Elevate Talks: Fosfatina Ediciones
Fosfatina is an independent publisher specialized in doing incredible things. Incredible comics, incredible fanzines and incredible video games. We talked with its passionate editor and responsible Rubén Romero. You better get to know Fosfatina right now. They have major projects going on and huge ideas for the future.
Who’s behind Fosfatina Ediciones?
I am Rubén Romero, the editor and responsible for Fosfatina. I have
worked as an art director in film and advertising and currently I design and work on the layout of printed publications. I also do event management. We have great collabs in Fosfatina. Oscar Raña and Cynthia Alfonso are great artists and have always been great companions. Also, the authors we publish are a great support for us, their contributions have shaped the look of our publishing house to a great extent.
I work hand in hand with Editorial Elvira, who provide us with tremendous logistical support. Currently we have expanded our activity creating a new business unit which focuses on the art and craft of video games. José Garnelo participates as an animator, Nico Casal as a programmer and Xavier Núñez as a composer.
Why is it called “Fosfatina”?
The sound of the word was very powerful to me. A friend of mine shared with me an ad of a porridge brand for babies that was marketed in the mid-50s that was called Fosfatina Falieres. This was something funny but basically, I love the word.
How’s a typical work day at Vigo?
A magnificent day is one in which we work hand in hand with a certain author
in the production of his or her book, the layout and the design, or the moment in which we are immersed in the printing process, visiting the printing press, reviewing each sheet, adjusting colors and reviewing results.
Other days I have to supervise the office work, billing, contracts, legal and commercial aspects, distribution and contact with bookstores. We work according to each day’s needs. We always have some fixed tasks such as social media diffusion. Currently I combine all these tasks with the requirements of the production and development of video games.
Which is the criteria you use in order to choose who or what to publish?
We are very up to date with all the national and international proposals,
following closely those authors who stimulate us the most. We get in touch with those we love and send them proposals for a certain project where we specify the technical characteristics of it. Then, the author guides the project as he or she wants. We work in the closest possible way giving the artist full creative freedom.
How do you organize the year in terms of publications? Do you have everything planned out since January? Or is it flexible?
In the past, we planned the FOSFATINA 2000 collection of monographic comics printed in risography and then we tried to squeeze in the remaining publication publications in the remaining months. The decision of how many books we published each year was based on the budget we expected to have.
We made a global idea of the year and tried to keep up with the times, although because of our size we rarely managed to do so.
Currently, we have set specific dates each quarter, according to the industry events and festivals. We try to match new book releases in dates that are close to these huge events.
When did you start producing video games? How did you come up with that idea?
We got into videogame development two and a half years ago,
although our first game was published just over a year ago. All the members of this new indie development business unit have known each other for a long time. We have been gamers for ever and have similar tastes that came together really well when thinking about video games that aren’t mainstream.
It turned out that between the four of us we had the technical characteristics to undertake development, an animator, a programmer, a musician and a producer. The idea arose spontaneously and naturally in a meeting, we realized that and it seemed to us that betting on this type of art was the most sensible thing to do . We had nothing to lose and, at the end of the day, in the worst case scenario, we would have created our own video game.
Could you tell us what is Saucer-Like about?
Saucer-like is a classic-style graphic adventure (“point and click”)
animated in a traditional way, with more than 40 backgrounds drawn by hand, what is known as a “handcrafted game” and an emotional bso instrumental that generates a twilight, absorbing and immersive atmosphere.
It seeks to make the user a participant in its history. The image, the sound and the script convey a particular atmosphere of an unknown universe, halfway between the dark fantasy and the twilight surrealism of certain stories by Michael Ende. It’s an animist fable. A reflection on the role of the individual in society.
Yanagi is a teenager who wakes up one morning knowing that he will face the most transcendental day of his life. With a divided heart, he’ll have to make an irrevocable decision which could unite him or separate him from his clan forever.
Meanwhile, the rest of the villagers deal with this same decision and the consequences it will have on them. For once the inevitable ritual begins, there will be no turning back.
The game experience is focused on interactive narration, proposing an experience that connects with modern references of the genre such as “Amnesia: a machine for pigs”, “Gone home” or “The vanishing of Ethan Carter”, combining the narrative preciosity of these works with the paused and reflective tempo of the genre. This rhythm is optimal in order to provide the player with a gradual immersion in this world and its poetics.
It is also an experience designed to be played in just one sitting, with an estimate duration of 3 hours.
On a scale from 1 to 10, how important is social media for you?
An 8. Although they are a double-edged sword, they undoubtedly are a
wonderful tool for promotion and diffusion. Lately I have found a middle point in which I can handle myself satisfactorily and not be absorbed by them.
If you had to build a top 3 of your best works and projects, how would it be?
-Perlas del Infierno by Begoña García-Alén.
-Hoodoo Voodoo. An anthology of contemporary comics.
-Fosfatina 2000. A bimensual collection of 16-page risograph printed comics.
What is the Spanish comic scene missing?
I think the Spanish comics are in very good health. Among nationals we find top-quality authors as well as editors with an exquisite taste and beautiful works. I believe that the problem lies in the distribution, there is no intermediate figure capable of positioning the work of both publishing houses and independent publishers without being dragged by the wheel of large distributors, which usually suffocate the small publishers and leave the self-publishers all by themselves.At the end of the day they are the ones that serve as the engine and field of evidence for emerging authors.
What is the next step for Fostafina Ediciones?
We are preparing the pre production of our next videogame “The Sun Sets High”, an arcade that combines several interesting mechanics in which the narrative and the visual aspects will have a great relevance.
We are also preparing an erotic publication in which we intend to bring together the work of photographers with a very artistic and particular look.
At the same time, in our spare time (which isn’t too abundant), we are preparing a project to introduce ourselves into the apparel world, taking artists with whom we have worked with to collaborate in the fashion arena.
We are doing this without leaving aside our main activity which is the contemporary comic book edition. We are about to release “Grundfunken” by José JaJaJa, while Cynthia Alfonso and Óscar Raña work in their respective editions that will come out in the last quarter of this year.
What would you like to be doing 5 years from now?
I try not to think too much about the future. The truth is that I am
restless and I try to get soaked up in everything. What I know for sure is that
I would like to keep focusing on doing what I love. Whatever it is.
Bonus track: Could you recommend any TV series/ comics/ movie/ song/ artist/ etc?
Movie: Criando Ratas directed by Carlos Salado. Its genre is called Neoquinqui. Ultra low budget and free viewing. Its production that has a lot
effort in it. I loved it.
TV Series: The Tatami Galaxy directed by Masaaki Yuasa. I’m an anime and manga fan. I love both seinen and shojo. This series is just too much both in the narrative and in the visual fields. Yuasa is always synonym of excellence.
Album: Mad Max Power by Cecilio G.
Artist: Sammy Stein, I love this artist’s work. He never stops getting better.
Instagram: @rapapawn. They are focused on traditional animation, their
proposals are powerful and fresh.
