Horacio Altuna is by some length Argentina’s best known comic artist, though since 1982 he has been living and working in Sitges in Spain, on the coast south of Barcelona. The move was partly to access European clients more easily, and partly because of his unhappiness with loose Argentinian copyright practice. Altuna’s combination of imagination, graphic detail, versatility and sheer quantity of quality work is truly impressive.

Altuna grew up in Córdoba in central Argentina, and began working in the comics world in 1965 for the publisher Editorial Columbia. His first characters were Titan, a Superman-like superhero, Kabul de Bengala, and Hilario Corvalán. From 1973 to 1976 he collaborated with Fleetway, Ediciones Record, Charlton Comics, Playboy, and the French Les Humanoïdes Associés.

In 1975 Altuna created the character of journalist Hugo Chávez, better known as El Loco Chavez (Crazy Chavez), for years one of the Argentina’s most popular comics strips. The strip was a huge success, and was adapted for TV and published in Spain and France. For several years Altuna became secretary of the Argentinian Comic Association, and taught graphics at the School of Arts in Buenos Aires.
 
After moving to Spain, Altuna started drawing stories for Editorial Toutain, and short illustrated erotic stories for Playboy. His comic strip Familia Tipo (The Average Family) for the Spanish newspaper El Periódico, first appeared in 2005, followed from 2010 onwards by the sequel, Es Lo Que Hay (Reality), for Clarín.
 
Altuna has won many awards for his work. In 2004 he was awarded the Grand Prize of the Barcelona International Comic Fair, the first non-Spanish artist to receive the award, and in 2009 he participated in the exhibition ‘Bicentennial: 200 Years of Graphic Humour’ at the Eduardo Sívori Museum in Buenos Aires.

We are very grateful to our Russian friend Yuri for encouraging us to include this artist, and for supplying most of the images.