'Catalunya, La Historia' (2015).
Juan Alonso Villanueva is a Spanish comic artist, who has worked for British, Italian and American publishers through the agencies Creaciones Editoriales and Bardon Art. His body of work includes women's and children's comics, as well as stories in the fantasy and historical genres. He has also been active as a commercial artist in the advertising industry.
Early life
Born in 1948 in the city of Valencia, Juan Alonso Villanueva had a great fondness for drawing from his earliest childhood. However, urged by his family, he studied engineering, although he also took correspondence courses in advertising and decorative arts. Since cartoonist Zésar (César Alvarez Cañete) was an acquaintance of his parents, Juan Alonso eventually found his way to comics. Besides Zésar, who guided him in studying human anatomy, other important tutors and influences on Alonso's work have been Leopoldo Sánchez Ortiz and José Ortiz.
Early career
After doing work for the small Barcelona publishing house Ursus, Juan Alonso first ventured on the international market, drawing 'Felix the Cat' comics for Bastei Verlag in Germany and some pulp comic books for Éditions Impéria in Lyon, France. After that, he began an association with Editorial Bruguera, at the time the leading publisher of children's comics. Starting in 1970, he provided artwork for some celebrity comic stories featuring naturalist and documentary maker Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, appearing in Gran Pulgarcito magazine. Later on, he assisted the comic artist José Escobar on the inking of 'Zipi y Zape' and 'Petra, Criada Para Todo'.
'A Lion Called Marmaduke' (Debbie, 1976).
Agency work
Joining Bruguera's international agency Creaciones Editoriales and later the Spanish-British agency Bardon Art, Juan Alonso became a productive artist for the international market. For the British publishers DC Thomson and Fleetway, he drew war comics, as well romance stories for girls' magazines like Valentine, Mirabelle, Romeo, Bunty and Debbie. One of his serials for Debbie was 'A Lion Called Marmaduke' (1976), a World War II story about two Dutch youngsters trying to find their way home, accompanied by a lion. After a while, Alonso also worked for the Italian market, drawing for the soft-erotic adventure comic books Lucifera and Isabella, both created by writer Giorgio Cavedon for the publisher Ediperiodici.
In his home country, Juan Alonso drew some horror comics for Editorial Valenciana. During the 1977 edition of the Salón Nacional del Cómic y la Ilustración in Valencia, Juan Alonso and eighteen other Valencia artists were contracted to work for the comic books of Casa Editrice Universo, which Alonso did for several years.
Pasqualino - 'El Flameco Negro'
Commercial art
In the late 1970s, Juan Alonso moved to Barcelona, where friends introduced him to the advertising industry. For decades, he did commercial art through a great many agencies, including Tangram, SDD, TBWA, GGK, Rodergas, Barrena & Associats, Tandem, Contrapunto y Asociados Barcelona, Bassat, Grey Trace, RCP, Augusta BBT, Lintas, MCM and Delvico. He also collaborated with prestigious advertising studios such as Russelot, Roda y Altamira o Just, Din A-4, TAGG and JOTACE, as well as the production company Albiñana Films.
'Dante' (1983).
Return to comics
In 1983, Juan Alonso returned to comics, drawing comic biographies of Dante Alighieri and Johnny Weissmüller for the 'Comic Biografías' series of Editorial Bruguera. In the following year, Alonso drew a story for the 'Miss Metropol' feature in issue #7 of Metropol magazine by Ediciones Metropol. In the mid-1990s, he made another comeback, this time working for American small press publisher SQP Inc. on vampire pin-up titles like 'Barbs', 'Jungle Tails', 'Crimson Embrace' and 'Daughters Of Darkness'. His final work in the field of comics was 'Catalunya, La Historia', a comic book about the history of Catalonia, published by the Somatemps collective and written by Javier Barraycoa and Manuel Acosta. Since his retirement, Juan Alonso Villanueva has been active with painting.
'Catalunya, La Historia' (2015).
Valencia Comic Fair
Juan Alonso Villanueva was a founding member of the Club DHIN Valencia, an association of comic artists that organized the first National Comics and Illustration Fair (Salón Nacional del Cómic y la Ilustración) in Valencia. Seven conventions were held between 1976 and 1982, and the event can be considered a precursor to the annual Barcelona International Comic Fair, held since 1981 in Barcelona. Presidents of the DHIN were José Ortiz, José Luis Macías and José González Igual, while José Sanchis was treasurer and Juan Alonso acted as secretary.
'Chica Monos'.