Alfonso Azpiri Mejía (17 January 1947 − August 18, 2017) was a Spanish
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
artist, whose work was mainly of the adult variety.
Biography
Azpiri was born in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
. His early work was published in the 1970s and was mainly aimed at the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
market which then welcomed stories containing a mixture of horror, sex and nudity. Azpiri's work, drawn in a comical style, featured amply breasted women getting involved with
werewolves
In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely ...
,
mummies
A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furt ...
Frankenstein monster
Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compare ...
.
His work has been translated and published in a number of magazines, including '' Heavy Metal'' and ''
Penthouse Comix
''Penthouse Comix'' was an American mass-market, magazine-sized comic book, published by Penthouse International/General Media Communications from spring 1994 through July 1998. Founded and initially edited by George Caragonne and Horatio Weisfel ...
''. His style is easily recognisable, especially his lavishly elegant and sensual, pouting females.
He has been mainly involved in the
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
and
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
genre, often with a decidedly erotic slant. His fantasy stories range from sword and sorcery to the
1001 Arabian Nights
''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...
type. He also raises the issue of conflict between peoples, such as in science fiction stories where the inhabitants of soon-to-be colonised planets are massacred so that humans from Earth can move in.
One of his most recurring characters is Lorna, a Barbarella-like space adventurer who travels the galaxy accompanied by two droids, the
R2-D2
R2-D2 () or Artoo-Detoo is a fictional robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. He has appeared in ten of the eleven theatrical ''Star Wars'' films to date. At various points throughout the course of the films, R2, ...
-like ADL and the
C-3PO
C-3PO () or See-Threepio is a humanoid robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise who appears in the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy and the sequel trilogy. Built by Anakin Skywalker, was designed as a protocol droid intended to assis ...
-like Arnold.De icono erótico de cómic a heroína de videojuego in elmundo.es Arnold's main function is to satisfy the ever-passionate Lorna whenever there are no human males, females or suitably endowed aliens available. Lorna`s principal enemy, the crime lord Mouse, bears some resemblance to
Jabba the Hutt
Jabba Desilijic Tiure, more commonly known as Jabba the Hutt, is a fictional character and minor antagonist in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Created by George Lucas, Jabba is voiced by Larry Ward with several puppeteers inside a one-ton puppet po ...
.
Less adult-oriented, and suitable for younger readers, was '' Mot'', the adventures of a boy called Leo who finds himself plagued by a large, friendly but cumbersome and destructive monster. This was turned into a cartoon series and broadcast on France's Canal Plus.
Azpiri's other productions include '' Chang'', telling the adventures of a martial artist and detective.
Both Lorna and Mot were featured in video games, ''Lorna'' by
Topo Soft
Topo or TOPO may refer to:
* Topo (Calheta), a civil parish in the municipality of Calheta, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores
* Topo (climbing), in climbing, a guide for a crag or climbing area
* Topo (robot), a robot aimed at the consu ...
and ''Mot'' by
Opera Soft
Opera Soft was a Spanish computer game developer of the Golden Era of Spanish Software of the 1980s. It released many games for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and similar computers in the mid-1980s, but its games were not as popular on the PC. Fo ...
.
In 2012 he collaborated with the comic book Hero Seeds, drawing two covers of the comics and several drawings in the same comics.
English bibliography
* ''Black Hawk'' (in ''
Tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
'', 1979–80)
* ''Reflections'' (1993)
* ''Sensations'' (2000, art book)
* ''Wet Dreams'' (2001)
* ''Wet Dreams II: The Players'' (2006)
Lorna
* ''Lorna and Her Robot'' (1981)
* ''The New Adventures of Lorna and Her Robot'' (1984)
* ''Mouse Club'' (1996)
* ''Leviathan'' (1998)
* ''The Ark'' (1999)
* ''The Eye of Dart an Gor'' (2006)
* ''The Black Castle'' (2008)
Bethlehem Steele (in ''Penthouse Comix'', 1994–1995)
* ''Pirate Hearts'' (by
Garry Leach
Garry Leach (19 September 1954 – 26 March 2022) was a British comics artist and publisher.
Biography
Garry Leach's early work for ''2000 AD'' included mainly one-off stories featuring ''Dan Dare'' and ''M.A.C.H. 1''.Web site