| José Sanchis Grau | |
|---|---|
| Born | José Sanchis Grau June 19, 1932 Valencia, Spain |
| Died | August 2, 2011 (aged 79) |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Area(s) | Writer, artist |
| Notable works | Pumby |
José Sanchis Grau (June 19, 1932 – August 2, 2011)[1] was a Spanish comic book writer. He also worked for Editorial Bruguera[2] and Spanish children comics in general. He was the creator of strips like Pumby (1954) and Robín Robot (1972).
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Sanchis was born in Valencia. He started drawing for money when he was 16 years old, in 1948, and later for the magazine Jaimito, with his first recurring character, El soldadito Pepe. Despite being accidentally wounded by gunfire in 1950, he continued to draw for the editorial for the magazine "Cubilete" and the press of Valencia, giving life to series of minor significance, such as El Machote, El Recluta Policarpo, Pandolfito Cebollínez, Gaspar, etc.[3]
In 1954, on the number 260 of the magazine Jaimito, appeared his most prominent character, the cat Pumby, in whose series the author gave free rein to his fantasy, quickly connecting with young audiences. Prove of this is that a few months later, on April 23, 1955, a new magazine with the name of the character, Pumby was launched and it exceeded one thousand numbers, and in December 1959 appeared Super Pumby, in whose pages the feline transformed into a superhero whose powers come from unusual ingestion of orange juice.
At the same time he developed new comedy series for the weekly magazine directed at women Mariló such as Marilín y la moda (1955) and for Jamito such as El Capitán Mostachete (1958), Sandokancio or Don Esperpento.[4] He worked at Editorial Valenciana until its demise in 1984, but this does not prevent him from publishing works in the press or humorous magazines from other publishers. Some remarkable characters are Benjamín y su pandilla (1955) for the weekly children's Trampolín or Robín Robot, who developed his adventures in the magazine Zipi y Zape of Editorial Bruguera in 1972.
After the Spanish comic crisis caused by the closures of Editorial Bruguera and Editorial Valenciana Sanchis stopped working on the comic for a few years but returned in 1991 with Els Fills de Pumby (Children of Pumby), series published in the Valencian language journal Camacuc.
In 1993 he published a history of Valencia in comics starring Pumby, and in 1994 he illustrated the Dictionary of the Valencian language. In 1996 he was awarded the Grand Prize at the Barcelona Comic Fair for his long career in the world of comics. That same year he created a new header, again based on his most famous character, Kuasar Pumby.
After several trials, two judgments were published and Sanchis finally got the rights to his character, who until that point was held by the heirs of Editorial Valenciana. He also achieved "moral compensation for damages resulting from the misappropriation of his work by a third party to use it to non-consensual ends".[5]
| Years | Title | Kind | Publication |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | El Soldadito Pepe | Series | Taco Myrga, "Jaimito" (Valenciana) |
| 1948 | El Machote | Series | Taco Myrga, "Jaimito" |
| 1948 | El Recluta Policarpo | Series | "Cubilete" |
| 1948 | Pandolfito Cebollínez | Series | "Jaimito" |
| 1948 | Gaspar | Series | "La hora del recreo" |
| 1954 | Pumby | Series | "Pumby" (Valenciana) |
| 1958 | El Capitán Mostachete | Series | "Jaimito" (Valenciana) |
| 1972 | Robín Robot | Series | "Zipi y Zape" (Bruguera) |
| 1978 | Mazinger-Z, el robot de las estrellas | Serial, co-written with Federico Amorós | Valenciana |