What do you think?
Rate this book
Masters of Spanish Comic Book Art
Masters Of Spanish Comic Book Art is a celebration of the great artists who revolutionized horror comics in the 1970s with their work on Warren's Vampirella, Creepy, and Eerie horror comics. This first-ever comprehensive history of Spanish comic books and Spanish comic artists reveals their extraordinary success -- not just in Spain and America, but around the world. Containing artwork from over 80 artists, this in-depth retrospective includes profiles of such legends as Esteban Maroto, Sanjulian, Jose Gonzalez, Jordi Bernet, Enrich, Victor De La Fuente, Jose Ortiz and Luis Garcia Mozos. With 500 illustrations, over half scanned directly from the original artwork, Masters Of Spanish Comic Book Art honors the "Golden Generation" whose artwork inspired the imagination of comic book lovers everywhere.
- GenresComics
272 pages, Hardcover
First published April 5, 2017
About the author
David Roach
107 books2 followersDavid Roach is an extremely prolific inker for Doctor Who Magazine comic strips. He continued to be arguably DWM's "house inker" into 2011, having been active with DWM since his first story, 2002's Oblivion. Though prolific with DWM, he hasn't worked on any other DWU publication, save for the story Sunscreen in Panini's 2007 Storybook.
He has never pencilled any story for Doctor Who, though he has a fairly extensive list of pencil jobs outside the DWU. Within the pages of DWM, he has perhaps partnered with penciller Mike Collins most often, but has also significantly paired with DWM's other long-term penciller, Martin Geraghty.
He has never pencilled any story for Doctor Who, though he has a fairly extensive list of pencil jobs outside the DWU. Within the pages of DWM, he has perhaps partnered with penciller Mike Collins most often, but has also significantly paired with DWM's other long-term penciller, Martin Geraghty.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 18, 2021
Beautiful and fun illustrations with just enough biographical information to provide context. I was hoping for more info on which of these very talented artists were also doing illustrations for women's magazines and romance book covers. Many of them did and though this aspect of their careers was addressed somewhat haphazardly—after all it wasn't the point of the book—still I appreciated that their non comic work wasn't brushed aside as "lesser".
January 17, 2021
Extraordinary book exploring and lavishly illustrating Spain’s comic book history. I knew many spanish artists worked for foreign markets but I never suspected the extent of their "expatriation".
I knew a bit about France- having read some in my youth- and more particularly and the USA with the Warren titles but they also worked for Italy, Germany, Sweden (!) and more importantly for the UK, particularly in the 60’s and 70’s. Many books weren’t signed back then so I’m not sure british readers realized so many of their comics and strips were drawn by Spaniards but from Romance to War, Action to Western, they covered all genres with incredible talent.
After summarizing the various periods involving the artists, Roach presents them through their art. One or two pages for many with focuses on some others. Here the author’s choices might be discussed. Of course, all would deserve a focus and choices had to be made but I was somewhat surprised not to see one on Purita Campos (one of the not so many female artists) or Carlos Ezquerra (the art presented not even being Judge Dredd).
Rest assured, it doesn’t lessen the interest in those chosen one bit.
The book is beautifully illustrated with lots of originals from comic book pages and painted magazines or book covers.
There is a strong oldies feel to these pages and illustrations but boy, are they goldies!
I knew a bit about France- having read some in my youth- and more particularly and the USA with the Warren titles but they also worked for Italy, Germany, Sweden (!) and more importantly for the UK, particularly in the 60’s and 70’s. Many books weren’t signed back then so I’m not sure british readers realized so many of their comics and strips were drawn by Spaniards but from Romance to War, Action to Western, they covered all genres with incredible talent.
After summarizing the various periods involving the artists, Roach presents them through their art. One or two pages for many with focuses on some others. Here the author’s choices might be discussed. Of course, all would deserve a focus and choices had to be made but I was somewhat surprised not to see one on Purita Campos (one of the not so many female artists) or Carlos Ezquerra (the art presented not even being Judge Dredd).
Rest assured, it doesn’t lessen the interest in those chosen one bit.
The book is beautifully illustrated with lots of originals from comic book pages and painted magazines or book covers.
There is a strong oldies feel to these pages and illustrations but boy, are they goldies!
January 23, 2023
Espectacular! The art was absolutely exquisite and intrinsic. Beautiful talent and history.
August 25, 2020
Excellent survey book, mostly focusing on a couple of generations of Spanish comic book artists: 50s/60s golden age and 70s/80s. Many of these artists worked in the Spanish and UK girl comics scene and the US horror comic scene.
I first discovered some of these Spanish artists like Esteban Maroto (one of my favs) when I was reading thru some of the 70s collections of Vampirella/Creepy/Eerie. Published by Warren, this publication in the 70s tapped a Spanish agency for a lot of their comics' illustration, hence an influx of Spanish artists into those aforementioned publications. I was so impressed by those Spanish artists, wanted to learn more, tracked this book down, which in turn helped me discover a bunch more fabulous Spanish comic artists.
The book features a lot of imagery, both comic pages and other illustrative work (book covers, posters, etc). Quite a few of these artists did both comic pages and varying other types of illustrative work (like Jose Gonzalez and Angel Badia Camps for instance).
Lovely wide-ranging survey, some of my favs featured in the book: Trini Tinturé, Jordi Longaron, Angel Badia Camps, Esteban Maroto, Jose Ortiz, Jordi Bernet, Enrique Montserrat, Luis Martinez Roca, Jose Gonzalez, etc etc.
I first discovered some of these Spanish artists like Esteban Maroto (one of my favs) when I was reading thru some of the 70s collections of Vampirella/Creepy/Eerie. Published by Warren, this publication in the 70s tapped a Spanish agency for a lot of their comics' illustration, hence an influx of Spanish artists into those aforementioned publications. I was so impressed by those Spanish artists, wanted to learn more, tracked this book down, which in turn helped me discover a bunch more fabulous Spanish comic artists.
The book features a lot of imagery, both comic pages and other illustrative work (book covers, posters, etc). Quite a few of these artists did both comic pages and varying other types of illustrative work (like Jose Gonzalez and Angel Badia Camps for instance).
Lovely wide-ranging survey, some of my favs featured in the book: Trini Tinturé, Jordi Longaron, Angel Badia Camps, Esteban Maroto, Jose Ortiz, Jordi Bernet, Enrique Montserrat, Luis Martinez Roca, Jose Gonzalez, etc etc.
October 29, 2018
What a brilliant book! The introduction to Spanish comics and how their artists worked in agencies, selling their work across Europe and later the USA is a rich overview and full of David Roach's knowledge of this more obscure corner of comic life! These 42 pages are followed by an alphabetical arrangement with 218 pages of biographies and artwork, the reproductions are superb, so many from original art and some of these artists, despite my reading comics since the early 60s, have remained, until now, anonymous. The last 14 pages look ahead at the 'new generation' of Spanish artists.
The book reads very well. I do read some Spanish but I doubt a complete lack of the language would spoil anything. My only gripe would be that there are tiny mistakes or omissions in the spelling of names (tildes, accents on some versions; not on others) and also a clear schema to differentiate comics story titles from comic titles from comic series titles would help an Englishman tell what to search out!
BUT that is a microscopic grouch considering what treasure we have been given here by David Roach. We are in his debt.
And perhaps I should explain why it took me so long to read considering it's full of colour pictures.....joy and 'standing and staring'!
The book reads very well. I do read some Spanish but I doubt a complete lack of the language would spoil anything. My only gripe would be that there are tiny mistakes or omissions in the spelling of names (tildes, accents on some versions; not on others) and also a clear schema to differentiate comics story titles from comic titles from comic series titles would help an Englishman tell what to search out!
BUT that is a microscopic grouch considering what treasure we have been given here by David Roach. We are in his debt.
And perhaps I should explain why it took me so long to read considering it's full of colour pictures.....joy and 'standing and staring'!
March 16, 2019
A visually impressive book which, unfortunately, is riddled with spelling errors. Roach misspells authors' names, magazines' titles, strips' titles, publishers' names and so on. Maybe an English- speaking reader won't be able to detect most of these mistakes but, being a Spaniard myself, I found reading this book really testing. Can you imagine a work on American authors in which the author writes about Estan Lee, Aless Raymond, Vatman, Shuperman, Marbel and so on? It certainly needs a thorough revision.
March 10, 2020
4.5 stars. Truly excellent.
I've had a long-standing interest in Spanish art; in different mediums, including sequential art. Though I would have liked more on the early years and there are some general flaws throughout, this was still everything I could possibly have wished for. Especially visually! It's a gorgeous book. But it's also packed with the kind of information I was seeking. Highly recommended!
I wish I'd had this book growing up, so I could have sought out more Spanish artists.
I've had a long-standing interest in Spanish art; in different mediums, including sequential art. Though I would have liked more on the early years and there are some general flaws throughout, this was still everything I could possibly have wished for. Especially visually! It's a gorgeous book. But it's also packed with the kind of information I was seeking. Highly recommended!
I wish I'd had this book growing up, so I could have sought out more Spanish artists.
Read
November 7, 2022A great read
This book is a great reading experience on the evolution of Spanish Artists in the comic book industry hands down.
This book is a great reading experience on the evolution of Spanish Artists in the comic book industry hands down.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews