Àngel de la Calle

The comic artist, graphic designer and illustrator Ángel de la Calle, born in 1958 in Molinillo de la Sierra near Salamanca, started his career at the journal »Star« at the end of the 70s. In the 80s he published regularly in Spanish magazines like »Bésame Mucho«, »Rambla«, »Comix Internacional« or »El Víbora«, as well as in foreign magazines such as the Swiss »Tung Metal«, the French »Fantastik« or the US-American »Heavy Metal«. His works in the comic section alternated between graphic design and illustration, and he created the storyboard for the film »El lado oscuro« (tr: The Dark Side) by Gonzalo Suárez. In 1996 de la Calle, alias Adela C, invented the cartoon »Mar y Mari« for the daily newspapers »La Nueva España« and »El Comercio«. In France he published an illustrated edition of the novella »Mi amigo Moran« (2002, tr: My friend Moran) by Paco Ignacio Taibo II. »Diarios de festival« (tr: Festival Diaries) was published in 2006. In these he introduces the genre of an author’s personal diary, told in little stories, into the comic market; this was followed by his most recent story »Entre líneas« (tr: Between the Lines) that emerged in cooperation with Jorge García for the book »Nuestra guerra civil« (tr: Our civil war).
His most ambitious work is the graphic novel »Modotti. Una mujer del siglo XX« (tr: Modotti. A Woman of the 20th Century), which was released in two parts, in 2003 and 2005 respectively, and which has already been published in several countries – Italy, Brazil, Portugal, France and Germany. The particular feature of the book is Ángel de la Calle’s double achievement: on the one hand his research work on the biography of the revolutionist Tina Modotti, one the other hand the illustration of her personal history. He succeeds in showing an intimate and complex historical story about the celebrated photographer and communist unifying biography and fiction. In his drawings he manages to maintain the historical accuracy of locations and cultural possessions – such as famous paintings – without losing sight of his own style.
He received several prizes for »Modotti«, among these the Premio de la Crítica 2005, the Brazilian award for the best »unexpected success in a foreign-language« and was nominated for the prize of the Salón de Barcelona for the best work and best storyboard. Ángel de la Calle is co-editor of the journal »Dentro de la Viñeta« and long-time director of the International Comic Days of Avilés. Furthermore he is responsible for the comic section at the popular crime festival Semana Negra in Gijón which he has been organising for twenty years. Currently he is working on the comic »Flores del Mal« (tr: Flowers of the evil), which probably will be published in 2013. It is going to be a historical outline, similar to »Modotti«, about revolutionary Latin-American painters living in European exile in the 1960s and 1970s. The author lives in Gijón.

© internationales literaturfestival berlin

Mon ami Morán
Les 400 Coups
Paris, 2002

Nuestra guerra civil
Ariadna
Córdoba, 2006

El Hombre Enmascarado
En el sendero
Sinsentido
Madrid, 2007

Modotti: eine Frau des 20. Jahrhunderts
Rotbuch
Berlin, 2011
[Ü: Timo Berger]