'Alice in Wonderland', Dutch version from Donald Duck #19, 1969.
Albert Rué Vilanova (in Catalan: Albert Rué i Vilanova) is a Spanish animator, character designer and comic artist, who signed his art with "A. Rué". During the 1960s and 1970s, he made several fairy tale comics for the Catalan children's magazine L'Infantil, which also appeared in other European comic magazines.
Career
In the late 1950s, early cartoons by Albert Rué appeared in the Editorial Trébol science fiction magazine Naviatom. From the 1960s on, he combined his activities in animation with his work as a comic artist, all using the same lively cartoon style, inspired by fairy tales and classic animation. Notable funny animal mascots designed by Albert Rué were La Jirafa Pivot (Pivot the Giraffe) for Eurobasket (1973) and Andrés el Ciempiés (Andrew the Centipede) for the Spanish Football Players Association (1980).
Cover illustrations for L'Infantil issues #43 and #81-82.
L'Infantil
Between 1963 and 1977, Albert Rué was one of the regular artists of L'Infantil, a Barcelona children's magazine promoting Catalan culture. Because the Franco regime forbid publication of Catalan magazines, L'Infantil was released under protection of the Catholic church. The first incarnation was published between 1951 and 1962 as a supplement to the Diocesan Sheet of the Solsona Seminary. In 1963, editors Miquel-Àngel and Manuel Sayrach launched a new version, modeled after Franco-Belgian comic magazines and published biweekly by subsequently the Solsona Seminary, Editorial Mediterrà and the Abbey of Montserrat. The new L'Infantil ran translated Belgian comics, but also original ones by Coll, Raf, Miquel-Àngel Sayrach and Albert Rué. In 1973, L'Infantil became a monthly under the title L'Infantil Tretzevents. The final issue appeared in December 2011.
'Els Maravellosos Contes del Follet Genis'.
Rué's main feature in L'Infantil was 'Els Maravellosos Contes del Follet Genis' (1963-1967, 1970-1973), a series of one or two-page fairy tale stories with educational elements, starring the gnome Genis and a supporting cast of funny animal characters. Between 1973 and 1976, 'Follet Genis' also appeared as 'El Enanito Ginés' in the Madrid comic magazine Piñon. During the first year of L'Infantil, Rué additionally made 'Balú i Baló' (1963), with the jungle adventures of a funny animal monkey and elephant. After 1966, he made several poetic comic serial versions of popular tales, including 'Alice in Wonderland' ('Alicia en el País de las Maravillas', 1969), 'The Nutcracker of Nuremberg' ('El Cascanueces de Nuremberg'), 'Jack and the Beanstalk' (Jack y la Habichuela'), 'Hansel and Gretel' ('Hansel y Gretel') and 'Peter Pan' (1977). Between 1973-1975, the Abbey of Montserrat released the first four in book format in its 'Serviola' series. In the mid-1980s, 'Peter Pan' was reprinted in Zipi y Zape Especial #64 by Editorial Bruguera.
'The Nutcracker of Nuremberg' ('De Kleine Notenkraker'), Dutch version from Donald Duck #20, 1970.
Foreign publications
Rué's comics for L'Infantil appeared in translation in several foreign publications. Between 1969 and 1972, the Dutch Disney weekly Donald Duck ran several of his fairy tale adaptations and 'Follet Genis' stories. Later in the 1970s, the Dutch toddlers' magazine Okki also ran some of Rué's stories. In Germany, Condor Verlag released his adaptations of 'Alice in Wonderland', 'Peter Pan' and 'The Nutcracker' in its 1984 Condor Comic-Sonderheft series.
Animation
In animation, Albert Rué is mostly credited as Alberto Rué. In June 1963, Rué's film 'Noche de Reyes' won the first prize in the National Contest for Family Cinema, held in Madrid. Much of his animation work was for commercial or communication purposes, such as 'INI 71' (1972), a 30-minute film by Jorge Felíu describing the most important and diverse companies of the National Institute of Industry. On 12 June 1972, it was awarded the first prize at the National Industrial Film Competition.
Together with Jorge Gin and Vicar, he was character designer of the Spanish animated feature film 'El Mago de los Sueños' ('The Dream Wizard', 1966), directed and produced by Francisco Macián. The film consists of six dreams given by the Wizard to the Telerín children - characters created by José-Luis and Santiago Moro for spots on Spanish children's television. Among the animators on the film were the cartoonists Salvador Mestres and Arturo Moreno. For the animation studio of the Moro brothers, Rué was director of the 1972 short 'Cantinflas - Napoleón' and background artist of the feature film 'Katy, la Oruga' ('Katy Caterpillar', 1984). The Spanish comic artist Pascual Ferry - known mostly for his work on U.S. superhero comics - began his career working in the animation studio of Albert Rué.
Designs for Andrew the Centipede for the Spanish Football Players Association (1980).