Holland’s TINA comic was celebrated in style in 1977, but do you recognise any of the Spanish comic artists at a special event?
Back in 1977, the Spanish art team of the art agency Creaciones Editoriales visited the offices of the Dutch girls’ magazine TINA (a title launched simultaneously in 1967 by Fleetway in the UK and a consortium of European publishers, including, originally, Dutch company Spaarnestad) on the occasion of the title’s tenth anniversary in the Netherlands.
Back in 2022, Bas Schuddeboom, senior comic editor/writer at Donald Duck magazine and a researcher/editor at Lambiek Comiclopedia, shared vintage photographs of the occasion from the Fotopersbureau de Boer/Noord-Hollands Archief, in the same week TINA came out with a special vintage-themed supplement for subscribers. (For the event, the title reused the original British header from the 1960s and early 1970s).
Does anyone recognise the artists in this photograph, many of whom worked extensively for British comics?
Thanks to artist Jesús Redondo, we are able to identify some of the people in the photograph: he is kneeling, second from left, his wife, Ana, on her right in the picture, his wife, Isabel, on her left.
Artist Edmond (Edmundo Fernández Ripoll) is standing at the right of the picture and Rodrigo Rodríguez Comos, and his wife, are behind Purita and Edmond.
Kneeling on the right, in sunglasses, is writer and artist Francisco Ortega Orozco, also known as Paco Ortega, artist Purita Campos behind him with handbag under her arm.
Tina: The Origin
In the UK, Tina lasted just 40 issues before merging with Princess; in Holland, it’s still being published, by De Jonge Lezer, who bought the title in 2024, and its annual festival takes place later this month.
Wikipedia notes Tina was launched simultaneously by Fleetway in the UK in 1967 and a consortium of European publishers, including Dutch company Spaarnestad. Partners were also found in France (Publications Georges Ventillard), Germany (Buch- und Pressedienst), Italy, Austria, Luxembourg and Sweden. John Sanders, responsible for the successful Look and Learn and the less successful Ranger, was assigned as editor. In the UK, the comic proudly announced the worldwide nature in the editorial column ‘written’ by Tina.
The wide range of licensees, in addition to Fleetway’s traditional overseas markets of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, allowed the comic to proclaim it was “The Most Popular Girls’ Paper in the World”.
• TINA Festival – 26th – 27th September 2026
• The Last Dodo: TINA – Dutch Issues
• South African Comic Books: Tina
Creaciones Editoriales was a comic book and illustration distribution agency, founded by Carlos Conti in the 1940s, owned by Editorial Bruguera. Like other agencies of the time, such as Bardon Art or Selecciones Ilustradas, it was responsible for providing commissions from abroad to Spanish artists.
Lambiek Links
• Lambiek: Comics History – Dutch Comics 1968 -1979
• Francisco Ortega Orozco, also known as Paco Ortega
• Edmond (Edmundo Fernández Ripoll)
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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