'Mickey Mouse' (D2003-168).
Xavier Vives Mateu is a Catalan artist, who has worked under the pen names Xavi and MAT. He began his career in the Spanish underground comix scene of the 1970s, and became especially known for his erotic comics. Since the 1980s he is mainly known as a productive artist of Disney comics.
Comic from Balalaika #1 (1982).
Early life and career
Xavi was born in 1951 in Barcelona, where he grew up reading TBO magazine, Disney comic books and the publications of Editorial Bruguera. After the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, the long-lasting press censorship was finally lifted. In this climate, a sheer explosion of free-spirited media came about. Xavi made his debut during this period. He published his first works in El Papus, a satirical monthly edited by Ramón Tosas Fuentes. Xavi illustrated stories by Ramoncín and Albert Turró, and made cartoons based on TV shows. He quickly found his way to the other magazines of Editorial Amaika, the publisher of El Papus, such as El Cuervo, Hara-Kiri, El Puro, Balalaika, Kung Fu and El Papus Deportivo.
Cover illustrations for Comic Erotico.
Xavi's work also appeared in Rock Comix (published by Gaspar Fraga) and Hermano Lobo (by Ediciones Pleyades). He made several erotic comics for magazines like Lib, Papillón, Emmanuelle and Party. His sensual women were inspired by the ones found in the work of Milo Manara, Richard Corben and Alex Raymond, while Manuel Vazquez also had a large influence. In 1984 Ediciones Amaika published the comic book 'El Caso Bugatti', a collection of Xavi's stories for Hara-Kiri (nowadays Charlie-Hebdo). In the late 1980s, he contributed to El Cómic Erótico of Editorial Iru, signing his work with the pseudonym MAT.
'El Caso Bugatti'.
Disney comics
By the mid-1980s, Xavi left the declining Spanish comics market and focused on drawing Disney comics through Studio Comicup in Barcelona. He eventually started to work directly for the Danish licensee Egmont. Xavi initially mainly drew covers and stories starring the 'Beagle Boys'. From the late 1980s on he also worked on stories with characters from the Disney features 'The Great Mouse Detective', 'The Little Mermaid' and TV series like 'Duck Tales'.
'Beagle Boys' (D 9120).
Since the 1980s, Xavi has also produced material for the Danish pocket book publications. These include stories with 'Donald Duck', 'Superdonald', 'Mickey Mouse' and the 'Beagle Boys'. He was the artist of the official movie adaptations of the Disney films 'Oliver & Co', 'The Little Mermaid' and 'Aladdin', and also illustrated stories in the series 'Mickey Mystery' and 'Totally Minnie'.
'Duck Tales' (D89149).
Since 2000, Xavi has illustrated several longer adventure stories with 'Mickey Mouse'. Since 2016, he also draws Disney comics for Sanoma in the Netherlands. Apart from his work for Disney comics, Xavier Vives works on advertising assignments, for the press and for MAD magazine.
'The Little Mermaid'.