Categories Comics magazine Publisher La Cúpula Final issue January 2005 | Frequency Monthly First issue December 1979 Country Spain | |
El Víbora (meaning The Viper in English) was a Spanish language monthly alternative comics magazine published in Barcelona, Spain, between 1979 and 2005. The magazine was subtitled as "Comix for Survivors".
History and profile
El Víbora was established in December 1979. The founders were a group of Spanish cartoonists led by Josep Maria Berenguer. Catalan comics publisher Josep Toutain financed and helped the establishment of the magazine which was published by La Cúpula.
Josep Maria Berenguer wanted to name the magazine as GOMA 3 which refers to the explosive used by the Basque terrorist/nationalist organization ETA during the 1970s. However, it was rejected by the Spanish authorities.
El Víbora was published monthly and had its headquarters in Barcelona. The contributors included not only Spanish authors but also French and American ones, including Peter Bagge, Robert Crumb and Charles Burns. Native contributors were Max, Nazario, Mariscal and Pons. Of them, Max created the characters of Gustavo, Peter Pank, Gallardo and Mediavilla. Hernán Migoya served as the editor-in-chief of the magazine from 1992 to 1998. The last editor was Sergi Puertas.
The circulation of El Víbora was 45,000 copies in 1983. It was 6,000 copies in 2004 just before its last issue in January 2005. The magazine ran over 300 issues during its existence.