Municipal archive re-issues 1990s comic “Las Aventuras de Xàbia”

The complete collection can be purchased direct from the Fiesta Commission Mare de Déu de Loreto.

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Thursday 3rd March 2022 – Mike Smith
Translated from a press release from Ajuntament de Xàbia


At the end of the 1990s, the Fiesta Commission Mare de Déu de Loreto commissioned prestigious Belgian graphic artist Franz Drappier to create of a comic that explained the history of Xàbia in a simple and fun day.

It was Francisco Pastor, who sadly passed away recently, who put the fiesta commission in contact with the artist, one of the main representatives of realistic cartoonists and ‘father’ of dozens of Franco-Belgian comic strip heroes. Drappier had settled in the town and devoted significant energy to capture historical information provided by the municipal archaeologist Ximo Bolufer in these drawings.

The result was “Las Aventuras de Xàbia”, a jewel for collectors made up of three volumes that were published in 1998, 1999 and 2000. The fiesta commission even published cardboard covers to complete the collection, although this had to be discontinued because the first volume sold out years ago.

Now, the Department of Culture, with the collaboration of Municipal Archive, has re-issued the first volume – which tells the story from ancient history to the first settlers after the Christians reconquest – so that the fiesta commission can complete the collection and make it available to all interested parties (it can be purchased direct from the commission) to raise funds for the next celebrations.

The re-issue of the volume fully respects the original and has only provided an update to the municipal archaeologist’s final text to include information extracted from later excavations.