José Muñoz

With their hard-boiled stories featuring ex-policeman Alack Sinner, the Argentine duo Carlos Sampayo (script) and José Muñoz (artwork) have been enriching the world of comics since the 1970s! In doing so, they created a landmark in the ninth art: an anti-hero who is disillusioned, melancholic, lonely and addicted to alcohol. The stories offer a social critique of the ‘American way of life’, tackle racism and corruption, and feature losers, night owls, emigrants and killers. And they repeatedly reference political events such as the Vietnam War, Nicaragua or 9/11. All of this is brought to life on paper in an uncompromising black-and-white style, sometimes elegant, sometimes grotesquely caricatured, without hatching, without grey tones, without compromise! There is hardly a magazine in Europe in which they have not been published. Muñoz was awarded the Grand Prix at the 2002 Comic-Salon for his outstanding life’s work, as well asthe Grand Prix at the 2007 Angoulême Festival. A living legend!

For several years now, both “Alack Sinner” and “Joe’s Bar” have been available as comprehensive collected editions from avant-verlag.