Review by Frank Plowright
Alvar Mayor is an adventurer in 17th century South America, but unlike his countrymen he’s taken time to explore the land and befriend the local people, so is held in respect by all. Beginning in 1977 Carlos Trillo and Enrique Brecchia began serialising twelve page episodes of his exploits forging his own path, but in the opening stories accompanied by tribesman Tihuo. Having a friend with even greater local knowledge is a distinct asset when having to work for greedy and ignorant Spanish overlords.
Around half of these fourteen short stories are the creators finding their way. Trillo depends too much on tales of avaricious Spaniards hiring a guide only for things to end with them all dead, and although Brecchia was an established artist when starting Alvar Mayor, he takes a few episodes to settle into the the style he’ll use for the remainder. At first glance pages in the earliest stories could be mistaken for the work of Francisco Solano López with their busy locations and action orientation, but Brecchia eventually develops something more visually startling.
This accompanies Trillo broadening his concepts to encompass emotions beyond greed, and occasionally taking a spiritual turn. By the volume’s end both creators have moved far closer to what the strip will become, Brecchia’s art notably individual, accompanied by scripts with greater depth. Book 2 elevates the series further.
As with other European work presented in English by Epicenter Comics, Vladimir Jovanovic is credited for translation, and it’s substandard. While not consistently shoddy, poor English phrasing plagues the text pages, and continues into the stories. “Lot of money” instead of “A lot of money” or “lots of money” is an early example, and how many readers are likely to know the term “heterogeneous”?
As of writing this is out of print, only available from Epicenter’s shop as part of the four volume Alvar Mayor box set.
