Fred Harrison, who worked principally under the pseudonym Ferocius, was a Chilean comic artist, writer and colourist whose career spanned almost four decades. He also worked under the names McFrahap and Marc Frahap, with McFrahap/Mac Frahap used particularly for some early French publications. His work became especially associated with Ediciones La Cúpula’s Kiss Comix and its French-language counterpart La Poudre aux Rêves, and was subsequently published in Spanish, English, Dutch, Italian and German.

Very little is known about Harrison’s early years and artistic training. Born into a family probably of British origin, he grew up in Viña del Mar, north-west of the Chilean capital Santiago. His professional career as a cartoonist began in the early 1970s, with Plip y Plop: Tormenta en la Botella (Flip and Flop: Storm in a Bottle) in 1974, followed by Florita (1975), Las Aventuras de Tutú y Totó and El Capitán Istmo (both 1978), and ¡Huy, Colegiala! (Ooh, Schoolgirls!) in 1987.

These early works coincided with the turbulent years following the 1973 Chilean coup, and Harrison spent long periods in Costa Rica, mostly in San José, where he wrote a novel, Cabanga, in 1976, and contributed fortnightly drawing lessons to the magazine Tricolor in 1978. By 1987, however, he was back in Santiago, where he established a drawing ‘microacademy’ at his home in Providencia. He later published instructional pages on comic drawing in Bandido, and in 2004 taught colour at the Instituto Profesional ARCOS in Santiago. A 2006 article describes him as living in the eastern part of Santiago, sending his stories each month to La Cúpula’s publications in Spain and France.

Harrison’s breakthrough into the European market came in 1991 with Viviana, which he described as his first work intended for European publication. Based on a manuscript script supplied through ProChile, the organisation promoting Chilean creators abroad, it was drawn under the name McFrahap and published in France by CAP. Harrison began the artwork in sepia wash and progressively introduced colour as the story developed.

From the early 1990s onwards Harrison became extraordinarily prolific. His own chronological bibliography contains 58 numbered works and instalments, beginning with his 1974 work and extending through ¿Mentirte? ¡Jamás! (Lie to you? Never!) in 2010.

After 1991 Harrison wrote his own scripts rather than working from scripts supplied by publishers. He described developing each story through separate thumbnail drawings for every panel, including dialogue and captions, assembling these into a small working booklet, revising both text and drawings, and then using the resulting material to prepare the script sent to the publisher. He regarded comics as ‘a form of static and silent cinema’, and preferred to concentrate on the composition and readability of the individual panel rather than elaborate page design.

Among the artists of erotic comics in the 1990s, Harrison went further than most in the depiction of sexuality, his work regularly hovering between explicit sexual engagement, gynaecological textbook, and in-depth sex education. He revelled in bodily fluids and the messiness of sex, though it is never explained who washes the sheets. At the same time his storylines are more realistic and believable than those of many other cartoonists working in a similar vein.

This combination of writer, artist and colourist gave him unusually close control over his work. His richly detailed drawings, frequent use of watercolour, explicit eroticism and characteristic humour became the hallmarks of his mature style. Harrison/Ferocius has left us one of the most extensive bodies of work associated with the Spanish and European erotic comics scene of the 1990s and 2000s.

The Ferocius blog, which lists all his publications, can be found here.

Similar artists

Ignacio Noé – Argentine artist working in a similarly explicit comic tradition.
Robert Crumb – American underground cartoonist, also published by La Cúpula.
Roberto Baldazzini – Italian artist of explicit, comedic erotic comics.
Giovanna Casotto – Italian illustrator of glossy, sexually explicit comic strips.
Georges Pichard – French pioneer of graphic, explicit adult comics.
Milo Manara – Italian master of explicit, richly drawn erotic comics.
Horacio Altuna – Argentine cartoonist working across adult and mainstream comics.