Raj Cobra
José Laffond y Diaz-Albo, born in Madrid, started his artistic career at age fifteen, working for several Spanish publications. He made 'El Oeste' and 'Gorgorito' for Triton, 'Capitan Antorcha' in Atlantida, 'La Eneida' in El Flechas y Pelayos, 'Raj Cobra' in Angel Nieto and 'Sabu' in Aspiraciones. In 1956 he moved to France, where he started out creating several 'Belles Histoires de l'Oncle Paul' in Spirou, together with his brother Carlos Laffond.
Later on, he started working for the agency Opera Mundi, where he remained until his death. Laffond's work was published in newspapers such as Le Parisien Libéré, L'Aurore, L'Humanité, etc. For these magazines, he illustrated several comic adaptations of novels by Jules Verne ('Mathias Sandorff'), Jack London and Emile Richebourg ('La Fille Maudite'). At the same time, he made numerous short stories for the series 'Destins hors séries' and 'Aventures Exotiques', which he often signed with the pseudonym Jo Barque.
