The Warrior of the Mask.
The Warrior with the Mask is a series of Spanish comics created by Manuel Gago García. It was originally published by Editorial Valenciana between 1944 and 1966 without interruption. A color reissue was published in the 1970s and a few more issues in later years.
It is framed within the genre of action comics and its central argument is the battles fought by Adolfo de Moncada, a knight raised by a Muslim king named Ali Khan. After discovering his true origin, Moncada converts to Catholicism and fights Muslim warriors in XNUMXth-century Spain.
A very notorious cartoon
It is one of the most popular and transcendent comics of the XNUMXth century Spanish comic, also called "tebeo". The original edition had a total of 668 notebooks, with runs of up to 800.000 copies. It is the second Spanish comic strip with the most publications of its time, only behind Roberto Alcázar and Pedrín.
Recently, in 2016, a new comic collection called The Warrior with the Mask. The stories never told, by the cartoonist Miquel Quesada Ramos and the script by José Ramírez.
About the Author
Manuel Gago García was born in Valladolid, Spain, on March 7, 1925. During his adolescence and after the arrest of his father for causes related to the Spanish Civil War, his family moved to Albacete. There Manuel Gago worked in a mechanical workshop until tuberculosis took him away from physical work for a long time at the age of 16.
A regular reader
He was a voracious reader of the comics of American action heroes and from a very young age he sent some of his own works to different publishers in Barcelona and Valencia. His first relevant work as a cartoonist was The sacred oath and Viriatus, published in 1943 by Editorial Valenciana.
This comic was the predecessor of what was the author's most successful and popular work: The Warrior with the Mask. The latter began to be published in 1944, and for its production he had the help of his brother Pablo Gago and the screenwriter Pedro Quesada Cerdán, who would later become his brother-in-law.
A prolific writer
In addition to The Warrior with the Mask y The sacred oath and Viriatus, during his adolescence he produced and published other titles, among which stand out The gang of seven y The little fighter. The latter achieved considerable success, being published for eleven continuous years (1945 - 1956).
In 1946 he established his residence in Valencia, where he definitively joined the Valencian School of Cartoon and adopted the frenetic pace of work characteristic of this one. He began to publish more comics weekly, such as The Iron Swordsman y Purk, the stone man, initially for different publishers and then, for a brief period, exclusively for Editorial Valenciana.
Marriage
In 1948 he married Teresa Quesada Cerdán. Five children were born from the marriage. A couple of years later, together with his father and brothers, he founded Editorial Garga, a company that failed shortly after. In 1951 they founded Editorial Maga, which published the works of Manuel, Pablo and other cartoonists and screenwriters until 1986.
A creative by nature
During the rest of his life Manuel Gago García published comics simultaneously for Editorial Valenciana, Editorial Maga and other publishing houses such as Bruguera, in Barcelona. He was a very prolific cartoonist and one of the most recognized of the golden age of comics. He published more than 27.000 pages of his authorship.
For some periods he worked on more than five projects at the same time, which is why he sometimes prioritized action to the detriment of drawing. This is evidenced, for example, in the barely existing funds of many numbers of The Warrior with the Mask.
Death
He died prematurely on December 29, 1980 due to liver complications., he was 55 years old. At the time of his death he was working on the color reissue of The New Adventures of the Mask Warrior, which began to be published in the 70s.
A history of Reconquista
The Warrior with the Mask It is set in Spain, in the times of the Catholic Monarchs. Its protagonist, Adolfo de Moncada, is the son of the Countess of Roca, who during her pregnancy was kidnapped by the Muslim king Ali Kan. Adolfo has grown up as the son of the Muslim king, but upon reaching adulthood his mother reveals his true origin, after which he is killed by Ali Khan and Adolfo flees. Finding ourselves with this series of comics is like meeting a Don Quixote children's.
Following so many misadventures, he converts to Catholicism and embarks on a crusade as a Christian knight against the Muslims who are still in Spanish territory in the fight for the possession of Al-Andalus.
Manuel Gago Garcia.
Action as the protagonist
The cartoon is characterized by its vigorous storytelling with a cinematic style. The abundance of subplots and secondary characters enrich the main story and provide nuances regarding who are the good guys and the bad guys on each side (Muslim and Christian).
It is not simply a story of good versus evil. The protagonist himself is frequently torn between his natural origins and his Muslim upbringing and heritage. There are interesting and surprisingly independent female characters, taking into account the context and the time in which the comic was written. Also villains with different motivations and their own stories.
The action takes place mainly in Iberian territory, however, in later numbers it happens in Turkey, Italy, Algeria, Tunisia and other settings.
Historical and literary inspiration
For The Warrior with the Mask, Manuel Gago took as a reference the novel by Rafael Pérez y Pérez, The hundred knights of Isabel la Católica, which tells the stories and conflicts of the members of the royal guard in those times.
As for the narrative style, it is inspired by the Valencian School and American superhero comics. The main plot is located within an important historical context within the history of Spain: the Reconquest period
Characters
Adolf of Moncada
He is the main protagonist of the story. A warrior raised as a Muslim prince, who converts to Catholicism when he discovers his true origin. He is brave and strong. Wear a mask so they don't discover your Arab past.
Ali Khan
He is the adoptive father of the protagonist and main villain of the series. He kills Adolfo's mother and is wounded by him in his flight. It chases him at different times in the comic.
Ana Maria
It is the beloved of the protagonist. Brave and good-heartedShe is the daughter of Count Torres and finally marries Adolfo in notebook number 362.
Zoraida
At first she is Ali Kan's favorite lover, then she falls in love with Adolfo. She is an example of a strong and independent woman.
Captain Rodolfo
Knight in the service of Count Torres. He is a recurring antagonist in the story after the death of his brother at the hands of Adolfo, who mistook him for a Muslim warrior.