Comic strip for Tiras de Cuero.
Felix Saborido is one of the most versatile artists of Argentinian comics, with a career spanning from the 1960s through the 2000s. He is known as a man of thousand styles, alternating between realistic as well as more humorous comics. His ability to clone drawing styles led to studio work for 'Piantadino' in Argentina and 'Winx Club' in Italy, but just as many parodies and satirical comics in the 1980s.
Early life and career
Felix Saborido was born in 1938 in General Arenales in the province of Buenos Aires. His talent was already noticed in the "Gallery of future professionals" by the magazine Dibujantes in 1956, but it took five more years before his career really took off. He made his first comics for titles like Operación Muerte, Gerónimo and Noches de Terror between 1961 and 1963. Between 1964 and 1976, he worked for Editorial Mazzone on comic books starring the convict 'Piantadino', one of Argentina's most notable comic characters, created by Adolfo Mazzone in 1941. Among the other artists involved in the production were Mannken, Brócoli and Héctor Alfonso. In Mazzone's comic book Capicúa, Saborido made the 'Batman' parody 'Rataman'.
'Rataman', parody of DC's Batman.
TV celebrity comics and other work
Saborido's activities diversified in the 1970s. In El Clan de Mac Perro, he drew the comic strip 'Gaby, Fofó, Miliki y Milikito' (1971), based on the popular Spanish TV clowns known as 'Los Payasos de la Tele'. In 1974 he began a collaboration with the magazine Mengano by publisher Julio Korn, and in 1976 he started illustrating crime chronicles for the daily newspaper La Tarde de Buenos Aires. In the second half of the 1970s, he worked on several comic book series for art director Jorge Toro at Editorial CieloSur. 'Chifladuras de Carlitos Balá' were comic stories with the famous Argentinian children's TV show host Carlitos Balá, and 'La Voz del Rioba' was based on the TV show of the same name, starring comedian Juan Carlos Altavista as the tramp Minguito Tinguitella. Saborido also drew for Mannken's hotrod comic 'Las Travesías de Fitito'.
'La Pandilla 101'.
Art direction for children's magazines
During the same period, Saborido worked for Editorial Cordura, the publisher of the newspapers La Hoja del Lunes and La Hoja del Jueves. He served as art director for the children's supplement La Hojita, for which he additionally made sports illustrations and the crime riddle comic 'La Pandilla 101' with scriptwriter Jorge Morain. He was also art director of the children's magazine Gattín y el Equipo of Editorial Tamar in 1978.
'Rick City'. This character is clearly modelled after Hollywood actor James Cagney.
Realistic comics
In 1978 Saborido started working on more realistically rendered comic series for the Italian publisher Eura Editoriale, although much of these works had a satirical nature and were parodies of crime fiction. He remained affiliated with the publishing house and its magazines Skorpio and Lanciostory until 2007. With scriptwriter Carlos Trillo, he made a great many mini series, including 'Zandunga', 'Martín Gripe', 'Rick City', 'Bang y Wang', 'Pit River', 'Buster', 'Tantan' and 'El Pueblo de los Perdidos sin Nombre'. He also worked extensively with writer Viviana Centol on such series as 'Unione & Benevolenza', 'Boggie Marlone', 'Reality Fiction', 'Cornelia' and 'Papparazzi'. Most of these series were published in Argentina in the magazines of Editorial Récord.
Spoof of Hugo Pratt's 'Corto Maltese'.
Parody comics
In his home country, Saborido made humorous, satirical and erotic work for magazines like Mengano, Feriado Nacional, Satiricón, Eroticón, Politicón, SuperHumor, Tiras de Cuero and Fierro throughout the 1980s. In these publications Saborido showcased his talent for adapting other artists' styles in parodies of such comics as Bob Montana's 'Archie', Chic Young's 'Blondie', Chester Gould's 'Dick Tracy', Roy Crane's 'Buz Sawyer', Hugo Pratt's 'Corto Maltese' and many more.
Work in the 1980s
Saborido and Trillo created the humorous espionage series 'Nuestro hombre en Banana' in SuperHumor magazine in 1982-1983, later continued in Mocambo in 1983. In the early 1980s, he drew figurines for the collection 'Gran Match y Canchita', which presented famous cartoon and comic characters as players from different football clubs.
Figurines from the collection 'Gran Match y Canchita'.
Work in the 1990s and 2000s
Saborido's activities in the 1990s included work for magazines Puertitas and Cybersix, comics based on Hanna-Barbera's 'Jonny Quest' for Ediciones Santillana, and illustrations for the 1998 World Cup and the English course 'Wonderful World'. He became a regular pencil artist for the Italian monthly based on the fantasy cartoon series 'Winx Club' by Editorial Tridimensional in 2006.
La Triple "B", inspired by Chester Gould's 'Dick Tracy' (Fierro, 1984).
Oesterheld
Despite his impressive oeuvre, Felix Saborido has gained most notoriety for his poster '¿Dónde está Oesterheld', in which several comic characters demand justice for comic writer Hector Germán Oesterheld, who mysteriously disappeared during Jorge Videla's military dictatorship in 1977. It was published in the magazine Feriado Nacional in 1983, and many thought it was drawn by Hugo Pratt.
'¿Dónde está Oesterheld', 1983.