Update 37: 13/11/2017 Tribute to Moebius new adds:
In 2001 they were selected for the Injuve youth institute competition along with Laura López under the name Grupo Eccentrico. In 2002 they are again selected in this comic contest, which leads them to collaborate in 2003 in Tapa Roja (Sinsentido Editions).
After taking part in in various drawing exhibitions and travel diaries for L'Espace Sinsentido, Pantha Rei, and Estampa, in 2006, Diábolo published his first book, Monitocadáver, a compilation of short comics made with José Robledo in recent years.
Monitocadaver, 2006
In 2007 José Robledo and Marcial Toledano started working on their first Franco-Belgian series for Dargaud, Ken Games, with Robledo taking charge of the script and Toledano with the drawings. For this work of black series, they were nominated in 2010 for best album, script and drawing, in the Barcelona Comic Con and for the best album in Expocómic Madrid.
Its title, as well as that of its albums, and the name of its three main characters, refers to the game of stone, paper and scissors (Pierre, Feuille and Ciseaux in French). Each chapter is narrated by one of these characters.
Ken Games, 2009 - 2010
In 2012, they took part in a collective project WW 2.2 published by Dargaud. This is a series of 7 numbers that were published all that year, telling how the story would have been raised if some events had occurred otherwise during world war 2. They wrote part 2 of those limited series.
Operation Felix, WW2 (2012)
In 2013 we found a collaboration in the Orbital series of editions Dupuis, it's a "one shot" of the peculiar universe of Serge Pelé and Sylvain Runberg, in which we find the main characters of the series, Caleb and Mézoké, and also Nina, whose story we discovered through a story drawn by Marcial Toledano.
Also in 2013, Marcial and José completed the Ken Games cycle with an album featuring Louviers. It's a prequel to the original trilogy, and tells the life of Louviers as a hitman before the beginning of the events narrated in Ken Games 1. Dargaud also published an integral album of the four parts.
In 2016, they released the first volume of Tebori (Dargaud). Tebori is the Japanese practice of tattooing by hand using a rod made of wood or metal with a series of needles on the end. When the Japanese mafia (Yakuza) enters the scene we have a whole thriller.
Tebori, 2016
They have also workd as graphic designers and illustrators for Belio, MGZ, CALLE20, Sony, the Madrid City Council and many others as well.
There are too many! I like them in Europe, Bonhomme and J.Luigi Critone, Gipi. In the USA, Coipel, Immonen, F. Quitely. In Japan Asano and Urasawa...the list is too long.
- TBE: After a long career, do you have any "thorn in the flesh", like working with a specific artist, or working for any new editorial, or in any professional field that you haven't explored yet?
Maybe doing something in the american market, but this will probably change soon...
- TBE: What can you tell us about your working experience in Dargaud? Would you like to work in a different way, like for example in the USA comic market?
- TBE: What can you tell us about your current job? What about your upcoming projects?
Right now I'm drawing the first pages of a new series with Sylvain Runberg. A science fiction story in a near post-apocalyptic future. It'll surely be out next year in France.
It's also about to appear a collaboration of Marsupilami, the famous French-Belgian cartoon character created by André Franquin.
Advance of the next work with Sylvain Runberg, to be out in 2018
Well, it's so much that I don't know where to start! In short, I will say that at a professional level I probably wouldn't do what I do if I had not read his comics, if he had not made me daydream with his drawings. He was a true genius and a teacher.
It's been an honor counting on you in this tribute and, given the workload you had, the fact that you have treated us so well. We are captivated by your style and eager to see the results of your current projects, especially that work with Sylvain Runberg, who looks excellent. Cheers...and good luck!!!
Sources:
Diavolo Ediciones
Europe comics
Guía del cómic
Tebeosfera
Wikipedia
The art of Marcial Toledano
Born in Talavera de la Reina (Spain) in 1980, Toledano finished his degree in Arts in the Complutense University of Madrid, where he met Jose Robledo, his partner creating comics.
In 2001 they were selected for the Injuve youth institute competition along with Laura López under the name Grupo Eccentrico. In 2002 they are again selected in this comic contest, which leads them to collaborate in 2003 in Tapa Roja (Sinsentido Editions).
After taking part in in various drawing exhibitions and travel diaries for L'Espace Sinsentido, Pantha Rei, and Estampa, in 2006, Diábolo published his first book, Monitocadáver, a compilation of short comics made with José Robledo in recent years.
Monitocadaver, 2006
In 2007 José Robledo and Marcial Toledano started working on their first Franco-Belgian series for Dargaud, Ken Games, with Robledo taking charge of the script and Toledano with the drawings. For this work of black series, they were nominated in 2010 for best album, script and drawing, in the Barcelona Comic Con and for the best album in Expocómic Madrid.
Its title, as well as that of its albums, and the name of its three main characters, refers to the game of stone, paper and scissors (Pierre, Feuille and Ciseaux in French). Each chapter is narrated by one of these characters.
Ken Games, 2009 - 2010
In 2012, they took part in a collective project WW 2.2 published by Dargaud. This is a series of 7 numbers that were published all that year, telling how the story would have been raised if some events had occurred otherwise during world war 2. They wrote part 2 of those limited series.
Operation Felix, WW2 (2012)
In 2013 we found a collaboration in the Orbital series of editions Dupuis, it's a "one shot" of the peculiar universe of Serge Pelé and Sylvain Runberg, in which we find the main characters of the series, Caleb and Mézoké, and also Nina, whose story we discovered through a story drawn by Marcial Toledano.
Also in 2013, Marcial and José completed the Ken Games cycle with an album featuring Louviers. It's a prequel to the original trilogy, and tells the life of Louviers as a hitman before the beginning of the events narrated in Ken Games 1. Dargaud also published an integral album of the four parts.
Ken Games Louviers, 2013
In 2016, they released the first volume of Tebori (Dargaud). Tebori is the Japanese practice of tattooing by hand using a rod made of wood or metal with a series of needles on the end. When the Japanese mafia (Yakuza) enters the scene we have a whole thriller.
Tebori, 2016
They have also workd as graphic designers and illustrators for Belio, MGZ, CALLE20, Sony, the Madrid City Council and many others as well.
This is our interview with Marcial Toledano:
- TBE: What has your biggest artistic influence been and how has your drawing style evolved?
There have been many, and
not all stylistically...but probably Jean Giraud, Frank Miller,
Mignola and Akira Toriyama are among the strongest. In this order. And this summarizes a little bit the tics of my way of drawing.
The cinema is another of my passions. My style has evolved a lot since I work professionally and will continue to do so.
I try that each project has its own different atmosphere. Now I am in a more realistic phase, we could say, but I don't think it will last long...
The cinema is another of my passions. My style has evolved a lot since I work professionally and will continue to do so.
I try that each project has its own different atmosphere. Now I am in a more realistic phase, we could say, but I don't think it will last long...
- TBE: What are the current graphic artists that you like the most?
There are too many! I like them in Europe, Bonhomme and J.Luigi Critone, Gipi. In the USA, Coipel, Immonen, F. Quitely. In Japan Asano and Urasawa...the list is too long.
- TBE: After a long career, do you have any "thorn in the flesh", like working with a specific artist, or working for any new editorial, or in any professional field that you haven't explored yet?
- TBE: What is your favorite technique for drawing and coloring?
Pencil,paper and pen when drawing, and watercolor for coloring. But for reasons of productivity the use of the computer has become obligatory for all of us!
- TBE: In what point in your career did you feel more comfortable working and with more creative freedom?
Well, I'm quite lucky about it, I've always felt that way. Together with Robledo, who is my best friend, I have always felt part of the projects and with total freedom. As in Dargaud with the support of François Le Bescond. In other collaborations it was the same, because they have always looked for my concerns, so far it has been like that. I hope it lasts...
- TBE: What do you think of digital comic books ... is the comic industry in danger / crisis with the menace of pirate downloads? How can this affect the work of artists?
I like digital comics, I buy quite a lot of comic book in digital. But piracy is something else...against which it's almost impossible to fight.
Sometimes, it is smarter to offer Netflix-like services than to try to fight piracy. I think that the authors' survival depends not so much on piracy, but on the fact that culture has generally poor promotion, and competition in leisure is very hard against movies, series, video games, etc.
Pencil,paper and pen when drawing, and watercolor for coloring. But for reasons of productivity the use of the computer has become obligatory for all of us!
- TBE: In what point in your career did you feel more comfortable working and with more creative freedom?
Well, I'm quite lucky about it, I've always felt that way. Together with Robledo, who is my best friend, I have always felt part of the projects and with total freedom. As in Dargaud with the support of François Le Bescond. In other collaborations it was the same, because they have always looked for my concerns, so far it has been like that. I hope it lasts...
Orbital, Premières Rencontres, Ed. Dupuis
- TBE: What do you think of digital comic books ... is the comic industry in danger / crisis with the menace of pirate downloads? How can this affect the work of artists?
I like digital comics, I buy quite a lot of comic book in digital. But piracy is something else...against which it's almost impossible to fight.
Sometimes, it is smarter to offer Netflix-like services than to try to fight piracy. I think that the authors' survival depends not so much on piracy, but on the fact that culture has generally poor promotion, and competition in leisure is very hard against movies, series, video games, etc.
- TBE: What can you tell us about your working experience in Dargaud? Would you like to work in a different way, like for example in the USA comic market?
The experience has been great, in every way. Maybe I miss a little bit more diffusion, but there is too much production!
The way of working is very free, once the project is approved they have always let us do as we would...and the time of realization is broad, nothing to do with deadlines in the US market.
It's better to work in Europe at a creative level than in the USA, but it also depends on the publisher. Marvel is not the same as DarkHorse or Image ...
The way of working is very free, once the project is approved they have always let us do as we would...and the time of realization is broad, nothing to do with deadlines in the US market.
It's better to work in Europe at a creative level than in the USA, but it also depends on the publisher. Marvel is not the same as DarkHorse or Image ...
- TBE: What can you tell us about your current job? What about your upcoming projects?
Right now I'm drawing the first pages of a new series with Sylvain Runberg. A science fiction story in a near post-apocalyptic future. It'll surely be out next year in France.
It's also about to appear a collaboration of Marsupilami, the famous French-Belgian cartoon character created by André Franquin.
Advance of the next work of Marsupilami
Advance of the next work with Sylvain Runberg, to be out in 2018
- TBE: What memory / relationship / influence do you have with Jean Giraud and his work?
Well, it's so much that I don't know where to start! In short, I will say that at a professional level I probably wouldn't do what I do if I had not read his comics, if he had not made me daydream with his drawings. He was a true genius and a teacher.
It's been an honor counting on you in this tribute and, given the workload you had, the fact that you have treated us so well. We are captivated by your style and eager to see the results of your current projects, especially that work with Sylvain Runberg, who looks excellent. Cheers...and good luck!!!
Sources:
Diavolo Ediciones
Europe comics
Guía del cómic
Tebeosfera
Wikipedia
