Dani Fano from San Sebastian Teleaton. The hallucinogenic pumpkin published a comic last year with the Ikastolen Elkartea. This book contains the adventures that were released in sections in the comic magazine Xabiroi between 2005 and 2007. He is the coordinator of the magazine, from where we started the conversation that immediately addressed the substance.

The publication of Xabiroi –and comics like Teleato- by the Association of Schools will be positive, right?

Yes, it provides an incredibly high level of protection. I believe that the most effective way to make a real promotion of the comic is through magazines, or high-frequency publications. Unfortunately, publishers dealing with Basque culture have not taken this step. A magazine makes it possible to bring together comic book authors; today, it would not be possible anywhere else, only in the Association of Scholars. The magazine is distributed directly to thousands of readers; trying to bring a comic to the kiosk is suicide. The entire Ikastolen network has made it possible to launch Xabiroi.

The creators have often talked about the role of publishers and the panorama of the Basque comic.

I know it sounds very apocalyptic, but I always say that the Basque comic does not exist. Something is moving, but three or four publications a year... what three or four, the release of one or two comics a year is nothing. For me, the Basque comic is what is done in Basque. In the Basque Country we have Astiberri, a very strong publishing house, but it releases few comics in Basque. There is almost nothing in Basque, and the little that exists, at least in recent years, is aimed at young adults. There is no planning, which exists in the written literature: “We will publish several books aimed at readers in the age range 6-9, I don’t know how many more for the 9 to 12...”

These books look at schools...

There is no such thing in the comic. When we came, it was black. It was aimed at young children, and we proposed Xabiroi to distribute it among students between 12 and 18 years of ESO. But a short time after Xabiroi's creation, Ipurnegro disappeared. There's a huge hole left.

It’s very important to work in a quarry.

It's a big deal! Our collaborator and friend Arthur Suydam says that in the United States they have noticed this gap with superhero comics: the superhero comics of 20 years ago were aimed at children, while the current ones have deeper scripts, complex subplots... What has happened? At the age of 8-10, those who read these comics continue to buy them and have forgotten the readers who follow them. These have been fully influenced by the Japanese manga.

Do you notice the shadow of the manga here too?

Oh, yeah, yeah. We owe it to the ETB. Well, not just him, but all the TVs. They buy the cheapest product, and the Japanese create cheap cartoons in the department. In addition, the anime that comes here is very bad; they are not the works of Hayao Miyazaki and such, they do not work for two soos. Televisions have created a new aesthetic that is a close connection from anime to manga. The Japanese have everything well planned: first they sell cartoons to your TV; viewers don’t pay anything to watch cartoons, but they will buy magazines, toys and all other merchandising. Our public television, like the others, has been included in this strategy.

Going back to the issue of publishers, why don’t they make a stronger bet on comics?

I don’t have a specific explanation, but it is true that the publishers whose mission is to promote Basque culture do not have a comic... the truth is that they don’t see them with bad eyes, but they don’t even look at them. In the end, it’s about the people behind it. Those who have been deciding what to post and what not to post are probably not comic book lovers. It's just sad.

Passion is important...

Oh, yes, of course. This is also seen in schools. They are all subscribers to the magazine Xabiroi, and each one decides how many copies to order. The numbers vary depending on the teacher. Some believe more in the product.

The new supports

How will digitalization, new media (iPad, iPhone...) affect both authors and publishers?

Changes will come and we will prepare. In any case, I always say the same thing: let the printing and publishing houses be clear, and not us, the creators.

What about the middlemen?

Oh, yeah, yeah. When the creators come to me worried, I tell them to stay calm, that the worry should be others. Thanks to the new supports, the publishing process is simplified, which benefits us.

And do you notice this concern from the publishers?

Most publishers, including us [Xabiroi], are always following us. It’s normal, you place yourself on a stand – on paper – and that requires a lot of work, a powerful structure to get you going. While you’re at it, others are inventing new things and it’s hard to be everywhere. But they will have to wake up, not in the way they are doing, by proposing Leonine contracts that give them the right to anything about the products, but in a different way, changing the format, the distribution models and many other things.

The Internet is wonderful, it has become a place of true communication; look at Wikileaks. It is of great benefit to the creation. I don’t know if it will be a trick to live from the comic, to live as a professional, or if it will bring advantages or disadvantages in general, but it is positive for the creator. Anyone will be able to publish the comic, but only a few will be able to create it. What you create is irreplaceable. On the contrary, distribution, publication... these can be replaced.

What about the ghost of piracy?

The key is to know where to charge, where to get four ounces of beans to eat. Many comic book lovers don’t like to think of yourself as a professional creator. It seems that it is not pure, and that you have to live like the Galician comic book writer Álvarez Rabo, when inspiration comes to you working and doing comics in El Corte Inglés. That’s true, but so is the other. If this society has to send me to take it from the pop, send me to do what I want, at least I'll enjoy it. How to get that on the Internet? With advertising, through subscriptions... The music is ahead of us and we are all looking at it. Maybe you should give the opportunity to download comics from the website for 1 euro, and there will be an advertising window next to the comic, I don't know. Anyway, that's the least of my worries. For the creator, the biggest problem is that of distribution, of spreading what you do to people. The market is controlled from there. Thanks to the Internet, this can work for us.

I think the comic will come later. Reading a novel on a tablet, well, but a comic, although there are screens of increasing quality... There is also the question of size. The iPad will be cheap, but... We need to be cautious about the formats, which are not stabilized. Imagine that you are a publisher, and that you put all your energies into one format; see what happened with the Beta and VHS video formats.

Speaking of size, what do you think of the “Graphic Novel” label?

I think it's silly. Unlike other places, comic book writers here have been full of complexes, because we are Saltinbankies-y. Yeah, that's us! But because of such a desire for intellectuality or I don't know why... As Iñaki Holgado says, he makes tebeos. I joke that I make tebeo graphics. What is a graphic novel and what is not? In written literature, a novel is not measured by its length. Does it depend on the subject? Or the color? It's the same language, the same support. Long comics, the trend of black and white publishing, will continue to work. Because it is not published in black and white because it is more beautiful, because it is more intellectual, but because it is cheaper. If you want to tell a story of 200 to 300 pages, you have no other choice; the laws of the market dictate: black and white, light drawings...