José Luis García-López

José Luis García-López
García-López in April 2016
BornJosé Luis García-López
(1948-03-26) March 26, 1948 (age 76)
Lalín, Spain
NationalitySpanish-Argentine
Area(s)Penciller, Inker
Notable works
Batman vs. Hulk
Cinder and Ashe
Deadman
Jonah Hex
New Teen Titans
Superman

José Luis García-López (born March 26, 1948)[1] is a Spanish-Argentine comics artist who works in the United States, particularly in a long-running relationship with DC Comics. In addition to his storytelling art, he has been responsible for producing the official reference art for characters in the DC Comics Style Guide, as used in licensed merchandise.

Early life

José Luis García-López was born on March 26, 1948[1] in Lalín, Province of Pontevedra, Spain,[2] and lived since age three in Argentina.[3] He was inspired by artists as Alex Raymond, Harold Foster, Milton Caniff, José Luis Salinas, and Alberto Breccia.[4]

Career

During the 1960s, García-López worked for Charlton Comics.[5] In 1974, he moved to New York,[3] where he met DC Comics editor Joe Orlando. His first interior art credit for DC was June 1975's "Nightmare In Gold" back-up in Action Comics #448, where he inked the pencils of artist Dick Dillin.[5] The following month, he inked the pencils of Curt Swan on a "Private Life of Clark Kent" backup story in Superman #289, before graduating to full pencils on a back-up story written by E. Nelson Bridwell in Detective Comics #452 (October 1975).

The following month, García-López and writer Gerry Conway created the Hercules Unbound series[6] and in April 1977, he and writer Michael Fleisher launched the Jonah Hex ongoing series.[7] García-López and Conway collaborated on a Superman vs. Wonder Woman story in All-New Collectors' Edition #C-54 (1978).[8] DC Comics Presents, a team-up title starring Superman was launched in 1978 by writer Martin Pasko and García-López.[9] He drew the first appearance of the Snowman in Batman #337 (July 1981)[10] and a DC–Marvel crossover between Batman and the Hulk in DC Special Series #27 (Fall 1981).[11][12] He penciled five issues of The New Teen Titans in 1985 and writer Marv Wolfman later commented that "I knew that I had this incredible artist who could draw almost anything that I wanted...So I decided to make the story just the biggest spectacle I could come up with."[13]

Other works by García-López include Atari Force, Road to Perdition, Deadman, and various DC superheroes.[5] His work on the DC series Twilight received an Eisner Award nomination.[14] His work on the Cinder and Ashe limited series was praised by ComicsAlliance in 2014 which noted "His characters are never in a static position; they’re always stretching, or crunched up, or twisting. There is constant dramatic content in their movements."[15]

During his exclusive contract with DC Comics, he has been responsible for penciling the style guides used by the company to provide official artwork for merchandise licences around the world. García-López illustrated the 1982 guide, still used today as part of a DC Comics retro line, a 1992 guide focused on the Batman Returns movie, the Superman related guides from 1991, 1994, and 2006, and other DC Universe guides in 1998, 2004, and 2012.

His 2000s work includes JLA: Classified and a 2009 story arc in Batman Confidential which introduced the King Tut character.[16] He drew the Metal Men story in Wednesday Comics which was written by Dan DiDio.[17][18] In 2011, he drew one of the stories in The Spirit #17.[19] DC Comics published a collection of his Superman stories in Adventure of Superman: José Luis García-López in 2013.[20] He and Len Wein produced a comics adaptation of a Two-Face story written by Harlan Ellison originally intended for the Batman television series.[21] García-López drew the "Actionland!" chapter in Action Comics #1000 (June 2018)[22] and the Superman story in DC Nation #0 (July 2018).[23]

Bibliography

Interior pencil art (except where noted) includes:

DC Comics

Other publishers

  • Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #64–65 (Gold Key, 1975)
  • Career Girl Romances #71 (Charlton, 1972)
  • Ghostly Tales #77, 79, 146 (Charlton, 1969–70, 1980)
  • Grimm's Ghost Stories #24–25 (Gold Key, 1975)
  • Just Married #68–69, 71–74 (Charlton, 1969–70)
  • Nexus #30 (First, 1987)

Compilations

  • Legends of the Dark Knight: José Luis García-López, Hardcover 429 pages, April 18, 2023, ISBN 1-77952-169-3; Deluxe Hardcover, ISBN 978-1-77952-169-9, collects Batman #272, #311, #313, #314, #318, #321, #336-337, and #353, Batman '66: The Lost Episode #1, Batman Confidential #26-28, Batman Family #3, Batman: Dark Knight of the Round Table #1-2, Batman: Gotham Knights #10, Batman: Reign of Terror #1, DC Comics Presents #31 and #41, DC Special Series #21, Detective Comics #454, #458-459, #483, and #487, The Best of the Brave and the Bold #1-6, The Brave and the Bold #164 and #171, The Joker #4, The Untold Legend of the Batman #1-3, and World's Finest Comics #244, #255, and #258.
  • On the Road to Perdition (with Max Allan Collins, 296 pages, Paradox Press, December 2004, ISBN 1-4012-0357-4; Titan Books, May 2005, ISBN 1-84576-023-9, collects:
  • Adventures of Superman, collects Superman 294, 301, 302, 307, 309, DC Comics Presents, and more; 360 pages, April 2013, ISBN 978-1401238568
  • Modern Masters Volume Five: J.L. Garcia-Lopez, 128 pages, Two Morrows Publishing, July 2005, ISBN 978-1893905443

Awards

1992: Nominated for "Best Artist" Eisner Award, for Twilight.[14]
1997: Nominated for "Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team" Eisner Award, with Kevin Nowlan, for Doctor Strangefate[24]

References

  1. ^ a b Miller, John Jackson (June 10, 2005). "Comics Industry Birthdays". Comics Buyer's Guide. Iola, Wisconsin. Archived from the original on February 18, 2011.
  2. ^ Nolen-Weathington, Eric (2005). Modern Masters Volume Five: J. L. García-López. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 6. ISBN 978-1893905443. I was born in 1948 in Pontevedra, which is in the northwestern part of Spain, in Galicia.
  3. ^ a b "José Luis García-López". Lambiek Comiclopedia. 2012. Archived from the original on March 8, 2012.
  4. ^ Alcázar, Javier (2008). "José Luis García-López" (in Spanish). Tebeosfera.com. Archived from the original on March 20, 2012.
  5. ^ a b c José Luis García-López at the Grand Comics Database
  6. ^ McAvennie, Michael (2010). "1970s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.). DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. Hercules Unbound featured powerful writing from Gerry Conway plus stellar artwork by José Luis García-López.
  7. ^ McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 173: "Jonah Hex rode his horse out of Weird Western Tales and into his own comic...Longtime Hex scribe Michael Fleisher and artist José Luis García-López detailed the bounty-hunter traveling to Whalenberg, Tennessee."
  8. ^ Mangels, Andy (December 2012). "Kryptonian and Amazonian Not Living in Perfect Harmony". Back Issue! (61). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 50–54.
  9. ^ McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 179: "A new ongoing Superman series started to mix things up by teaming the Man of Steel with other heroes in the DC Universe. Writer Martin Pasko and artist José Luis García-López launched the inaugural issue."
  10. ^ Manning, Matthew K. (2014). "1980s". In Dougall, Alastair (ed.). Batman: A Visual History. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 139. ISBN 978-1465424563. Gerry Conway was assisted by writer Roy Thomas and the pencils of José Luis García-López in this issue that introduced Batman to the new threat of the Snowman.
  11. ^ Manning, Matthew K. "1980s" in Dolan, p. 195 "Written by Len Wein and illustrated by José Luis García-López, the comic saw...Batman and the Hulk doing battle with both the Joker and Marvel's ultra-powerful Shaper of Worlds."
  12. ^ Greenberg, Glenn (December 2012). "Tabloid Team-Ups The Giant-Size DC-Marvel Crossovers". Back Issue! (61). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 33–40.
  13. ^ Daniels, Les (1995). DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes. New York, New York: Bulfinch Press. p. 135. ISBN 0821220764.
  14. ^ a b "1992 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees and Winners". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Archived from the original on August 17, 2013.
  15. ^ Horrocks, Sarah (November 21, 2014). "Cinder And Ashe: José Luis García-López's Nearly Overlooked Masterwork". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on July 23, 2017.
  16. ^ Renaud, Jeffrey (December 12, 2008). "At Last: Batman Vs. King Tut". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012.
  17. ^ Wednesday Comics. DC Comics. June 2010. ISBN 978-1-4012-2747-0. (Titan Books. July 2010. ISBN 1-84856-755-3)
  18. ^ Segura, Alex (May 5, 2009). "More exciting Wednesday Comics News -- García-López joins 'Metal Men'". DC Comics. Archived from the original on September 30, 2012.
  19. ^ Johnston, Rich (May 17, 2011). "Abandoned Spirit Book… No Longer Abandoned". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012.
  20. ^ Callahan, Timothy (June 3, 2013). "When Words Collide: How Can You Go Wrong with José García-López's Superman?". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on September 11, 2013.
  21. ^ Schedeen, Jesse (November 20, 2014). "Batman '66: The Lost Episode #1 Review". IGN. Archived from the original on November 23, 2014. Writer Harlan Ellison got as far as pitching a Two-Face-themed episode before the combination of the villain's gruesome appearance and Ellison's conflicts with ABC executives killed the idea. Decades later, that pitch has become the inspiration for this oversized Batman '66 comic.
  22. ^ Johnson, Jim (April 18, 2018). "Action Comics #1000 Shows Superman Still Looks Good at 80 Years Old". Newsarama. Archived from the original on April 26, 2018. Retrieved August 20, 2018. Paul Dini's whimsical 'Actionland' features the welcome return of José Luis García-López to the pages of Superman, evocative of the pre-Crisis era for those who miss it.
  23. ^ "DC Gives Fans a Sneak Peek at Some of the Hottest Events of 2018". DC Comics. February 1, 2018. Archived from the original on August 20, 2018.
  24. ^ "1997 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees and Winners". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012.
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