Juan Álvarez was born in Murcia in 1960. In 1978, after finishing his secondary studies, he temporarily moved to Madrid to work on animated cartoons. His first professional comic appeared in Senda del Comic in 1980. In 1982 he drew the educational 'Estatuto de Autonomía de la Región de Murcia'. In 1984 he won first prize in an amateur artists contest of magazine 1984. Then, he teamed up with artist Jorge Gómez, who coloured Álvarez's drawings in oil, which gave them an unforeseen look, emphasizing their volumes. However, the few short stories they published in the short-lived TBO of publisher Bruguera, Zona 84 and Tótem (second run) weren't enough to earn their living. By the late 1980s, Jorge Gómez was working as a fireman and Juan Álvarez was mainly working on animated cartoons again.
