Cover illustrations for Pim, Pam and Pum.
Javier Pont was a Spanish cartoonist, who drew humorous features and cartoons for Spanish comic magazines like Pim Pam Pum, Rin-Tin-Tin and La Risa during the 1950s and 1960s. Mainly working for Editorial Marco, he worked on several features that were originally created by the popular cartoonists Raf and Francisco Ibáñez.
Life and career
Nothing is known about Javier Pont's life or background, except that he came from Catalonia, presumably Barcelona. In 1957 and 1958, he was present at Juan Fernández Mateu's Editorial Ferma, drawing cartoons for the humor magazine Pim Pam Pum. Among his features for the magazine were 'Rufo Colillas' (1957) and 'Camelio' (1957).
Later in the 1950s, and throughout the 1960s, Pont was present in magazines like La Risa and Rin-Tin-Tin, published by Editorial Marco and after 1963 by Ediciones Olivé y Hontoria. By 1958, Editorial Marco's top cartoonists Francisco Ibáñez and Raf had moved to Editorial Bruguera, where they remained staples for the next couple of decades. Since publisher Tomás Marco Debón owned the rights to their creations for his magazines, he hired other artists to continue them. The most notable were Javier Pont, A. Pueyo, Kito, J. Cebrían and Esparch - all cartoonists who have remained obscure entries in Spanish comic history.
Coincidentally, Pont was assigned to several features with stereotypes that would be considered offensive to modern standards. In La Risa, he drew new gags and stories with Raf's 'Levy Berzotas', a greedy character drawn with stereotypical Jewish traits, like black clothing, a beard and a hooked nose. In alternation with Pueyo, Pont also continued 'Kokolo', an Ibáñez creation about a little African man who works for a bald hunter. Apart from racial stereotypes, the comics are also larded with crazy situations, misinterpretations and slapstick violence. Another series drawn by Pont was 'Laurín y sus Papás', a feature about a mischievous girl, previously drawn by Raf and Ricart. Graphically, the comic was a clear rip-off of Hank Ketcham's 'Dennis the Menace' strip, only with a girl as lead character.
'Kokolo'.