SKORPIO AND OTHER MAGAZINES FROM «RECORD EDITIONS» (Part 2)

In a previous note we summarize the contents and changes experienced by Skorpio magazine since its launch in 1974 until its demise in the mid 90s. This time we complete the picture reviewing other titles published by Record Editions.

CORTO MALTES

    It was the second title that launched after Skorpio by Record Editions. The entire first issue (December 1974) and much of the second was dedicated to publishing  “The Ballad of the Salt Sea”,  the initial saga of the famous character of Hugo Pratt who gave name to the magazine. Among the most outstanding series of Corto Maltese counted “The Voortrekers” set in the time of the Boer War in South Africa, “The Cobra”, “Canada Joe”, “Lady Shadow” and “Press”, war stories told by a war correspondent, for the style of  “Ernie Pike”.

The novelty or difference regarding Skorpio and Corto Maltese was offered reprints of old works Oesterheld and Hugo Pratt as “Sergeant Kirk” (created in 1953), “Ticonderoga” and the aforementioned “Ernie Pike”.

TIT – BITS

In its first version Tit-Bits was a magazine that was published from 1909-1957 and whose material was approximately preferably dedicated to serials (folletines) and adventure stories, but also included cartoons. Record Editions took that title for a new magazine whose first issue appeared in1975 and in its initial stage included the series “The Vikings”, “Reno Reagan”, “Jet Power”, short stories by Carlos Roume (extraordinary cartoonist horses) plus the contribution of the Italian series “The Master” and “The Aristocratics”. To this material was added the reissue of the adaptations from literary works made by the great master José Luis Salinas (Cisco Kid) in the forties.

Among the series that were later published include “Man of Richmond”, “Nobody” drawn by Alberto Breccia, “Black Series” and “Timber Lee”, a western  written by Italian Mino Milani and drawings of Juan Arancio. Also reissued novels adaptations made by Bruno Premian-another pioneer of the comic in Argentina-released new versions of two popular comic “Bull Rochett” and the extraordinary “Watami”, originally written by Oesterheld and now scripted and drawn by Jorge Moliterni. Finally say that Tit- Bits was the only title (with Skorpio) Record Editions that lasted until the early nineties.

 PIF-PAF

   Another prestigious title of Argentina comics that appeared in 1939 and allowed to meet in our great American comic series. Disappeared in the mid-50s, he dusted Record Editions to baptize another of his journals which began publication in December 1975. This new Pif-Paf also gave great importance to the reissue of «classics» like “Ann and Dan” (the first cartoon with his own script Hugo Pratt), “Wheelling” (also from Pratt) and two works by Oesterheld and Alberto Breccia: “Sherlock Time” and “Mort Cinder”. Among the new series may be mentioned the police “Chinatown”, “Blond and Hook» and “Macho”.

GUNGA DIN

   It could be considered “Cinderella” Record Editions so little is promoting her remaining items in magazines. Besides there were published stories unit like “South of the Sun” by Jorge Moliterni and “Jingo” Italian material drawn by Ivo Pavone, an artist who came to Argentina along with Hugo Pratt and resided here for more than a decade. Gunga Din appeared in late 1980 and its slogan was “Adventures in Images”.

PLUS SKORPIO

Title which began publishing in 1981 and whose material (printed full color) predominated unit and also included stories illustrated stories. Juan Zanotto, Arturo Del Castillo, Alberto and Enrique Breccia, Lucho Olivera and Carlos Roume  were among the artists who contributed their work to this journal.

FENIX

Magazine appeared in 1988 which combined new material with reissues series already known in other Record Editions magazine as “Bandits”, “Gala”, “Comanchero”, “New York, year zero”, “Riff” and “Alvar Mayor”.

 Αποκλειστικά για το Comics Trades 2012 – 2013

      Carlos R. Martinez

 February 2013

Αυτή η εργασία χορηγείται με άδεια Creative Commons Αναφορά Δημιουργού-Μη Εμπορική Χρήση-Όχι Παράγωγα Έργα 3.0 Μη εισαγόμενο.

SKORPIO AND OTHER MAGAZINES FROM EDITIONS “RECORD” (Part 1)

In the mid-seventies comic production in Argentina was nearly monopolized by Editorial Columba, the only one who had not only been able to overcome the crisis that hit the media in the sixties but was able to consolidate its market position. Columba magazines (D’Artaganan, Fantasy, The Tony and Interval) were characterized by very conservative scenarios, as well as numerous texts that are often not allowed the artists to demonstrate their full capacity. However had going for it with the talent of writer Robin Wood (real name, not a pseudonym) and his great creations as «Dennis Martin», «Nippur of Lagash», «Jackaroe» and many others.

     It is in these circumstances that Publisher (Editions) Record launches your line of magazines (comic books) that started in 1974 with Corto Maltese and Skorpio and continue later with Tit-Bits, Pif-Paf, Gunga Din and beyond Skorpio Plus and Phoenix. Leading the Editions Record was Alfredo Scutti, cartoonist who had worked in the late fifties in Totem magazine, published in Argentine by the Italian artist and writer Alvaro Zerboni, who at that time also edited a magazine of photo-novels.

      In the early seventies and safely using their contacts with Zerboni (who had already returned to Italy) Scutti successfully publishes several magazines of Italian erotic photo-novelas (photo stories) including «Killing». Subsequently -we do not know if Zerboni society or as his representative in Argentina- Scutti start editing your comic books, which were noted for their scripts bolder about sex and violence and fundamentally better graphic quality, product pay a better price and to give more space to the artists to do their jobs. Add that the material produced for the magazines of Record Publisher has published after by Eura Editoriale in Skorpio and Lanciostory mags, although we can not say whether it was the result of an agreement between equals or Record was merely a subsidiary of Eura.

    Another aspect that should be mention in the Record Editorial work is the way that highlighted the work of writer and artists through special sections, dissemination of the history of Argentina and cartoon world through columns written by writers Carlos Trillo and Guillermo Saccommano and rescue by the work of Jose Luis Salinas. To all this must be added the issue of several books, including those collected papers of the same Salinas, «Watami» Jorge Moliterni and a cartoon history of Argentina.

      Done this brief review will begin with the details of individual journals Editorial Record, whose cycle closed in 1996 due mainly to the country’s economic problems and competition from imported comic books, due to the then prevailing exchange rate, a mirage according to which Argentina’s currency to the dollar equivalent, a fiction that erupted in 2001 with a formidable crisis. But now, let’s talk about comics …

 

SKORPIO

    The first issue of the magazine Skorpio appeared in July 1974 and among its first series were counted «Corto Maltese» by Hugo Pratt, “The Cobra” by Ray Collins and Arturo del Castillo, “Black Soldier” a western drawn by Ernesto Garcia Seijas,» The sweet color of the stars” by Grassi and Lucho Olivera, «Precinct 56» a thriller of Collins and Angel Alberto Fernandez, «Henga» by Ray Collins and Juan Zanotto and «Killing», drawn by Garcia Seijas. “Killing”  take its name from one of the photo-story magazines published by Scutti, character soon change its name to … «Skorpio», initially on own scripts drawn by Oswal (Osvaldo Roberto Viola) and then for a long time by Ernesto Garcia Seijas. Always at the same initial period unit drawn cartoons were published among others by Leopoldo Durañona, Victor Hugo Arias, Solano López, Lucho Olivera and Jorge Moliterni. About «Henga» say that narrated the adventures of a Neolithic hunter was actually descended from an extraterrestrial civilization, adventures where there were always beautiful women drawn by Zanotto. Skorpio material was completed with the sections «These are the creators» with reviews of the various artists who collaborated in the magazine, «Mail cartoon world» with the concerns of readers and «The Comic Strip club» with news, biographies, comments and reviews by the writers Carlos Trillo and also Guillermo Saccomanno. Closing each issue covers reproduced an engraving of the artist Frederick Remington titled «Old West».

 

  In a second step adds to its ranks Skorpio screenwriter Hector G. Oesterheld, who creates «Loco Sexton» a journalist of the Far West that draws Arturo del Castillo, «Nekrodamus» a story set in Renaissance Europe about a demon who seeks redemption by Horacio Lalia, and in December 1976 the second part of «The Eternauta» whose original version had made ​​Oesterheld and Solano Lopez in 1957. Other developments were «Hor, Daredevil» or “Hor, son of Henga «,» The Desert Scorpions» by Hugo Pratt, “Odysea 2000″ by Victor Hugo Arias and “Detectives’ Studio» a parody with art by Perez D’Elia. While Julio Cesar Medrano make military unit stories, especially aviation.

 

    Subsequent to May 1977 the name of the magazine becomes Skorpio Great Color, precisely because each issue includes three color cartoons. This can be considered the beginning of the most brilliant period of the magazine, which lasted until the early eighties and included the addition of new series such as «Alvar Mayor» (Carlos Trillo and Enrique Breccia) set in the fifteenth century during the conquest of America, «The Professionals» (the historical setting is the Mexican Revolution) and scripted by Jorge Moliterni drawings, great artist who died prematurely in 1979, «Ace of Spades» (Barreiro and Juan Gimenez) about the crew of a B-17 during World War II, «The condemned» (Saccomanno-Mandrafina) reminiscent in some respects to Papillon, «I Cyborg» and “Red Planet» both of Alfredo Grassi-Lucho Olivera,  “Lord Jim” by Carlos Albiac and Horacio Lalia (a disciple of Alberto Breccia specialist in horror and Victorian England), «The pilgrim of the Stars» (Trillo-Enrique Breccia), «Derek» (Saccomanno-Mandrafina), «Little king» by García Seijas and September 1978 in the No. 55 of Skorpio presentation of «Barbara», a dash of Ricardo Barreiro illustrated by Juan Zanotto. «Barbara» is possibly the most beautiful women of the comic Argentina and here had to fight an alien civilization that had enslaved humans. One attraction of the series (besides the protagonist) was that many of his adventures passed the ruins of a devastated city and practically covered with water that was none other than … Buenos Aires.

    For 1982/83 we see a decline in the quality of the magazine that loses color pages and is again Skorpio to dry. There is a predominance of the unit above the comic series, although in this case may be mentioned titles like «Mandy Riley», «Riff», «Gray Traveler» (by Alberto Breccia), «Gala», «New York Year Zero» and an unfortunate third version of «The Eternauta» written by Italian Alberto Ongaro and performed by a team of designers on some initial sketches by Solano Lopez. About the end of that decade Skorpio covers begin to imitate the aesthetics imposed by Fierro, comic book appeared in 1984, high impact among young audiences. Notwithstanding this decline continues, no characters emerge as relevant and by 1991 the highlights were the work of artist Enrique Alcatena, whose boundless imagination illustrated scripts of «Crossing the labyrinth» or «Mobile fortress».

      According to the website «Historieteca» Skorpio last number was 235 in January 1996. In September 1998 there was an attempted revival lasted only two numbers: 280 and 281. Novelty was published in the form of a color insert, chapters premiere of «Nippur de Lagash» classic series Editorial Columba, who by that time was also way to extinction. We close this summary of the nearly 25 years of Skorpio adding that the magazine had supplements under various titles, such as the Golden Book, Extra and Super Skorpio, which were published in some of the series already mentioned and others as «The Adventurers»,»Avrak»,»Across Oceania”, “Foreign Legion”, “Slot Barr” and “Cimarron”.

 Αποκλειστικά για το Comics Trades 2012 – 2013

                                                        Carlos R. Martinez

                                                           February 2013

Αυτή η εργασία χορηγείται με άδεια Creative Commons Αναφορά Δημιουργού-Μη Εμπορική Χρήση-Όχι Παράγωγα Έργα 3.0 Μη εισαγόμενο.

“SKORPIO” – Ο ΑΡΓΕΝΤΙΝΟ – ΙΤΑΛΙΚΟΣ «ΣΚΟΡΠΙΟΣ»

Στα μέσα της δεκαετίας του`70, κυριαρχούσε μια άλλη λογική σε όλα τα επίπεδα, σε σχέση πάντα με τα κόμικς και τους χαρακτήρες που διαβάζαμε. Ήταν οι επιρροές ακόμη νωπές, από την προηγούμενη δεκαετία, αυτές που καθοδηγούσαν τους δημιουργούς και τις εκδοτικές εταιρείες στο εξωτερικό. Όλα αυτά αντανακλούσαν φυσικά και στην δική μας μεταφρασμένη πραγματικότητα. Από το 1978 όμως κι έπειτα, άρχισαν οι μεγάλες αλλαγές. Για πολλές από αυτές, αλλά κυρίως για τον τρόπο που κάποιοι χαρισματικοί δημιουργοί έβλεπαν τα πράγματα και για την νέα αισθητική που πέρασαν μέσα από τις δουλειές τους, ευθύνονται δύο περιοδικά. Ήταν αυτά που αδόκιμα ίσως σαν όρο, χαρακτηρίζουμε στις μέρες μας σαν πολυθεματικά, με την έννοια ότι δεν περιείχαν μόνον ένα χαρακτήρα, αλλά 6 ή 7 διαφορετικούς, κυρίως σε αυτοτελείς ιστορίες. Και τα δύο αυτά περιοδικά, έκαναν μια μικρή χάρτινη επανάσταση και μας έδωσαν την ευκαιρία να γνωρίσουμε έναν άλλο υπέροχο σχεδιαστικό κόσμο, αυτό των Αργεντινών δημιουργών.

Διαβάστε την εκδοτική ιστορία του «Skorpio«, στην υπό – κατηγορία ‘«ΕΡΕΥΝΑ & ΚΑΤΑΓΡΑΦΗ», μαζί με κοινά εξώφυλλα της έκδοσης του εξωτερικού με την δική μας. Θα ακολουθήσουν κι άλλα άρθρα αφιερωμένα στο περιοδικό και τους δημιουργούς του, με επιμέρους έρευνα και παράθεση στοιχείων, όπως και αποσπασματικές σαρώσεις ιστοριών που περιείχε. Αυτό είναι το πρώτο σημερινό άρθρο που προστίθεται στην συγκεκριμένη κατηγορία. Θα ακολουθήσουν κι άλλα.

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ΤΑ ΕΞΩΦΥΛΛΑ ΤΟΥ «ΜΙΚΡΟΥ ΚΑΟΥΜΠΟΥ» – ΜΕΡΟΣ ΟΓΔΟΟ

Όσο προχωράει η έρευνα σχετικά με τις επιρροές που αντλήθηκαν και που αποτέλεσαν κάποια από τα εξώφυλλα του «Μικρού Καουμπόι», τόσο πιο πολύ ενδιαφέρον παρουσιάζουν τα αποτελέσματα. Συγχρόνως μας αποκαλύπτουν ότι οι συντελεστές της έκδοσης του περιοδικού, κ. κ. Ανδρεόπουλος ,Ραμπατζής πραγματικά είχαν δουλέψει πολύ πάνω στα εξώφυλλα και τις συμπληρωματικού χαρακτήρα εσωτερικές εικονογραφήσεις. Φανταστείτε έναν κόσμο χωρίς την ταχύτητα της διάδοσης στην πληροφορία και τις βάσεις δεδομένων που προσφέρει το διαδίκτυο και πηγαίνετε νοητά στις αρχές της δεκαετίας του`70, για να δείτε πόσο δύσκολες ήταν οι συνθήκες για να γίνουν όλα αυτά τα υπέροχα μοντάζ που είδαμε στις σελίδες του «Μικρού Καουμπόι» και φυσικά στα εξώφυλλα. Εκείνα λοιπόν τα χρόνια και με δεδομένο το γεγονός της μη ύπαρξης πολλών πηγών από τα Ελληνικά εικονογραφημένα, που περιείχαν ιστορίες γουέστερν, οι υπεύθυνοι του περιοδικού έπρεπε να έρθουν σε συνεννόηση με εκδοτικούς οίκους του εξωτερικού, για να πάρουν κάποια δείγματα από το ρεπερτόριο τους, ή απλά να αγοράσουν τεύχη ξένων εκδόσεων και από εκεί να «δανειστούν» καρέ. Αυτό προϋπόθετε μια έρευνα σε μάκρος, ώστε να επιλεγούν τα καρέ αυτά που ταίριαζαν με το περιοδικό. Τα αναφέρω όλα αυτά για να τονίσω ακόμη περισσότερο τις δυσκολίες που αντιμετώπισε η έκδοση του «Μικρού Καουμπόι» και πόσα πέτυχαν οι δύο εκδότες χάρη στο «μάτι» τους που λέμε και στο ένστικτο. Έκαναν πραγματικά θαύματα με ελάχιστα εφόδια! Ας επιστρέψουμε στην έρευνα, την σχετική με όσα αναφέραμε πριν. Στα χρόνια της εφηβείας μου, θυμάμαι ότι είχα δει πολλές φορές έναν συγκεκριμένο ερυθρόδερμο, είτε σαν εξώφυλλο, είτε σαν εσωτερική εικονογράφηση στον «Μικρό Καουμπόι». Τότε ήταν σχεδόν αδύνατον να φανταστώ την ιστορία του και πως έφθασε μέχρι εδώ! Πέρασαν 30 και πλέον χρόνια, μέχρι να βρεθούν τα στοιχεία, που αφορούν στην προέλευση του ινδιάνου που εικονίζεται στο εξώφυλλο του τεύχους 868(«Ο κρεμασμένος ένοχος»), αλλά και σε πολλές εσωτερικές σελίδες άλλων τευχών. Όπως μπορείτε να δείτε στις συνοδευτικές εικόνες του άρθρου, όλα ξεκίνησαν από το τεύχος 26 του περιοδικού “Lancio Story”, Αργεντινών δημιουργών και Ιταλών εκδοτών, με μεγάλη φήμη στην γειτονική χώρα, αφού περιείχε πολύ καλά σενάρια και σκίτσα. Κάποια απ` αυτά τα είδαμε στην δεκαετία του`80, όταν κυκλοφόρησε το «Σκαθάρι» της Μαμούθ Κόμικς. Στο τεύχος αυτό του “Lancio Story” υπάρχει η ιστορία γουέστερν “Come coda di volpe divenne bandito”(»Η απαγορευμένη αλογοουρά»), σε σκίτσα του εξαιρετικού Paolo Serpieri, που οι φίλοι των κόμικς θα θυμούνται περισσότερο από την σέξι “Druna”! Ο ινδιάνος του τεύχους 868 του «Μικρού Καουμπόι», είναι καρέ από το εσωτερικό πάνελ αυτής της ιστορίας, όπως και όλες οι εικόνες που είδαμε σ` αυτό το περιοδικό – θρύλος, για τα δικά μας δεδομένα πάντα. Όλες τις σχετικές με το άρθρο αυτό εικόνες, αλλά και τα μέχρι στιγμής αποτελέσματα της έρευνας μας, για τα εξώφυλλα του «Μικρού Καουμπόι», θα τις βρείτε στην υπό – κατηγορία «ΕΡΕΥΝΑ & ΚΑΤΑΓΡΑΦΗ».

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