‘The Adventures of Captain Torrezno’, the most ambitious epic of Spanish comics

In 2002, Santiago Valenzuela published the first volume of his book, ‘Distant Horizons’. ‘The adventures of Captain Torrezno, an epic based on a short story written by him. “I don’t consider myself a writer, but I decided to write the story of a man who set up some kind of model in his basement and created a few miniature people in it. He went away and came back years later to find that they had evolved, created cities, some even used flags as ID cards, some as credit cards.” He was stunned to see that there were different armies fighting in a religious war that he was carrying. In the end, God was afraid. His creation and second coming ended the same way as in the comics, with his house exploding due to a butane leak because although he played the Creator, he was a victim of death because he could not control his own circumstances.

Believing that the story could be adapted into a comic book, Valenzuela began developing the story and meeting some of the characters who would play an important role in his work. “Suddenly, There we encountered the character of God, the mysterious drunk from the bars who works mild miracles. and it finally showed up Captain Torrezno is your typical alien character who finds himself in a world he does not know. and it’s so out of place that it ends up creating comic effect.

From that moment Santiago Valenzuela found himself faced with two possibilities: to opt for a traditional story about bars and drunks in Madrid, or to shape an epic with various reading levels. References to academic culture and winks to popular culturereviewed some of the most important events in human history.

“Instead of focusing on traditions, I chose to translate the Marxist slogan ‘first tragedy, then comedy’ into reality and play with history, mixing a Roman legion with Germans, just as children play with plastic soldiers. The soldiers of the Second World War are sometimes not even on the same scale. Although an original Although it may seem like a suggestion, it is not that much, because in a country where there is no comic book industry and there are comic books. There are not many dedicated people in this field, it is not that difficult to distinguish. On the other hand, despite the ambition that characterizes the work, in general there is a certain There’s humility. Genre literature doesn’t need typical humility. Whether it’s a thesis, whether it’s something topical, whether it’s something that worries people and where humor is important, because things done without humor have a bit of a ridiculous side to them.

Everything is written

More than twenty years since the appearance of the first volume and National Comics Award behind them, The Adventures of Captain Torrezno They currently have eleven volumes, the latest of which, ‘Anamnesis’, came to light a few weeks ago as a promotional claim: “This is how the microworld began. Not even God knows how it will end.”

“Well, I know how the story ends. In fact, everything is very defined from the beginning. before going out ‘Far Horizons’, I already had some notebooks lying around with a lot of the stuff that came out later; for example, it’s sort of a parody of the Death Star, with a cutaway view of saucers, ships, or flyers. balloons on a ceiling… Even though I didn’t collect things systematically, some of them did, it was a period when I thought ‘this will appear in such and such an episode’. still far away. Then I add other things that more or less close all the gaps and at the same time open new lines,” says Valenzuela, predicting how ‘The Adventures of Captain Torrezno’ will continue in the future.

“In volume twelve, which I am currently working on, the story of the basement in Valverde Street ends as follows: representing one third of the total history. The second part will be the meeting of microcosm and macrocosm, which will take place in lush rural Galicia and seaside Galicia, two regions where different groups of Lilliputians will settle. Then the differences between macro and micro disappear, giving way to a final part that will take place in another time and another galaxy. Between, My opinion is that Captain Torrezno gained sophistication and stopped being impartial.He begins to realize that he will never return to his old life again, and this situation becomes more tragic.

There is one more fact that adds to Santiago Valenzuela’s passion for narrative: The fantasy genre he developed requires very realistic drawing, done in his case with traditional techniques, without resorting to computers other than labeling and shading.. “Many people tell me that switching to a digital tablet will save time, but this means that the work process will take place in front of the screen from the very beginning, and I am not convinced that texture can be achieved with any brush, eventually you lose contact with the pen, because the digital pen has a plastic tip on another plastic It is nothing more,” says Valenzuela, who, it must be said, is not satisfied with routine graphic solutions to go beyond the norm.

“If I have to draw people getting into an elevator for four pages, I can’t make all four pages the same. To amuse myself, to amuse the reader, each one will be different, and I think as a professional you also have to have a certain deontology,” explains the author. He is aware of the enormous task ahead of him until he reaches the conclusion. ‘The adventures of Captain Torrezno. “I think these are things that fit the character. There are people who start something and want to finish it, and there are people with delayed gratification. I think psychologically I’m one of the latter, because although I like finishing, “I also look away. “I think that’s partly a result of the genre of comics I grew up with, the ‘to be continued…’ comics.”