Spanish comics

Tebeo is a phonetic adaptation of TBO, a long-running (1917–1983) Spanish comic magazine, and sounds like "te veo" ("I see you").

Spanish artists have traditionally worked in other markets reaching great success, either in the American (e.g., Eisner Award winners Sergio Aragonés, Salvador Larroca, Gabriel Hernández Walta, Marcos Martín or David Aja), the British (e.g., Carlos Ezquerra, co-creator of Judge Dredd) or the Franco-Belgian one (e.g., first Fauve d'Or winner Julio Ribera or Blacksad authors Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido).

After the Spanish Civil War the Franco regime imposed strict censorship in all media, and comics were no exception.

In 1944 the medieval hero El Guerrero del Antifaz ("the masked warrior") was created by Manuel Gago and published by Editorial Valenciana.

[3] During this period, Editorial Bruguera created a recognizable style of humor comics with a mixture of comedy of manners and slapstick (influenced by Franco-Belgian authors such as Franquin) starring chronic losers.

Among the popular characters of this era were Cifré's El repórter Tribulete, Escobar's Carpanta and Zipi y Zape, and Vázquez's Las hermanas Gilda.

Editorial Valenciana published adventures comics such as Roberto Alcázar y Pedrín (debuting in 1940), Miguel Quesada's La Pandilla de los Siete and El Guerrero del Antifaz.

Editorial Valenciana's humor series were not as slapstick, with more absurd and harmless comedy; they featured synthetic drawing and, in academic terms, were more finished, with an "abundance of backgrounds, change of perspective, depth of field" and some statism.