The Premiere Vampira Ards DYNAMITE |Joe Gon WRITTEN AND CURATED BY BOOK DESIGN BY DAVID ROACH RODOLFO MURAGUCHI / Edited by Hannah Elder ‘Additional Remastering by Chris Caniano Putting together this project has been a monumental task, scouring the globe for artwork comies, Books, posters and all manner of ephemera and obscures | absolutely ‘ould not have done it without the considerable help of the following people who £0 Sellessiy gave oftheir time insuppiying artwork and recollections of ther time with Jose; Setya Adyats,Ervique Alonso, Oscar Basia, Jose Maria Bea, Roland Benton, Jery Boyd Dewey Cassel, Eduardo Castelo, Carlos Clemen, Jon Copperweld, Carmelo Dominguez Unica Manel Dominguez, steven Donnelly, Robert Eaworas Auctions, Jay Enh, Sant Ferer, Tom Fleming. Rich Fowks, Michael Fielander, Davide Ghiarcuce, Oscar Garcia, Carlos Gimenez, Mario Gara dim Halperin Hentage Auctions, Rin Hughes, Joe Jusk, Rob Ledford, Rob Lifson, Carlos Mesa Orensanz, Ramundo Mina Martinez, Marce Males, Javier Muro, Luis Goeia Mozos, Antonio Munoz, Doug and Murry Ingrid Nelson, Vince Ova, Mare Pecorllo, Gabriel Pica, Cosme Puigmal Victor Ramos. Ui Ribas, Edmond Ripol Sanjulian, Michael Sepesy, The Society Ofilustrators, Ervc Torres, Jaume Vaquer and bis Vachs. ‘special thanks to super-colactore Tom Flaming, Jose Manuel Vida Ares, Gene Park, Steve Morger [Antonio Rbeles and Jesus Serna without whose this book would have been impossite "auld not have contemplated 2 proj land encouragement of my wordertu fedtor Hannah Elder, fearless ft director Chris Caniano and peerless designer Rodolfo Muraguch And ofcourse this book is dediated tothe memory f cof ose himeat, truly great Nick Barruce, CEO / Publisher Juan Collada, President / COO Rich Young, Director Business Development (DYNAMITE. Keith Davidsen, Marketing Manager Joe Rybandt Senior Editor THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZ Sarah Litt, Digital Editor Contains materials orginal published in Varia Magazine Josh Green, Traffic Coordinator ‘41-112 Varpiela Magazine 1972 Annual and Warren Presents #8 Pantha, Pushed by OynamiteEnterainment 213 Gather Dr, STE. Josh Johnson, Art Director 205, Mt Laurel NJ. 08054 Vamprelia ® and © 2013 Dynamite Al Jason Ulimeyer, Senior Graphic Designer rights reserved, DYNAMITE. DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT and ts (ogo Katie Hidalgo, Graphic Designer sre 2015 Dynarnte All names, characters. events, and locales inthis Chris Caniano, Production Asistant Publication are entirely fetonal. Any resemblance to acta person living or dead), event or places, without sti tert. I coinedental No Viet us online at wer. DYNAMITE.com potion of tis book maybe reproduced by ary means [sgt or print without Follow us on Twiter @ynamitecomcs the writen permision of Dynamite Entertainment except fr review purposes. Like us on Facebook /Dynamitecomics ‘The scanning uploading and dstrbution ef this book via the Internet or via any Watch us on YouTube /Oynamitecomies tay, Pleat purchase only authorizes electronic editions, and donot participate ISBN-10:1-60690-420-5 in orencourage electoni pracy of copyrighted mater, Printed in China ISBN-15; 978-1-60690-420-6 First Printing For information regaring press, media rights, foreign rights Ucensing, 109.8765 4 521 f promotions, and averting e-mal: marketngeaynamit comCONTENT 5 FOREWORD by Joe Jusko 6 INTRODUCTION: JOSE GONZALEZ, THE ARTIST byDavid Roach 19 VAMPIRELLA: THE COMIC STRIPS 24 Return Trip 29° Spawn of the Star Beast 37. ‘The Wrathmore Curse 45_ Jose and Vietor: The Other Vampirella Artist 48 ROMANCE IN THE UK 74 THE FRONTIS DRAWINGS 102 JOSE IN SPAIN 130 VAMPIRELLA COMMISSIONS 158 COMMERCIAL WORK 184 JOSE THE ARTIST 242 EPILOGUEFOREWORD \, JOSE GONZALEZ BY JOE JUSKO 4 THEART OF JOSE GONZALEZy first real crush at the age of 10 was a plucky little Mites yet was a bit older than me (by about 2.000 years) and ‘was hung up on an astronaut (they get all the girls), so it was, an affection that was unfortunately destined to go unrequited. I was convinced that I would never find another girl who ‘was not only as beautiful and alluring, but also imbued with the same welcome propensity for showing as much skin as possible without being arrested. Little did I know that during a fateful after school stop at Andy’ candy store in 1972 1 ‘would meet the most fabulously sultry, raven-haired woman, Thad seen in all of my 12 years, She was not only stunningly beautiful, but also had an endearing vulnerability about her, as she was a bit lost and very far from home (I apparently had «thing for foreign girls in my younger years). ‘Thus began a love affair that has endured to this day. I was weaned on a steady diet of Dell, Marvel and DC ‘comics, and when [realized I could draw, I decided that was, how [would eventually make my living, [became familiar with all the popular artists and developed an eye for who was better than whom, and why. Artists like John Buscema and John Romita Sr. did everything well, but drew especially attractive female characters, and I patterned the look of my women after theirs. In my 12-year-old myopic view of art there was.no other ‘way to draw women and no other artist could come close to, ‘matching their abilities. Then came that day when I stopped, to pick up the newest superhero books at Andy’s and saw the cover to Vampirella#21 staring back at me from the upper rack. | just had to see what was inside. [liked girs, Iiked monster ‘movies, and [liked comics. Win/Win/ Win! What I discovered inside was truly a revelation for me: black and white art that looked nothing like what I had ever seen before, and a woman drawn with a sophistication and sex appeal that was beyond anything in a standard comic book! I realized that day that there was so much more to drawing than I had experienced up to that point. 1 never ‘missed another issue and back ordered all the others I had. ‘missed. The reason for my startling enlightenment? That can, be summed up in two words. Jose Gonzalez, Gonzalez. brought such life to Vampirella and made such an indelible mark on the character that it's become impossible for longtime fans to think of one without the other. He possessed an illustrative line that elevated the strip from mere comics to high art and often experimented with, ‘mixing techniques within the same story. He went from crisp line art to subtle washes, to wondrously soft and delicate pencil renderings with the intent of conveying the mood or ‘emotion of a certain scene. His splotchy, textured washes added a feel of gothic authenticity to the stories, reminiscent in many ways of the classic Universal Studios monster films of the 1930s and 1940s. The graveyard opening scene to his very first story in Vampirella #12 reeks of fog and mildew, while the washes on the splash to issue #13 (my favorite Jose illustration of alltime) evoke a true sense of decay and abandonment. In my estimation, it’s the single most beautiful drawing of a vampiress done by anyone, at any time. Maybe the best example of his use of these varied techniques is in “Vampirella and the Sultan's Revenge” (Vampirella #33), That story contains some exquisitely rendered pen work and a simply glorious pencil and watercolor headshot of the doomed Sultana, Gonzalez. constantly changed things up to keep both, himself and the reader interested. Gonzalez took the character seriously, and despite the obvious unconventionality of her attire, never played her as a joke. More importantly, he never pandered to the reader. There ‘was none of the gratuitous T and A shots that have made the character @ joke in the years since. When other characters referenced her costume, (ex. the priest in issue #22) it was addressed appropriately and the story moved on. Gonzalez had a true respect for her, and even when the later stories began to border on the absurd, he never lowered himself or his approach to the same level. It's what has made him the definitive Vampirella artist above all others and is the express reason behind my desire to work with the character:something Thave been fortunate to do with great regularity aver the past 20 years. It's that respect, the glamour, and his gothic romance. approach that I have always tried to capture and pay tribute to in my own Vampirella work. There were other wonderful artists who took over the strip for various lengths of time (Esteban Maroto, Gonzalo Mayo and the always amazing Jose Ortiz), but fans always eagerly awaited the return of Gonzalez and rejoiced when his art eventually reappeared. Had Gonzalez’s association with Vampirella ended when ‘Warren Publications folded in the early 1980s, the breadth and, quality of his body of work would have been enough to cement his legacy as her premiere artist forevermore. Fortunately fr all ‘of us, he reignited hisrelationship with her toaccommodate the burgeoning private commission market, for which he produced countless oversized pieces, both black and white andin color. As good as his Warren work was, he was now free to fully showease his incredible talents. ve been fortunate to commission and own a great many of those pieces over the years, and several still proudly hang in my home. They are true works of art that transcend genre and appeal to even the most casual viewer. In the 40 years since I first discovered his work, my appreciation, admiration and astonishment at his talent has never stopped growing. I sincerely doubt it ever will JOE JUSKO APRIL 21ST, 2014 SYRACUSE, NY FOREWORD 5INTRODUCTION JOSE GONZALEZ: THE ARTIST BY DAVID ROACH he the first, second, or even the third, person to draw her: yet from the moment he took over the strip, he has been widely regarded as its definitive artist. Ibis one of several contradictions and ironies that have been a feature of both, his life and his career. He was the great artist who apparently hated to draw. The creator ofthe most sexually changed fermale imagery in comics who was openly gay. He was the cross- dressing extrovert who carefully guarded hhis private life. An artist with seemingly no interest in comies who kept coming, back to the character that made his name: Vampirella. By the time he came to the feature that would make his name, he was already 32 years old, a veteran comic book artist with well over @ decade's experience behind him, and ‘one of the Golden Generation of Spanish artists whose work ‘would captivate readers around the world, Jose Gonzalez, ‘was born in 1939 and grew up in the Barrio Chino district, ‘of Barcelona, an impoverished area notorious for crime and, prostitution. From an early age, Jose showed a prodigious talent for art and delighted in drawing pictures of movie J: “Pepe” Gonzalez did not create Vampirella, nor was stars and celebrities, something encouraged by his doting ‘mother and grandmother. In 1956 the cartoonist Javier Puerto, ‘was walking past a tailors shop when a pair of paintings featuring Marilyn Monroe and Gina Lollobrigida displayed, in the window struck him, Enquiring inside, he was proudly informed by one of the women working there that the artist ‘was her young son, Jose It was a chance meeting that would, ‘change the boy's life forever, Jose was seventeen and working, as an apprentice clerk at an insurance company, but agreed to go with Puerto to see his boss, Josep Toutain, director of the newly created art agency Selecciones Illustradas (more widely known by its initials $1). Toutain asked him to copy a page of Jose Luis Salinas’ “Cisco Kid!” strip and legend has it that Jose's drawing was so clase to the original that he even copied the stains in the paper. Toutain was impressed and set him to work on a number of western strips for the Spanish and French markets (notably “Doe Holliday”) However, it soon became obvious that Jose's real gift was drawing pretty girls and he was quickly reassigned to work oon the romantic comics line from local publisher ‘Toray. on 6 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZtitles such as Rosas Blancas, Serenata and Susana, Even at this early stage in his career, these comics reveal a sophisticated, accomplished artist with a strong, clean inking line, working very much in the tradition of Alex Raymond and Stan Drake. At that time, S.L was beginning to make significant in-roads into the vast British comics market; and in 1959, Toutain decided to introduce his young star to the editors of Boyfriend and Valentine in London. Jose only drew a handful of strips for Boyfriend, but for the next 12 years he was one of the most important artists in Valentine. His impact on the comic was recalled in the 70s by Valentine’ editor Mike Butterworth (then coincidentally writing Vampirelia), who stated: “Never in the history of the comic world has an artist drawn such beautiful ‘women as Jose Gonzalez.” By the mid-50s, the British publishing houses were experiencing an extraordinary rise in sales with Romance becoming one of the dominant genres. Faced with a limited talent pool at home, the industry relied on foreign talent to ‘meet this insatiable demand for comics. As a result. S.L. quickly became one of the most in-demand agencies. In the early 60s, Jose worked almost exclusively for Industry giant Fleetway on such titles as Valentine, Marilyn, Serenade, Mirabelle and Love Story, with an eight month break in’63/"6¢ while he took on the "Avengers" newspaper strip. SU's Spanish artists dominated the Romance field with the vibrant, expressive artwork of Jorge Longaron and Jose Maria Miralles, establishing the visual ‘template for the whole industry. By 1963, inspired by Stan Drakes’ “Juliet Jones” strip, French fashion artist Rene Gruau. and the work of American magazine illustrators, Jose's work hhad matured into a style that was far more realistic than his peers. Delicately rendered with a brush on enormous sheets (of paper, his best strips from this period rival his very finest ‘Vampirella episodes for realism and sophistication, despite only being in his early 20s. S.L was situated on the sixth floor of an attractive art deco buildingon LAvenida Diagonal in the heart of Barcelona, where ‘most ofits young group of artists worked, spread out over two large rooms. The atmosphere was anarchic and creative with the artists challenging and inspiring each other in the creation of a distinctive Spanish aesthetic. ‘Ihe artist Jose Maria Bea sat at the desk in front offose and remembers the impact he made (on the studio: “At first, everyone, even the best like Jordi Longardn and. José Maria Miralles, admired Jose. His graphic concept of ‘women revolutionized Selecciones Tlustradas. All the artists copied Jose's girls. For many years he was considered the best cartoonist of girls for the English market. But around 1969 he became tired and bored of drawing romantic comics and JOSE GONZALEZ: THE ARTIST 7began to neglect his work, his drawings became mediocre ‘and the other cartoonists stopped admiring them. Every day watched Jose working and even though he never liked drawing ccomies (he only ever wanted to draw pin-ups) his girls were always wonderful, He was not fast but never had to re-draw anything, he was always right the first time. Jose never liked his drawings, however. The atmosphere at SI was erazy but ‘wonderfully crazy. Remember that Spain wasstiliving under the shadow ofa terrible civil war. Barcelona was a sad, dark city, defeated and abandoned by the Central Government. SL was an oasis of color, filled with the music and magazines brought back from Toutains' trips to London. We all worked very comfortably there, we were all crazy and we loved the atmosphere.” Away from the Romance strips that took up most of his time, Jose also found other outlets for his creativity. In the chaotic atmosphere of the studio, he was known as a great joker, mimic, and performer and in the early 60s he became the singer in a band. Los Dalmatas, (the Dalmatians) were a leather-clad group that also included Jose Maria Bea on guitar. 8 THEART OF JOSE GONZALEZ For three years, the band played the summer season in hotels up and down the Costa Brava to some acclaim until Jose abruptly left the band: they were on the verge of signing a recording contract. Jose Maria looks back ‘on his decision: “Jose had only one dream in life; to have fun, When he achieved a goal he immediately lost interest in it. After two years, Los Dalmatas had really started to play well, but Jose was bored.” few years later, he tried his hand at a series of cartoons starting beautiful naif by the name of Pamela. The jdea was that with his undoubted skill at rawing pretty girls, Jose could draw a series ‘ofhumorous, single panel cartoons that could then be translated and syndicated around the world, This being the unenlightened 603, Pamelawas, predictably. an archetypal dumb blonde with the unfortunate habit of losing her clothes at the most inappropriate times. ‘Though conceptually flimsy. the artwork was attractive enough to sell the concept to various countries, including America. To this day, few fans are aware that Jose first published work in the country appeared not in Vampirelta, but in magazines published by Magazine Management (a sister company to Marvel Comics) such as Cartoon Capers, Cartoon Laughs and Laugh Parade. In 1966, Jose started drawing the light- hearted “Liberty St. Dare" strip for Trend, which was later taken over by Luis Roca. He also began to, ‘work forthe Scottish publisher DC Thomson on Romeo, Diana, ‘Mandy, Judy and the lavish, oversized Jackie. By this time he had begun inking with a pen and was becoming increasingly prolific, drawing at least 24 romance strips in 1967, mostly for Jackie, n what was probably the most productive period of his, ‘comics career. For Spanish artists, the difference in exchange rates meant that their British wages went along way in Spain and the temptation to churn out the work must have been strong, Far better were a series of illustrations in pencil and marker for the fiction serial “Ihe House of Students,” created for Jackie in 1970, which revealed an artist capable of far ‘greater things. In fact, Jose was not alone in growing tired of the relentless procession of romance strips: many of his colleagues had already left comics to paint book covers, while others were looking enviously at the comics coming out of Warren publishingin America, In 1971, having conquered the big European markets of Britain, France and Scandinavia, Josep Toutain flew out to the US armed with a portfolio of samples from his best artists andthe optimism that he could accomplish great things there, After a day visiting various book publishers, as well as Marvel and DC ‘comics, Toutain appeared unannounced at the offices of Jim Warren who was about to g0 out on a date. Many years later, Warren recalled that momentous meeting for The Warren Companion: “He put his large leather portfolio on the desk, opens it up, and {look at two samples of artwork. The frst page was an artist named Jose Gonzalez, drawings of women. The second page was by a man called Esteban Maroto, and I don't say anything- Im not registering an expression. But by the time I ‘was on the third page I couldnt hold back. I said, ‘this is exceptionally fine work, who are these people?” He said, ‘they are the artists T represent. I myself am an artist. Do you know Will Fisner? We correspond. This tells me he knows comies, So Tim looking at page after page of this ineredible art in astyle that was best described as European. Toutain also showed me paintings that he was selling as paperback cover art to Dell and other publishers. I started to ask questions about the art and Spanish artists. By this time it was 6 pan, and I had completely forgotten about my date, [kept gazing at this art until lost my senses. wasstaringat the Vampirella artist Td spent two years searching for Josep Toutain and I then went to dinner at 8, negotiated prices. deadlines, banking arrangements, everything before the waiter had served the main course. had veal saltimbocca, Toutain had filet of flounder and Vampirella had Jose Gonzaler. to draw her. The company entered a new phase and a new level, It was the new era of the Barcelona artists” ‘The core group ofartists that Toutain assembled for Warren ‘was comprised of Jose, Luis Garcia, Esteban Maroto, Ramon Torrents, Jose Maria Bea, Fernando Fernandez. and Felix Mas, all of who had spent the previous decade honing their skills on British girls’ comics (along with painters Sanjulian and Enrich, and strip artist Rafael Auraleon from a war and horror background). Freed from the limited visual and emotional palette of their British years, the Si. artists reveled in their newfound freedom, The European style that so captivated Warren was an innovative mixture of Argentinian comic star Alberto Breccia's avant-garde techniques, photo-realistic drawing, and the pretty girls of their romance strips. In fact, Jose's early “Vampirella strips were not significantly different ; “You're a bit shy perhaps?” fromhis previous work at ll, the main difference beinga darker intensity to the inking with the addition of atmospheric grey ink washes over the artwork. For his new American audience, however, the impact of his Vampirela artwork was startling; they had literally never seen anything like it before. To announce the arrival of his new artist, Jim Warren commissioned Jose to create a life size poster that would go ‘on to become one of the comics industry's most iconic images. ‘he model for the picture was Carol de Haro, a friend of Jose's from the 60s, as Luis Garcia remembers “After coming back to Barcelona from my year in London, Carolde Haro andl got back together again, took some pictures of her for my second Warren story, "Welcome to the Witches Coven,” which won the Warren award for the best-drawn story of 1971. then Jose asked if Carol could be photographed as the ‘model for his stories as well as the Vampirella poster. Carol accepted and Enrich, a wonderful amateur photographer, ‘made tons of photos of her. These Photos were later used by Enrich and other illustrators from Selecciones Ilustradas to make their own Vampirella covers and other works too. JOSE GONZALEZ: THE ARTIST. 9Carol's sultry, exotic beauty was clearly the inspiration for several of Jose's Vampirella frontis drawings that began appearing in the magazine in 1974, and more generally informed his whole approach to the character (she was also widely used by Garcia, Maroto and Torrents in. numerous strips in Vampirella magazine). The drawings were stunningly, realistic and unashamedly erotic, qualities that were also evident in the “Vampirella” strip itself, leading to an ever- eater popularity for the artist. In Barcelona, the person responsible for maintaining the uninterrupted flow of artwork to New York was Marcel Miralles,a mainstay at SIL for decades. He worked closely with, all the artists and rarely had any significant problems with any of them, with one exception, as he recalls: “Jose Gonzalez was a genius at drawing, we all loved his Vampirella stories, which were a big success, but Jose was not ‘2 genius at dedication to his work. He was a very anarchic character. In principle he had to deliver one story each month, these stories were lettered in New York, so we used to deliver his work without balloons or text. After he had picked up the scripts, a week would pass, then two, with no news from Jose. We would phone him to ask about the progress of the story and always got the same answer: Everything is going, well, 'm hard at work, there's no problem with the deadline Sometimes he came to get an advance on his payment, but without showing the work (he had to pay the rent on his apartment or something) and he always used to get the ‘advance. We wanted him to be satisfied and working. After two weeks or so, would discuss the progress of Jose's current strip with Josep Toutain or Jorge Sanchez, and be told to visit, 10 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZ him to see how the work was progressing, “Well, his home was not close to Si, but not too far away, maybe one kilometre, so I usually walked there (worrying inside about what | would discover there). Arrivingat his home, I would say hello to his mother, and enter his dining room and studio (Jose used to work at his dining room table, seated in a normal chair, and with the normal dining room light) ‘Typically, he would be sitting at the table wearing a dressing ‘gown, working away very seriously, apparently concentrating on the strip. I would look for the pages and normally discover one or two half filled with wonderful drawings; Where is the rest? The finished ones?’ On the way to his house I would be imagining the terrible situation 1 would find there and the reality was always far worse! Jose did draw the pages in the right order (I mean, First page, second page, third page, ist pencil, then ink, et) but would have a part of the fifth page inked, one picture of the third finished with half tones, the second page sketched, no trace of the first. that sort of thing, When 1 returned to the office outain would panic: ‘What ccan we say to Warren? When do you think the story will be finished? Maybe Victor (Victor Ramos) can help him? Maybe another artist can draw a fill-in story?’ All kinds of possible solutions... At least while I was there he would actually work (hough Lam pretty sure that all that time he was just waiting for me to leave so he could slip out to a bar for some Cuba libres). Looking back at all the delays, I think only one story ‘was sent on time, Years later I had the opportunity to speak with James Warren about these stories. While we were nervous about the deadlines, it was the same on the other side of the ocean. Itturns out that Warren used to hire aletterer who lived outside New York; this man had to wait in a hotel through all the extra days that Jose took in delivering the artwork. This cost Warren the fee for the hotel room as well as extra payments for the letterers time, or even worse, he might be forced to run ‘reprint so there would at least be some pages of Vampirella in the latest issue. But that was Jose, We spent many great times together. I was a big fan of his work, he was a master at drawing with a pencil and he w there was no one like him. But his abilities to make a deadline as amaste at drawing women, ‘were non-existent. I loved him a lot, but at times like those 1 hated him as well!” ‘The evolution of ose’s work on Vampirella was gradual, but impressive. By 197 as“Return Trip” and “The Sultana’s Revenge;’hisfully formed, mature style had emerged. with strips suck This was characteriz d by a highly detailed, incredibly realistic drawing style, often juxtaposing fully inked panels with others rendered in pencil. Through Toutain’ relentless licensing, Vampirella comics had appeared around the world, and after years of toiling in the enforced anonymity of British comics, Jose was finally a star. However, a 19 interview by his friend Manel Dominguez. for Vudu magazine revealed tensions in his relationship with both S.. and Warren, Jose suggested that soon he could imagine the magazine expanding to include “four or five Vampirella stories in each issue, without censorship, they'll be sold in bookstores.” When asked if that excited him, the answer was telling: “No. Do you know why? Because I won't earn anything from them and I ‘would need to earn something on them, I won't earn anything from this becat son from thes ¢ of a particular re editors, ‘who have their own reason, understand, won't earn anything because the character of Vampirella belongs to Warren and he'll earn the profits. Besides, Vampirela is published in France, Scandanvia, Turkey, Germany, and I don't know how many other countries.” These tensions were probably behind Jose's decision to temporarily leave the strip in 1974 to ereate his own character, Herma, which he could sell around the world and keep a sizable portion of the profits for himself. The series starred a lascivious cave giel who miraculously comes to life after being thawed out of an Andalusian glacier and was beautifully drawn, though perhaps lacking the dark charisma of Vampirella, Sadly, Herma was not widely seen until some years later (including, ironically, a serialization in Warren's 1984 magazine) and from 1976-1978, he was resolutely back at the helm on "Vampirela,” creating some of his very finest strips, usually paired with writer Bill Dubay. Dubay brought out the best in Jose and their sequence of stores, including an unforgettable encounter with her arch nemesis, the Blood Red Queen, which is still widely regarded as a high point for the character. However, towards the end of ther collaboration, there were signs, as with his later British work, that he was becoming bared: resulted in pages looking pale and washed out, the pencil panels and realistic drawings were gone and then, in 1979, so too was Jose. It was not at frst apparent that the artist had effectively left comics, the occasional vintage fronts drawing or choice reprint kept his vision of Vampirella in the public eye, but it was to be well over two years before any new strips appeared in America a switch to inking with markers often JOSE GONZALEZ: THE ARTIST 443 ALLA LGLBa ‘The late 70s was paradoxically a time of both contraction ‘and expansion in comics. Newsstand sales of traditional ‘comic books were falling, but an alternative network of fans turned dealers and publishers was emerging all over the world, In France, titles like Pilote and Metal Hurlant were creating ‘a market for a more adult type of comie magazine and it was a format that caught on all over Europe. Josep Toutain ‘moved into publishing with his Spanish version of Warren's 1984, soon joined by Comix Internacional and Creepy. In 1977 Rafael Martinez, a long-time employee ofS. left the company to set up his own agency, Norma, and soon he too had ‘ambitions to become a publisher. His first publication was a portfolio of six drawings by Jose, devoted to the artist’s life- Jong obsession: Marilyn Monroe. In alittle over two years, Jose created illustrations for six portfolios of beautifully realistic drawings, along with several posters and numerous postcards, released over the course of several years by Norma. It was clearly a return to his first loves, the glamour and romance 12. THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZ of Hollywood, and the pure enjoyment of rawing for its own sake. The drawings of Marilyn in particular brought him to a wider audience and placed him in the publie eye very much as an illustrator, rather than a “mere” comic book artist. This was artwork of a quality equal to the great American illustrators, which so many of S.L’s artists idolized, but it wasalso a style that seemingly owed little to any specific movements. or trends. It was Jose at his purest. ‘Throughout his career, Jose had repeatedly proved himself to be quixotic and unpredictable and after having achieved {great success as an illustrator, few could have ‘guessed that he would ever want to return to comics. But in 1982, without warning, a new, beautifully drawn strip appeared in Vampirella #103, marking a late renaissance for the title. He explained his decision in @ conversation with Manel Dominguez, printed in Comix Internacional in 1983: ‘Leame back to comics because it is in my blood, because I dream in art, Because Iwill rot stop until I get the award for best artist, ‘and I don't want to let the fans down, from all over the world, who have asked me to save Vampirella from all the mediocre artists who are ruining it. 'mat a point in my career where I do what I want, with impositions from no one. If I've returned to Vampi it is because I like the character and I had the desire to draw anew. When I get tired, [Il Teave once again” Asked how many pages he was drawing each month Jose replied: “Bight. I made a commitment to draw twelve eight-page stories. Gerry Boudreau, a good writer, writes the stories though T have the right to refuse a script that doesn't work with my style. I normally need a day and a half to draw each page, but when the deadline arrives or my money's tight, Im capable of doing a couple of pages in one day that dont look hurried.” ‘This was a happy and creative period for the artist; one shared with his friend Enrich and the painter Gabriel Picart. Enrich had been mentoring the teenaged Picart and the pair struck up a firm friendship. Looking back at this time, Picart recalls often visiting Enrich in his apartment: “Eventually he moved to a much bigger studio: the apartment right in front ofhis home, and on one of these visits Jose was working there too, with his desk facing Enrich’s, AfterE_ JOVEN, ELLA ERA My POBRE, ‘MOY POBRE Y Muy seeingthem frequently, Enrich askedme tostay and workwith them instead of visiting back and forth. I think I was about seventeen, and stayed there till I was nineteen, maybe even my early twenties. The studio was not as small as it looks in photos, the whole apartment was used as a studio, except for ‘asmall room Jose had for his own use. Enrich and Jose's desks were placed in front of each other by the balcony at the end. of the dining room, the largest room of the apartment. While working there, I had my desk perpendicular to theirs, facing the balcony. would say thatthe three desks together occupied ‘one half ofthe room. Sometimes it was silent while we worked bbut mostly the room was filled with talking: alot of chat, and alot of jokes. 've never laughed as loudly as I did backin those days. Enrich was well known for his sense of humor among his fellow illustrators at S.1. and Jose ‘s sense of humor was amazing, Jose was great at playing, he was a very theatrical person and he used to make fun of himself, of the things that had happened to him. We often had the radio on, but we also used to listen to old records. particularly remember listening over and over again to an LP by Dean Martin, “AL first they were working on Warren covers and interiors and these were the most fun to watch, Later on, they both did ‘lot of romance. Enrich painted a lot of romance covers for Harlequin and can remember seeingjose drawing Vampirella, and the famous actors portfolios. I also saw him drawing nude girls playing sports [released as the “Chicas D'Esport” portfolio}, paperback covers and commissions of various kinds, often portraits. [also remember private commissions that were not portraits, such as a man who commissioned Jose to produce a good number of nude male drawings, for example, After Warren stopped publishing comics, Jose and Enrich continued to have alot of work, but to meit [did't] feel to be quite as much fun anymore. I think Jose let the studio not too long after I did. Once he moved to his own studio, across the street from Enrich’s I did not see him working any longer. ‘Looking back now at how he drew, | would say that he was extremely quick, bearing in mind how laborious some of his pencils were. Some of his portraits took several days to be completed. But you must also bear in mind that Jose did not work many hours per day; he was a genius, but not a hard worker! | do not remember ever seeing Jose draw a realistic, photo-like portrait of a famous person without photo references. What Jose is famous for was drawing the ‘Vampirella” strips and these (like all the interior comics that he did) were created without photo references. However, Jose liked to make one panel far more realistic than the others in his comic pages, you can notice this clearly in his Vampirella pages. and these particular drawings were always made using photos” Though he had committed to drawing twelve new strips, only six were printed before Warren went bankrupt, prematurely ending an exciting new chapter forthe comic. It ‘was shock for both Jose and Josep Toutain, who had recently started reprinting the new Vampi strips in Spain, with great fanfare, for Creepy magazine. A seventh episode, unpublished JOSE GONZALEZ: THE ARTIST 1314 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZ4 DOOGK Ne in America, “The Wrathmore Curse,” appeared in Creepy #42 and Manel Dominguez recalls the turmoil at S.. over what to do next: “When scripts stopped arriving, Toutai wanted to try to continue publishing Vampiretla in Spain and commissioned me to write a script made especially for Jose, something that he and I had talked about many times. Twas then the director of Toutain Editions, the publishing branch of Sil Jose and I prepared the script. which had several spectacular moments: a mysterious woman traveling in a boat, an ocean liner like Bette Davis’ in Now, Voyager, a visit to the Mouth of Hell located in the glass furnaces of the ‘Murano Island in Venice, one of the stops in the path of the boat. ‘The script was drawn, Jose's work was as spectacular as usual, or perhaps more so, since he was working on material that he himself had chosen, but the strip was never published. When Josep Toutain himself died, the publisher closed and, Jose never found out what became of the story except that he had delivered it to the publisher. Then Jose also died, unable to provide any more details to the mystery. I think that \Vampirella died with Jose, and with him the mystery of what. became ofthat work, the result of our long friendship” ‘he collapse of Warren marked a major turning point in Jose's career, which saw him leave Si. after 25 years with the agency and move over completely to Norma. By this point, Norma was publishing its own books and magazines, the centerpiece of which was the glassy fantasy monthly Cimoe. A number of Warren regulars resumed their careers in the pages of Cimoe, including Jose Ortiz, Sanjulian, Luis Bermejo and Jose, who was to craw his last comic strips for the title. The first of these was "Chantal, a surprisingly lighthearted series, about a Madame working in a 19th century brothel, which ‘was serialized in a umber of issues from 1983-85, ["Chantal"] ‘was followed byMamba, an adventure strip set in the Amazon, Warren's ‘which detailed the bizarre misfortunes of a young actress. All three were attractively drawn, though none ever quitereached the heights of his Vampirella work. Far better, however, were ‘a number of stunning covers and illustrations he created for Cimoe Especial, particularly a strip he drew for the sixth issue {in 1986; “Flashback” was a short tale drawn entirely in pencil, dealing with love and sex in the golden age of Hollywood. It ‘was one of the last strips he would ever draw and absolutely the finest of his career. Sporadic work for Cimoc appeared throughout the decade, but from this point on, he turned increasingly to illustration and private commissions, Throughout the 80s and early 90s, much ofhis time was devoted to exquisitely rendered covers for romantic novels, initially for Signet and Bantam and later for publishers across Europe. These astonishing pictures, created entirely with colored pencils and marker pens, were sold to publishers in the UK, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, France, Poland and particularly Germany, where he became one of Bastei’s top romance artists, The commercial side of Jose's art sometimes took some unexpected twists and turns, such as a 1989 commission to update the venerable Babhsey Twins for a contemporary audience. His thirteen covers for the Grosset and Dunlap series have since gone through ‘numerous reprintings and are still in print today. In the mid 90s, he returned to S.L where he found immense success with another unlikely commission; creating color illustrations for a series of Barbie books for the Danish publisher Egmoat. After completing several books on his own the agency suggested collaborating with artists Edmond Ripoll and Manfred Sommer to speed up production, Edmond and Sommer provided drawings, which Jose would then ‘paint’ in colored pencils, an unusual combination of talents and techniques bbut one that resulted in an astonishing 40 books together. After four decades as a commercial artist, the new JOSE GONZALEZ: THE ARTIST. 15‘millennium brought about an unexpected artisticrenaissance ‘when his rediscovery by American fans allowed him the freedom to produce whatever artworkhe felt inspired to create. ‘The knowledge that he had a group of admirers (effectively patrons in the old fashioned sense, who would buy anything he drew) liberated him to create some ofthe finest drawings of his career. This late lowering could be fitful, and some years ‘were more productive than others, but many of the drawings, revealed an artist still capable of creating work of the very highest standard. Fans were particularly delighted when he started to create new drawings of Vampirella, varying from color recreations of his old frontis illustrations to a torrent of thrilling new pencil studies. During this period Jose was also invited to exhibit at the gallery of his old S.L. colleague Lluis Ribas, who by that time had become a successful painter. This, resulted in three solo shows featuring new drawings of nudes and movie stars and again, he had never been better. Following this late flowering of creativity, the artist's last few years were reclusive and restricted by illness, his, work reduced to a trickle of diverse subjects: nudes, horses, recreations of old Vampirella drawings and his own take on DC's female superheroes, If they were not always quite the equals of his past glories, it would be wrong to see them simply as the work of an artist in decline. By the standards of most other artists, they would have been career highlights, {or Jose they were heroic reflections of his determination to, create art, whatever his physical state. Gabriel Picart recalls, the artist's final years: "My wife Rosa worked for Sin Barcelona and while she did, Jose also used to work there: sometimes he worked at home, some others at the office. She developed a very close relationship with him and when Si. in Barcelona ceased business, Herb Spiers asked my wife Rosato keep collaborating with his New York agency, which was the sister company of Selecciones lustradas. For this reason, from time to time, Rosa would call Jose to offer him small commissions from the US. Once Herb asked Rosa to cal Jose [because] a US publisher wanted to create a book about his Vampirella ar: [in addition to] collecting the old illustrations, they also wanted Jose to create a few new Vampirella illustrations! After so many years, at lst a REAL Vampirella commission had come for Jose! “Rosa called Jose at home, but he dil not answer. Not finding him at home was normal. She tried a couple of times, the following day and Jose still did not answer, though again, this was not unusual. But Rosa started worrying and called the bar where Jose used to go. ‘hey had not seen him for a couple of days, and this wasindeed very strange. o they called the police who found him unconscious, lying on the floor of his home. Jose died at the hospital some days later. This Is a sad story, but to me, there was something magical in the fact that a serious Vampirella commission had come for Jose after so many, many years: Jose did not die alone lying on the floor of his home, but ina hospital where they took very good care of him, That made a great difference... Vampirella made the difference” Jose “Pepe” Gonzalez. died on the 13 of March 2009; he ‘was 70 years old. In the words of hs friend Esteban Maroto: "A great artist has died, but a legend has been born.” News spread around the world of comics, with tributes springing up all over the Internet, reigniting in old readers an appreciation for an artist some had long forgotten. The Spanish newspaper 1 Mundo interviewed Normals publisher Rafael Martinez, ‘who was quoted as saying that “Jose was one of the top three Spanish artists ofthe past few decades." In the years since his, death, prices for his artwork have risen to the point where they are now beyond the reach of most collectors. A new generation of Vampirella fans has been introduced to his work through the archival reprint series of the entire run of Vampirella Astonishingly, in 2012, the Spanish artist Carlos Gimenez, a colleague and friend from the early days of Si. released the first ofa five volume graphic novel series recounting Jose's life story, an absolutely unprecedented tribute to a comic artist. ‘The Entrecomics blog tellingly described the series as a love letter to an absent friend and, with each book's release, Jose the artist is increasingly becoming Jose the legend, just as Maroto had predicted. Fromitsinception, this bookwas conceived asa celebration offose’s entire artistic career, which meant collecting together his very finest pieces of art and @ determined search for originals to shoot from. In the course of trawling through the Internet's most obscure corners, many astonishing works have emerged, hidden away in collections for years. Some have appeared through word of mouth, one fan recalling drawings seen some years earlier on a fellow collector's wall for instance, while others have come to light through following the electronic pathway from e-bay to buyer and back again. There remain images of great beauty. which seemingly exist only in the halFlife of the digital world: ghosts of drawings passed from blogger to blogger whose physical locations remain frustratingly out of reach. Luckily though, many of his best drawings, strips and covers are here: some presented to an English speaking audience for the frst time, while others have previously never been printed at all. Jose always hoped that his art would be allowed to speak for itself, that he would be accepted by the world as the great artist he was, and perhaps, finaly, this collection will see him given the acclaim his talent, sorrichly deserves. DAVID. A. ROACH 2014 JOSE GONZALEZ: THE ARTIST 17ORIGINAL ART FROM VAMPIRELLA #110 (WILL ROSADO COLLECTION)CHAPTER 1 VAMPIRELLA: THE COMIC STRIPS Ig maura yeasts games mtorr west meee "in Pure Una a exon ee To Sen SAuasY W Races Scns Te, RSCSELCRSRY rere ae see rome by Roger Vadim’s 1968 film Barbarella; and writer Forrest J. Ackerman’s first episode SPLASH TO VAMPIRELLA #12 opportunity. As time went on, however, the stories became gradually shorter and Jose's art grew increasingly more impressive. The British writer Mike Butterworth, working under the pseudonym Flaxman Loew, took over with issue #28 and the feature changed dramatically, with Vampi and Pendragon meeting a new villain each month as their stage ‘act took them around the world, These less intense, globe-trotting stories saw the pair travel to Scotland, Mexico, Paris, Rome, London and even as far afield as Burma, Egypt. and the Amazon. Jose's art peaked with episodes such as “The Sun God” (in issue #31), “The Sultana’s Revenge” (issue #33), and “The Mummy's Revenge (issue #38), which were drawn with ‘precision and realism not seen before, Fans were writing in and praising individual panels, let alone whole strips— such ‘was the artist's skill as adraftsman, However, a growing disenchantment with his lack of control over the strip (and its financial rewards) prompted, Jose to temporarily leave the comic in 1974 to create his own, character, Herma, and it was to be first of several sabbaticals. In his absence, Jose Ortiz, Leopoldo Sanchez, Zesar and. Esteban Maroto all aequitted themselves well, but it was Gonzalo Mayo who was to have the longest association with, the series, Jose returned the following year but drew only 3 uuninspiredepisodes, anditwastobe yet another year before he ‘was the regular artist on the strip again. Furthermore, during, his absence, Bill Dubay had become the series’ principal writer ‘and he returned the strip to its American setting, introduced, ‘more continuity, and darkened the tone noticeably. After a booklength tale in the 50" issue saw areturningJose Gonzalez joined by Ortiz, Maroto, Ramon ‘Torrents, Dubay, and Jeff Jones (in a strip co-starring Pantha, Fleur, and Will Eisner's Spirit, the pattern was set for the next few years. Dubay and, ‘Jose would be the principal creative team, offering a series of eye catching short stories, while Gerry Boudreau and Gonzalo, ‘Mayo would weigh in with more substantial book length tales. Jose's third period on the strip featured some of his finest artwork on stories such as “Ihe Human Marketplace” (issue +#53)."The Headless Horseman’ tissue #56), and “City Of Ghosts” (issue #57). These were followed by memorable tales featuring, the Blood Red Queen (first drawn by Maroto) and a return to Drakulon, which culminated in the beautifully drawn issue #66, another high point for the artist. Following this peak, the strip crashed back down to earth, both literally and creatively, as Pantha became a regular ‘member ofthe cast and an ill judged sequence of stories set in Hollywood marked aperiod of some upheaval. Jose was clearly ‘uninspired by the concept of Vampi becoming a movie star, the scripts veered from high camp to the grotesque and his art became stale. In 1979, after 48 episodes in all, he eft not just Vampirella, but the comics industry itself, for a startling, artistic rebirth as an illustrator back home in Spain. Gonzalo ‘Mayo and Rudy Nebres were both highly capable artists, but nobody could replace Jose. However, Jim Warren was an assiduous recycler of old material and his constant reprinting ‘of past episodes, culminating in the all-color Vampirella Special, kept the artist in the public's eye. Infact, out of Jose's original 48 strips, only 14 were never reprinted, while some were printed three times. 20 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZ ‘The 80s was a difficult time for comic publishers working outside the superhero genre, but while sales may well have been falling across the board, there was a marked artistic renaissance in many of Warren's later issues. Vampirella in particular was emerging as an intelligently conceived package with new arrival Rich Margopoulos writing solid, adventure filled stories since issue #90, Loyal fans were astonished, however, to see the return for a fourth time of a rejuvenated Jose Gonzalez in #103. Jose had signed up for a run of twelve stories and the resulting strips saw the artist at his very best. These new strips were consistently well drawn with a number of standout panels drawn in his trademark ‘graphite, alternating with intensely crosshatched pen work. But tragically, the artist managed to draw only seven new “Vampirella” episodes before Warren succumbed to a hostile ‘marketplace and the threat of a damaging lawsuit. Six stories, had appeared by the final issue, #112, leaving one episode— “The WrathmoreCurse’— unprinted. Chronologically the story should have been printed in #109, but was unceremoniously dumped, it would seem, to make way fora collection of Felix ‘Mas reprints, However, in Spain, Jose's new Vampi stories had, just started to appear in Josep Toutain's Creepy magazine and, the missing episode subsequently appeared in issue #42 of that ttle, placed in the correct chronological order between strips from Vampirella #108 and #110 Faced with the imminent disappearance of a popular strip, Toutain commissioned Manel Dominguez. to write a new story, possibly called “The Mysterious Stranger” which was subsequently drawn by Jose, Legend has it that the artwork. ‘was Jose at is very best, and this could have been a wonderful, new beginning for the character, but tragically the episode never appeared, It would seem that while the strip was being, drawn, Harris publications had bought the rights to Vampirella in an auction, meaning that Toutain’s licensing agreement ‘with Warren was no longer valid. A for the strip itself, once the artist had detivered it, it simply disappeared into the archives of, ‘Toutain’s publishing empire, never to be seen again. It remains, the great lost Vampirella story. a thing oflegend! Altogether, Jose drew 56 episodes of "Vampirella” more than any other artist to this day. To many fans, he is, and always will be, the characters definitive artist. The first of the three strips reprinted in this chapter is “Return Trip” from issue #27, (which was the first episode to be printed in color and unusually, featured ascript written by S's owner Josep Toutain).Itwasthe first eight-page episode and the first to be drawn in Jose's more realistic style. Following the “Return Trip” is the strip from issue #108, "Spawn of The Star Beast” which i ane example ofJose's later work. The final storyis "The Wrathmore Curse” printed for the first time in English.21-28: ART FROM RETURN TRIP. FIRST PUBLISHED IN VAMPIRELLA #27, 1975, SCRIPT BY JOSEP TOUTAIN, PAGE 24 REMASTERED BY JOSH JOHNSON, LETTERED BY MARSHALL DILLON22 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZ\Javertor VAMPIRELLA: THE COMIC STRIPS 2324 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZVAMPIRELLA: THE COMIC STRIPS26 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZ\Jawa #9 g28 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZTAETER AN ARDUOUS WORKOUT IN THE m4 VE, THE GRL FROM " THE OPPRESSIVE HEAT REMINDS HER OF THE TWIN SUNS ON DRARULON, HER [ONG*DEAD NATIVE HOMEWORLD! I SHES GRATEFUL FOR THE QUIET AND “Author: RICH MARGOPOULOS Mlustrator: JOSE GONZALEZOTe evone, TEEVES! HURRY, 30 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZTHE DYING SCREAMS OF THE SEWER TAR AWAY IN HOLLYWOOD, YAMPRELLA SCAMPERS 70 HER FROM OPULENT HOLLYWOOD TO THE ‘SEB. AND VAMPRELLA TAKES THAT WELL, CONRAD, WE'VE EEN SEARCHING THE BRONX FOR HOURS) WHAT DOES YOUR SOCTH ‘SENSE TELL YOU? FRANKLY, EM BAFFLEDI sense THE CREATURE CLOSE BYE OU REPORTED THEE VAMPIRELLA: THE COMIC STRIPS. 31ALA. WARRIN Tuars aigeT. ALL 1 SEE ARE “TWO POLICEMEN ‘MANHOLE? HELPLESSLY AS TENTACLES STRETC FORTH FROM A CURBSIDE SEWER ‘The DANK DARKNESS UNDER THE STREET! 32 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZ‘CONRAD. SHOULDNT WE HAE ALERTED THE Pe aeons YY 4 ‘ARE NOTIFIED, CAN A NEWS Eak AND A PUBLIC PANE i FAR BEHIND? ICIMON, CONRAD! MAKE A BREAK FR II THs CRAMPED TUNNELS NO PLACE FOR A SHOWDOWN! LLA: THE COMIC STRIPTANT. AND THs 7 LEAVE YOU, THEN ‘finanesiun WN Coneab..” If suelo your FLARE GUN no Marrén "EVES! Tae SHOULD BLOW WHAT dll STAR BEAST IS ir 70) TH-THERE'S A ‘VULNERABLE anapom luigi! MAYBE WE 10 FIRE. “Tua WAY! ow i T STIL SENSE (DANGER IN THE AIR, VAMPIRELLAY i OF SMELLS AS 50 Do 1, IF RECENTLY FIRED! coisa ALAS, 1 FEAR MERE ARE COMIN \clinting Over | USELESS AGAINST ‘A STAR BEAST! = ow 34 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZCONTACT WITH ACID-SECRETING TRUSING GRTH OFF THE SUBWAY PLATFORM ee HANDED! 7 GREATER 1 prize no wowan) [5\D) REVEALED NOTHING! THE ‘COMPLETELY OVER? 36 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZFOR GENERATIONS, THE VAN HELSING Family — | i MANSION TOWERED OVER THE BALTIC PAN MOUNTAINS, THE NOBLE PaMiy EVENTUALLY MOVED TO NEW ENGLAND, ON THE A q BS Cons? OF AMERICA, BUNGNG THEM MANSION Win THEN BRICK BY BRICK. 7 ie NG Cu VAMPIRELLA! WHAT Brings enc ATIERS TACOUPLE OF DAYS. ON VACATION WAS FAR TOO TEMPTING TO REJECT, WRITER: RICH MARGOPOULOS ARTIST: PEPE GONZALEZ P.37~44: ART FROM THE WRATHMORE CURSE, UNPUBLISHED IN AMERICA. FIRST PUBLISHED IN CREEPY #42 ( TOUTAIN EDITOR, SPAIN) 1985, SCRIPT BY RICH MARGOPOULOS, ‘TRANSLATED BY HANNAH GORFINKEL, LETTERED BY MARSHALL DILLON, REMASTERED BY MIKE KELLEHERABOUT THREE HUNDRED Years WP maLice WAS Goma THROUGH A THE TRIAL WAs BRIEF. THEY POUND fl ‘AGO, THE PEOPLE OF MALICE. TERRIBLE TIME DROUGHT. FAMINE HER GULTY 3 MASSACHUSETTS HIRED AND DISEASES WERE FESTERING IN ‘AMADEUS VAN HELSING, ONE THE TOWN. ALL IT WAS MISSING x E OF THE veny rinsT IN ALONG WF \PEGOAT. LINE OF WITCH AND VAMPRE HUNTERS, Gano my aNcEsToR Gave IT TO THEM WITH MARY ELIZABETH WRATAMORE. AMADEUS ACCUSED HER OF BEING A WITCH! SUFFER IN Hisves. ‘AND This NIGHT MARKS THE TURN OF A NEW CENTURY, SO THE CURSE RETURNS. BURIED MARY. HOw cAN You BELIEVE IN THE HOUNDS OF HELL ‘AND THE WRATH (OF cHaos? ACCORDING TO THE LEGEND, EVER SINCE THAT Day YVAN HELSING HAS BEEN THE VICTIM ‘OF THE CURSE, SOMETHING'S HAPPENING IN 40 THEART OFim was A HOUND OF HELL! IT: CAME LAST INIGHT, SITING AND DESTROYING, TEARING AND ‘RILLING! SIXTH SENSE IS TELLING my , ME THAT IPS BETTER TO ON THE RETURN TRIP twa THE SILENCE Was SHARPLY BROKEN, THIS 1S TERRIBLE? DEAD BODIES IN THE ‘STREETS AND HALF OF ‘THE TOWN REDUCED TO CINDERS! irs dhe 10 ve ONG Bac VE DECIDED ht cers ivedone sa rou ! WHA Fs LeBkoG mrs The CURSE TA FOR..YOU! WITH MY BARE rie Gorse Paar i wes FOLLOWS YoU AND YOUR FAMILY! TM SURPRISED ‘THAT FATHER ADRIAN ™ HE HAs His ‘COMING WITH WELCH, BEING THE vou. PACIFIST THAT HE Is, OWN WEAPONS HAS BEEN GIVING YOU AMMUNITION, NOLITs My RESPONSIBILITY. ‘A DEBT THAT (MUST BE PAID TO ‘THE PEOPLE OF MALICE, A 58 CALIBER ‘SURPRISE FOR "THOSE HELL "HOUNDS, A PISTOL THAT SHOOTS SILVER BULLETS BLESSED BY FATHER WELCH, \VAMPIRELLA: THE COMIC STRIPS 1 ‘CONFRONT CHAS, at‘ALTHOUGH THATS AND IN THE RECTORY, MANY MILES AWAY. ‘ADAM. HAS GONE! THAT BOY Is JUST INSUFFERABLE. WE WHO ARE AT HIS SERVICE KNOW. EVERYTHING ABOUT THE WRATHMORE CURSE. VAN HELSING WILL BE FORCED CONFRONT THE BEAST OF SATAN. ASK ME TO BLESS His AMMUNITION. BULLETS IN THE NAME (OF CHAOS. AND NOW ‘THEY ARE USELESS AGAINST THE FORCES ‘OF DARKNESS! 42° THEART OF J0: NZALEZa — “SUDDENLY ANGRY, TH MAN TURNS TO VAR iS Tx o> Be BS = iE OLD MPIRELLA = ay WITHOUT HESITATION, VAMPIRELLA TRANSFORMED INTO A VAMPIRE WITH SHARP CANINES AND TAKES (OFF, ENGULFED BY THE NIGHT. ADAM'S SILVER BULLETS ARE NO LONGER FATHER WELCH! A FOLLOWER OF CHAOS TAMPERED WITH ADAMS THE WRATHMORE MAUSOLEUM! AND THERE'S ADAM BEING vavene.ua olla in.. Wal can VOU save uasiD By it erent hr sont Too LATE VAMPIRELLA DEFTLY LANDS IN A JEEP. NEXT TO.A MAN WHO {5 APPARENTLY CALM DESPITE BEING HARASSED RELENTLESSLY BY DEATH. AND WHATS WORSE, TM ABOUT TO BREAK AN AXLE. SO T WANT YOU TO b. GET FAR AWAY FROM HERE, ‘VAMP, UNDERSTAND? ADAMI THE BULLETS ARENT ‘BLESSED! THEY WON'T WORK ON "ANYTHING! IVE grim THE EMPTY WRATHMORE (MAUSOLEUM. Ley

CHAPTER 3 THE FRONTIS DRAWINGS [AND UNPUBLISHED FRONTIS PUBLISHED COVER TO VAMPIRELLA #85 eo Moonee Prostaipsaniots nts very here or particularly well-drawa carliest hints sme in issue #16, which featured a pair of drawings on its letters page; one was a sensitive, somewhat pensive, self-portrait while the other was a delica holding her hand up to her face, both rendered in pencil. It would be several years later in issue #36, close up of Vampirella 74 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZhowever, before fans could appreciate how gifted the artist really was, with the first appearance of the frontis drawings that would become so revered and iconic. ‘Warren magazines had included illustrations, or short one- page comic strips, on inside front covers since Creepy featured «grinning Uncle Creepy drawing by Jack Davis in its very first issue. Creepy’ “Loathsome Lore” and Keries “Monster Gallery” strips ran in that spot for several years and were in turn joined by Vampis “Feary Tales” when Vampirella was launched, In 1974, all three features were replaced by strikingly drawn Introduction pagesstarringeach comicshost:firstin Creepyand Eerie, (both memorably drawn by Berni Wrightson) and finally in September's edition of Vampirella drawn by Jose Gonzalez. In fact, the first two issues to include Jose's drawings (issues #36 and #39) had two illustrations: on the inside front cover and the back cover. Each illustration was rendered in pencil with colored backgrounds and jokey dialogue balloons added by Warren's art department. The results were remarkable; readers had simply never before seen a comic book character drawn so realistically or so provocatively. Altogether the comic featured twenty-nine frontis illustrations, with at least five more scheduled for issues that remained unpublished after Warren went bankrupt (though LEFT: MARGIT KOCSIS REFERENCE PHOTO FOR VAMPIRELLA #59 IGHT: UNKNOWN MODEL PHOTO REFERENCE FOR VAMPIRELLA #39 (968), ‘one appeared in miniature in the coming attractions page of issue #108). Two more drawings were used as covers for issues of the comic (issue #75 and issue #83) with added color. backgrounds and monsters from staff artist Kim McQuaite. In fact, the initial drawing utilized as the cover to issue #83 has since appeared online where itis shown to have included aan elaborate border design, which had been removed from the printed image. A further drawing, da ‘made it into print for reasons unknowa, while yet another from 1976, never illustration (also from that year) was prepared as the basis for a poster that never materialized. Add in Jose's work from the 1978 Warren Calendar and that becomes a total of 39 drawings, many of which have since become as iconic as the covers or strips themselves. the frontis drawings were published in three distinct periods, the first stretching from 1974 to 1976, with mostof the illustrations apparently drawn in 1974 (and a few appearing in the Spanish Vampirella comic published by Garbo, before its American counterpart). These tended to feature Vampi in a particular setting, be it a ruined castle, a graveyard, a jungle or reading from an ancient grimoire. With artwork this realistic, Jose had to rely on photographic images that he gathered from various sources. A comparison of hs finished THE FRONTIS DRAWINGS 75drawing from #39 with the vintage glamour photo he drew from shows that the artist somehow managed to remain incredibly faithful to his model, while somehow imbuing het with a sense of macabre sensuality not present in the source ‘material. Through his close friendship with Enrich, Jose was able to share some of the photos the painter had taken as reference for his many Vampirella covers. A photo of model ‘Margit Kocsis was used as the inspiration for both #39 frontis drawing and Enrich’s own Vampi cover three issues later. Jose’ friend Carol de Haro was used as a model for several of Entich’s most famous covers, as well as the legendary poster, which the pair collaborated on, Carol de Haro also inspired the frontis to #40 and an unpublished drawing from 1976. However, Jose was happy to draw inspiration from anywhere «and a few drawings are known to have been derived from long, Jost “men's magazines" of dubious origin. Jose created a few further Vampirella drawings in 197,but these remained unpublished until some years later, trickling, ‘outas the occasional contents pageillustration or reconfigured, by Kim MeQuaite into new covers. It was not until the 1980s that he would create any new images of the character, with ‘one exception. Vampirella #82 was his swansong as a comic artist, at least for a few years, and the strip in question was uninspired at best, However, the issue also included his only solo cover illustration, a breathtakingly provocative pose rendered in markers and colored pencils which has gone on to become one of the character's most famous images. His final phase of creativity started with #101 in 1981 and each, successive issue included a new drawing, though these were now relegated to the contents pages with poor printing, which rarely did justice to the subtlety of his artwork. This third period was less elaborately composed than the earlier drawings, with Vampiella invariably set against a minimalist background of a moon and some abstract graphite shading, ‘though once again the draftsmanship was impeccable. Ione rawing typifies Jose's approach to the character it must be the unforgettable illustration of Vampirella on all fours from. issue #105: it is an intensely sensual image yet somehow he ‘manages to imbue her with a sense of strength that prevents it becoming merely a passive, cheesecake pin up. The drawing, style itself is vibrantly loose and fall of energy, mixing soft, lightly shaded skin with broad, vigorously scribbled hair. Above all it is a supremely confident drawing made by an artist with an innate knowledge of the human body In recent years, some of the best frontis drawings have re-emerged as comic book covers and trading cards. On the rare occasion when one comes up forsale, the original art can 4 for thousands of dollars. Among many collectors they are widely regarded as Jose Gonzalez’ highest achievements as ‘an artist, and itis easy to see why. ‘CAROL DE HARO REFERENCE PHOTO FOR VAMPIRELLA #40 76 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZWELCOME TO THE, WEIRD AND WONDERFUL WORLD OF VAMPIRELLAL, THAT'S ME. vampires FROM QEVYOND THE STARS, WEAVER OF STRANGE, “AND OFTEN CHILLING TALES. AND THIS 16 IY SPECIAL, FIETH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE! WITHIN THESE PAGES 1 HAVE BROUGHT TOGETHER THE WORLDS, GREATEST WRITERS AND ARTISTS 70 PREGENT SEVEN TALES OF THE MYSTERIOUS, THE UNHOLY, AND THE DAMNED. TALES OF FANTASY. TALES OF EV/C. TALES OF HORROR. TALES THAT WILL "TEST THE BOUNDARIES OF YOUR /MAGINATION. NE Is. AWORLD OF “AWE AND WONDER. NOW INVITE YOu TO SHARE WITH ME 'VAMPIRELLA #56 (FRONT COVER) THE DRVAMPIRELLA #56 (BACK COVER) 78 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZVAMPIRELLA #59 (FRONT COVER), ‘ORIGINAL ARTWORK FROM GENE PARK THE FRONTIS DRAWINGS 79Ineo —. VAMPIRELLA #59 (BACK COVER) ORIGINAL ARTWORK FROM GENE PARK 80 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZP weicone once 7 cain 70 1He trance W ( “rantasy-rucen WORLD OF, DW vamerecca’ @ WON'T you JON EAS WE TAKE | Six HoRzirvine TRIPS INTO THE SUPERNATURAL? P you. meet win 7 sisters wits A PENCHANTSS FOR CONJURING DEMONS. | A PsvcHOPATHIC COVER bith DearH ON‘nis Py & steancer Lost V ws Furure WORLD WAND A STARSHIP I coltmancer mPeRiLeD BY A CREATURE S WHO EATS TIME! P vou aso & Freer oeacota nw [none reeacc trom ) Bhe cracus oF end CARNIVAL! PP Twey’ee ALL warine (oR you insioe THs VERY SPECIAL ISSUE! 4E FRONTISBEWARE, READERS: {e you OPEN THe: FANTASY vesnns wurKs THE EE WICKEOLD WITCHES. A BEAUTIFUL BUT MYSTERIOU: 0807 GiRt WOUsé OF THE DEAD THAT FLOATS INTHE INTHE MIDDLE OF AN CCEAN AND A CIRCUS Ful ADVENTURES, DEFORMED ‘A STRANGE MAN-KILLING iat FROM. FREAKS! THE STARS.TN VAMPIRELLAL AND THIS Is Ay, LET ME GE YOUR GUIDE ON EVE TERRIFYING TRIPS) vio Te macaaree | PWE'LL JOURNEY TOW ‘SOUTH AMERICA FORA SOSOURN WITH HEAD- HUNTING CANNIBALS... ‘TO WORLD WAR I A cERMANY TOMEETA Mery soccy Gyosr... de pi cial LL 70 THE CIRCUS FoR & Y rc0% Beno a ceowin's | masee wort Sate THROUGH manaTTaN | Winns carWemanns AND Winn SYNDICATE MF Mane . PANDAS AVERY SPECIAL TREAT, THERE'S 200K 16 your VISA INTO THE WORLD OF THE SUPERNATURAL! VAMPIRELLA #42 8VAMPIRELLA #43. 84 THEART OF JOSE GONZALEZVAMPIRELLA #50 ay ‘ORIGINAL ARTWORK FROM DOUG AND PAM MURR THE FRONTIS DRAWINGS 85VAMPIRELLA #54 86 THEART OF JOSE GONZALEZVAMPIRELLA #55 THE FRONTIS DRAWINGS 87‘ART: JOSE GONZALEZ VAMPIRELLA #56 88 THEART OF JOSE GONZALEZDRAWING FOR PROPOSED VAMPIRELLA POSTER (1976) THE FRONTIS DRAWINGS 89PENCIL DRAWING FOR THE COVER FOR VAMPIRELLA #75 ‘ORIGINAL ARTWORK FROM MARCEL MIRALLES 90 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZTHE FRONTIS DRAWINGS 91VAMPIRELLA #109 VAMPIRELLA #350 VampInetia #113 92 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZmt ‘ORIGINAL ARTWORK FROM INGRID NIELSON COLLECTION VAMPIRELLA #101 THE FRONTIS DRAWINGS 93ef ——» VAMPIRELLA #104 ORIGINAL ARTWORK FROM THE COLLECTION OF 21M D'AMICO 94 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZVAMPIRELLA #105 ‘ORIGINAL ARTWORK FROM VINCE OLIVA THE FRONTIS DRAWINGS 95VAMPIRELLA #106 ORIGINAL ARTWORK FROM SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS. 96 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZVAMPIRELLA #107 ORIGINAL ARTWORK FROM STEVEN MORGER THE FRONTIS DRAWINGS 97a VAMPIRELLA #108 ORIGINAL ARTWORK FROM HERITAGE AUCTIONS (HA.COM) 98 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZVAMPIRELLA #112 ORIGINAL ARTWORK FROM GENE PARK THE FRONTIS DRAWINGS 99VaMPIRELLA #133 100 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZVAMPIRELLA 114 UNPUBLISHED ORIGINAL ARTWORK FROM STEVEN MORGER THE FRONTIS DRAWINGS 101CHAPTER 4 JOSE IN SPAIN SUSANA #8. ne of the strange consequences of the Spanish artistic diaspora is that e be drew so rarely for the Spanish market. Inde _most of the artists who drew for Warren were better known for the reprints of their American strips than for work they had drawn for their own co Jose Gonzalez was no exception and for 20 years he created almost nothing directly for the Spanish readership. However, he would periodically pull away from British and American commissions and in the 80s became a major force in the developing independent publishing scene. Jose’ Spanish career fell into three distinct periods; establishing himself as an artist in the late 102 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZ 508, the portfolios of 1979 through 1981, and his publishing in the 80s. liest strips as a professional artist were * for the French publisher Artima, butt was soon clear he was wasted drawing anything atiful girls. Throughout 1958 and 1959 Jose and strips for the local publishing house ‘Toray fon such titles as Rosas Blancas and Susana, His elegantly glamorous, sophisticated women meant he was a natural for their romance strips, though their plunging necklines and generous chests worried his more conservati at this early stage of his career these romances were drawn, hort ‘western tales such as "Doc Hollid other than b drew cove editors. EvenFROM THE FAMILIA TOUTAIN COLLECTION ‘COVER TO PAMELA COLLECTION, 1976 ‘COVER TO NUEVA DIMENSION, 197 CELIA #178, 1964 JOSE IN SPAIN 103,sikh ROSAS BLANCAS #8, #9, #14, 1958-59 with ineredible precision, an assured line and a ‘great eye for fashion and design. Toray’s liaison with S.L studios was Manel Dominguez, who soon became one of Jose’ closest friends and was. instrumental in getting him the cover slot on a new magazine devoted to the Spanish singing stars, Duo Dinamico. As Manel explains: “Iwas then the ‘young rebel’ at Toray and ina way the Duo Dinamico production was under my wing, ‘The decision to commit Jose [to the largest] possible number of covers was ‘mine, though the final decision was obviously over my head, Anyway I got the OK from the bosses and he drew the first 8 policy was to hook the readers with Jose's covers though most of the strips inside were covers. The done by other, minor artists Jose’s sole strip for the comic appeared in its second issue and was quite simply breath taking, as were his covers. ‘hese were perhaps the first tangible pieces of evidence of the artist's 104 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZ VAMPIRELLA real potential, with their mixture of realistic painting and more decorative, design oriented line work. To the modern eye, they seem years ahead of their time, Inevitably, his work was soon in demand from Britain, with all the financial benefits that entailed, so there would have been little incentive to draw anything for the poorer paying Spanish publishers, ‘The rare exceptions included an illustration for the Fotonovela Embeleso Sortilegios, drawings for Rumeu's Terror Extra paperbacks and a cover for the Science Fiction Nueva Dimencion, He also found time magazine to draw a series of 126 cartoon gags starring a rarely clothed blonde named Pamela, some of which were printed locally in the mag ‘atos, and years later in a rare 70s collection. wine Mata In the 70s, Jose's “Vampirella’ became an enormous international success, especially in his native Spain where the strip was first reprinted in Mata Ratos, then in its own title from theSENSACIONAL REPORTAJE DE SU DESPEDIOA DE BUENOS ames Y LLEGADA A BARCELONA ATA Poiana We publisher Garbo, ‘The workload from Warren was incessant, but he occasionally found time for extracurricular jobs such as posters for Vampus (Garbo's Spanish version of Creepy) and covers for the tawdry “Sexy West” digest Belle Star His was not attempt in 1974 at a creator owned strip, “Herm: published until it was included in the lavish Cuando EI Comics es Arte book four years later. This was a beautiful collection from Toutain publishing of Jose's best comics and illustration work, which was sold in Spain, Italy, Germany and America. ‘More significantly, the following year he left “Vampirella” for a period in his career, he was free to fully express himself as an artist. f over two years where, perhaps for the first time The result was a series of drawings of the movie stars who had so captivated him in his childhood: Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Greta Garbo and Humphrey Bogart. These were illustrations of the highest quality, exquisitely realistic interpretations brought to life by the brilliance of his pencil work, But while Jose was an admirer of American artists such as Bob Peake and Norman Rockwell, his drawings were not obviously influenced by any particular movement. They were built up through deft, confident, loose strokes of the pencil, rather than painstaking crosshatched lines, evidence of an artist working with complete confidence ia his abilities 106 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZ ya EU LECCION DE MADISON EN ExCLUSIVAORIGINAL ARTWORK FROM HERMA, 1974 IMAGE FROM HERITAGE AUCTION (HA.COM 108 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZThese two years of intense creativity produced enough work for four portfolios devoted to each of the movie stars published by the newly created company Norma, which also utilized the drawings in various ways throughout the 80s. he portfolios alone went through several printings and Jose's many Marilyn pictures were released as posters, prints and postcards in various permutations across Europe. In 1984, the British book Marilyn in Art included 8 of these drawings that were by far the stand out pieces in the whole volume. In 1979, he also created perhaps the most baffling series of pictures in his career; six stunning color drawings of nude girls playing sports (first printed 3 years later in the magazine Humour A Tope and then released as the postcard set Chicas y Desportes in 1986) and 10 plates of yet more naked BELLE STAR COVERS #1-6, 1978 sports-grls rendered in pen and ink, released as the Chicas de jose Gonzalez portfolio in 1982. "The figure-work was both breathtakingly beautiful and surprisingly explicit. though the thinking behind the sets is hard to grasp. Interestingly, when Jose unexpectedly returned to Vampirelia in 1982, he recycled some ofthe “Chicas” poses for his new strips and drawings. Despite the quality of the artwork, his return to Vampirella was not enough to save the comic and following its collapse a year later he returned to Norma, creating a succession of strips for its flagship title Cimoc and yet another Portfolio: Hollywood Stars. The three strips he created for Cimoc Chantal” “Mamba” and “Crazy’) exposed copious amounts of flesh but perhaps failed to engage the public emotionally, and the final episode of "Crazy" in 1987 was JOSEIN SPAIN. 109JOSEIN SPAIN aL 3 oa"to be the last strip he ever drew. More interestingly, he was also a frequent contributor to the series of Cimoc special editions published annually by Norma, which showcased him at his breath-taking best. His first issue was #3 which featured the first (and best) episode of “Chantal,” numerous erotically charged drawings and a cover which was probably the most compelling Marilyn drawing of his career (and the word drawing is used advisedly, by this stage in his artistic development he was creating gorgeously realized illustrations entirely withthe use of colored pencils). Cimoe Special #6 sported another striking (topless!) Marilyn cover and the 5 page strip “Flashback’: a seductive meditation on the glory days of Hollywood, richly rendered in pencil which ‘was another career highlight. ‘The seventh issue was eatirely GRETA GARBO PORTFOLIO PLATE, 1980 ORIGINAL ART FROM HERITAGE IHA.COM) devoted to Marilyn and included a cover, a selection of his best pencil drawings, and two double-sided posters from Jose. In 1989, he was the stand out attraction in Cimoc Special #9, with a visual tribute to Marilyn's legendary 1959 movie Some Like it Hot Some years later, these various Marilyn features were gathered together in the book Marilyn: Super Star De Los § ‘hich also included a beautiful new series of color drawings illustrating scenes from the film Niagara, The calleetion ‘was released across Europe, but by this point he was firmly established as a cover artist for the Corin Tellado paperback series and the world of comics was becoming a distant memory. He never drew another comic strip, though the call ofacertain Alien Vampire was ultimately too strong to resist. JOSEIN SPAIN 13,GRETA GARGO PORTFOLIO PLATE, 1980 ‘ORIGINAL ART FROM JESUS SERNA 114 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZHUMPHREY BOGART PORTFOLIO PLATE, 1982 [ORIGINAL ART FROM HERITAGE A HA.COM) JOSEIN SPAIN 115HOLLYWOOD STARS PORTFOLIO PLATE, 1984 HUMPHREY BOGART PORTFOLIO COVER RE-ISSUE, 1983 ‘ORIGINAL ART FROM HERITAGE (WACOM) ORIGINAL ART FROM JESUS SERNA {AMES DEAN PORTFOLIO PLATE, 1981 ' ‘ORIGINAL ART FROM SANTI FERRER 116 THE ART OF JOSE GONZALEZUN HOMBRE MIL IMAGENES: CARLOS GIMENEZ, 1982 UN HOMBRE MIL IMAGENES: JESUS BLASCO, 1984 JOSE INSPAIN 17i Ere st Tua we (ce cy JUIN SINE. aM) ulgle] nu te IM nS “aes el | i ae I Si

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