'Troglodon'.
Juan Mas Esparch was a Spanish comic artist, active for magazines like Paseo Infantil, Parque and La Risa during the 1950s.
Identity
For a long time, the signatures "Esparch", "J. Mas" and "S. Mas" were considered pen names for Francisco Ibáñez or Gustavo Martz Schmidt during the early stages of their careers. Research by the maintainer of the Tebeosytebeos blog and members of the "El Foro de la T.I.A." message board revealed that there were in fact three Mas Esparch brothers active in the Spanish comic industry during the 1950s. Behind the signatures "Esparch" and "J. Mas" was Juan Mas Esparch (1932-2017?), who worked on his own features, but also continued some of Ibáñez's creations. His brother Santiago Mas Esparch (b. 1929) signed with "S. Mas" and was the longtime co-worker and business partner of Gustavo Martz Schmidt. A third brother, Josep Mas Esparch (b. 1936) was active as a comic book letterer. Adding to the confusion was the tendency of Juan Mas to constantly try out new signatures.
Early life and career
Juan Mas Esparch was born in 1932 in La Escala, a small fishing village in the Girona province of Spain. The son of a fisherman, Juan was one of five brothers. His older brother Santiago was the first to move to Barcelona, where he got a flat for the whole family. When Juan joined him, his brother introduced him to the Barcelona comic scene, as Santiago was already working with the cartoonist Martz Schmidt. Even though their brother Josep also joined the industry, the three brothers never collaborated on any comics.
'Paco Bombero' from La Risa #157.
Spanish comics
In 1956 and 1957, Juan Mas Esparch contributed to Paseo Infantil, a children's magazine published by Ediciones Generales. Among the features he worked on were 'Anastasia Cazuela' and 'Toribio', both Martz Schmidt creations starring enterprising bourgeois men and their sturdy wives. Between 1957 and 1959, the cartoonist was then present in Parque, the weekly comics supplement of the newspaper Solidaridad Nacional, with 'Pepito Pesos' (1958), a feature similar to his previous ones. Another creation for this title was 'Troglodon' (1958), about a little troglodyte character.
Esparch was also a regular in the comic magazines published by Editorial Marco. For Hipo, Monito y Fifi, he created the little Native American 'Comancheta', and the mouse 'Ratoncito Perez'. By 1958, Editorial Marco's top cartoonists Francisco Ibáñez and Raf had left for the publishing house Bruguera. Their creations for the Marco magazines were continued by other cartoonists, including Javier Pont, A. Pueyo, Kito, J. Cebrián and Esparch. In La Risa magazine, Esparch drew new episodes of Ibáñez's family comic 'La Familia Repolino' and the Native American 'Haciendo el Indio'. La Risa also ran Esparch's own creation, the police officer 'Paco Bombero'.
Germany
After Barcelona, Juan Mas Esparch lived in Arenys de Mar for a while. In the 1960s, he emigrated to Germany, settling in Bad Vilbel, near Frankfurt am Main. It is unknown if he did any cartooning work there. He died in 2017 or 2018.
'Haciendo el Indio'.