Jon Zabaleta

Jon Zabaleta is an illustrator who has also worked on comics. Born in the Basque country, he often wrote them in Basque. In the mid-1970s he contributed comics to Zeruko Argia and its supplement Komikia. He created 'Xua, Taka eta Klok' for magazine Berriak in 1976, and then he contributed to Garaia. In 1976 he also put out 'Aberri Egunaren Ipuia', a twelve-page supplement of magazine Hitz. He signed this under the pseudonym Akullu.

In 1977 Zabaleta started to publish in Egin. He shared the comics section of this daily with Juan Carlos Eguillor and Antton Olariaga. Both artists also accompanied him in Euskadi Sioux in 1979. Snails and elephants were recurrent characters in Zabaleta's comics, which were ingenuous and reminiscent of the imaginary world of children but also were concerned with political and social facts.