Beginnings (1930–39) La Valenciana was created in 1932 by Juan Bautista Puerto Belda, producing mainly sentimental
serials (
Soledad, nacida en el fango, 1938), popular novels and scripts for Valencian theater (
La Carmencita).
A new beginning (1940–45) After the
war, his
heir Juan Manuel Puerto redirected production toward a
child audience, following the good sales achieved by the
trading card album Deporte e instrucción and the adventure booklet
Roberto Alcázar y Pedrín by Eduardo Vañó. He unsuccessfully sought authorization for a regular periodical publication,
Consolidation (1946–49) In 1946, Juan Puerto slowed down the rate of new titles after observing the commercial success of
El Guerrero del Antifaz (1943) and
El Pequeño Luchador (1945) by Gago, and
La Pandilla de los Siete (1945) by Miguel Quesada. He also began buying series from authors with no immediate intent to publish them—only to prevent competitors from doing so. He closed the humorous booklet lines, whose authors were absorbed into the magazines
Jaimito and S.O.S. magazine (the latter created in 1948). By then, Editorial Valenciana was firmly established in its region and distributed its products throughout Spain. It expanded its lineup of booklets with hits like
Purk, el hombre de piedra (1950) and
El espadachín enmascarado (1952), both by Gago;
Milton el corsario (1956), another major series by Vañó;
Yuki, el Temerario (1958) and
Hazañas de la juventud audaz (1959). Only
Roberto Alcázar y Pedrín survived, whose success, along with that of
Jaimito and
Pumby, kept the company afloat. Many of its humor artists began working also for
Editorial Bruguera, including Juan José Carbó, Arturo Rojas de la Cámara, Sifré, and even
Sanchis himself. When the company closed in 1984, its owners kept the artists’ original art boards, forcing them to litigate for their rights, which Sanchis did not recover until 1999. == References ==