse. In 1977 he collaborated with the Belgian magazine Tintin and, in 1978, he created another
heroic fantasy character, Haggarth, for the Belgian magazine A Suivre. In 1979, he began the long
western series Los gringos, written initially by Jean-Michel Charlier and, from
1992 onwards, by Guy Vidal. In 1980 de la Fuente won the Yellow Kid Award in
Lucca.
His last works were a series of Tex Willer stories for
Italian publisher Sergio Bonelli Editore and the French album Aliot, written by
Alejandro Jodorowsky. De la Fuente died in Le Mesnil-Saint-Denis, France on
July 2, 2010 and was buried at Le Mesnil-Saint-Denis.
Jean-Michel Charlier born on October 30, 1924 in Lieja, Belgium,
was probably the most important writer of realistic adventure comics of the
past century. What René Goscinny was for humorous comics, Charlier was for
realistic comics. Although he earned fame from his writing abilities, Charlier
started his career as an illustrator. He joined Spirou magazine in September
1944, where he did some aviation illustrations, as well as a comic about
gliding, that he sometimes signed with Flettner.
Charlier got the chance to further showcase his love for
airplanes two years later, when he took on writing the 'Buck Danny' series,
illustrated by Victor Hubinon. Georges Troisfontaines, chief of the World's P.
Press agency that provided the comic, had already written the first pages of
'Les Japs Attaquent' when Charlier took over. At first, Charlier also assisted
Hubinon in the artwork, but after a few episodes, he focused solely on the
scenarios.
Charlier always used actualities in 'Buck Danny', which
often got him in trouble with the French censorship board of the 1950s. At the
time, Charlier also worked a lot with other artists of the World Press agency,
like Albert Weinberg, Eddy Paape, Dino Attanasio or Albert Uderzo. In 1951,
Charlier co-launched the legendary 'Belles Histoires de l'Oncle Paul' series,
where many young artists made their debut. Until 1954, Charlier wrote several
of these historical stories, before handing over the writing to Octave Joly. In
the 1950s, Charlier wrote numerous series in Spirou besides 'Buck Danny', like
'Kim Devil' (art Gérald Forton), some episodes of 'Jean Valhardi' and 'Marc
Dacier' (both art Paape) and 'Thierry le Chevalier' (art Carlos Laffond).
Another highlight of his work for Spirou is the scouting series 'La Patrouille
des Castors', illustrated by MiTacq.
Along with Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny, Jean-Michel
Charlier started the Édifrance agency, specializing in communication and
comics. Charlier and Goscinny were also editors in chief of Pistolin magazine
from 1955 to 1958, before starting Pilote magazine themselves in October 1959.
Charlier launched three successful new series in Pilote, 'Tanguy and Laverdure'
(with Uderzo and later Jijé), 'Barbe-Rouge' (with Hubinon) and 'Jacques le
Gall' (with MiTacq). 1963 is also a highlight in Charlier's career. That year,
he created the best European western comic, 'Blueberry', illustrated by Jean
Giraud. In 1985, Charlier deepened the character of this cowboy, by exploiting
his younger years in the spin-off 'La Jeunesse de Blueberry' (art by Colin
Wilson).
While writing his several success series, Charlier wrote
several lesser known comics. Most notable are the historical biographies he
made with Victor Hubinon ('Surcouf', 'Jean Mermoz', 'Tarawa'), but he also made
scenarios for Martial ('Alain et Christine' in Libre Junior, 'Rosine' in
Pistolin), Raymond Poïvet ('Guy Lebleu' in Pilote), Aldoma Puig ('Brice Bolt'
in Spirou), Christian Rossi ('Jim Cutlass') and Victor de la Fuente ('Los
Gringos'). Charlier's scenarios stand out for their exciting and well
documented storylines. Interesting about his work is his ability to illuminate
dramatic stories with comical, slapstick-like events, like the clumsiness of
Sonny Tuckson in 'Buck Danny' or the gluttony of Tapir in 'La Patrouille des
Castors'. Suffice it to say that Charlier worked with virtually all great
French comics artists of his day. All of his works remain a landmark of
European comics.
Jean-Michel Charlier died on July 10, 1989 in Paris,
France.
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