Francisco Solano López (October 26, 1928 – August 12, 2011) was an Argentine comics artist. He was the co-creator of ''

El Eternauta ''The Eternaut'' ( es, El Eternauta) is a science fiction Argentine comic created by Héctor Germán Oesterheld with artwork by Francisco Solano López. It was first published in '' Hora Cero Semanal'' between 1957 and 1959. Since its original r ...

''.

Career

Born in Buenos Aires, Solano López began his career in 1953 working for the publishing house Columba where he illustrated the series ''Perico y Guillerma''. Working for Editorial Abril he met

Héctor Germán Oesterheld Héctor Germán Oesterheld, also known as his common abbreviation HGO (born July 23, 1919; disappeared and presumed dead 1977), was an Argentine journalist and writer of graphic novels and comics. He has come to be celebrated as a master in his ...

, assigned to illustrate his series ''Bull Rocket'' for the magazine ''Misterix''. They collaborated on the series ''Pablo Maran'' and ''Uma-Uma'', before joining to start Oesterheld's publishing house Editorial Frontera. For the Frontera's first publication of the monthly ''Hora Cero'', the team produced the series ''Rolo el marciano adoptivo'' and ''El Héroe''. López also alternated as an artist on the ''

Ernie Pike ''Ernie Pike'' is a comics series written by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and originally drawn by Hugo Pratt, starring a World War II and Korean War reporter. It was first published in the magazine "'' Hora Cero"'' in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1957 ...

'' series with Hugo Pratt,

Jorge Moliterni Jorge is a Spanish and Portuguese given name. It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios'') via Latin ''Georgius''; the former is derived from (''georgos''), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker". The Latin form ''Georgius'' ...

and

José Antonio Muñoz José Antonio Muñoz or simply Muñoz (born July 10, 1942) is an Argentine artist. He is most notable for his influential black-and-white artwork. His hardboiled graphic novels series ''Alack Sinner'' (with writer Carlos Sampayo) is a noted sour ...

. On September 4, 1957, in the publication of ''Hora Cero Suplemento Semanal'', the science-fiction series ''El Eternauta'' made its first appearance. A success, ''El Eternauta'' came to the attention of the authorities as the series featured commentary of the political situation of Argentina and neighbouring Chile, prompting Solano López to flee for Spain to avoid possible arrest. In 1959 Solano López began working for Fleetway in Madrid and later London, producing artwork for a host of series, including ''Galaxus: The Thing from Outer Space'', ''Pete's Pocket Army'', ''The Drowned World'', '' Janus Stark'', and ''

Kelly's Eye ''Kelly's Eye'' was a British comics, British adventure comic strip. It first appeared in ''Knockout (UK comics), Knockout'' in 1962, moved to ''Valiant (comics), Valiant'' in 1963, and lasted until sometime in 1974. The strip was revived in ''2000 ...

''. Having returned to Argentina, Solano López resumed collaboration with Oesterheld on ''El Eternauta II'' in 1968 with a new publishing house, Editorial Records. He also started work on science-fiction saga ''Slot-Barr'' with writer

Ricardo Barreiro Ricardo Barreiro (October 2, 1949 – April 12, 1999) was an Argentine comic book writer. Biography Barreiro was born in the barrio of Palermo in Buenos Aires. At a very early age he published articles and short stories on the underground ...

, and the police series ''Evaristo'' with

Carlos Sampayo Carlos Sampayo (born 17 September 1943) is an Argentine writer best known for his work in comics, particularly in collaboration with artist José Muñoz. Sampayo was born in Carmen de Patagones, but left Argentina in the early 1970s for polit ...

. In the late 1970s Solano López again fled Argentina following persecution from the authorities, and from Madrid he arranged the publication of both ''El Eternauta'' and ''Slot-Barr'' with the Italian magazines ''

LancioStory ''Lanciostory'', sometimes spelled as ''Lancio Story'' or ''LancioStory'', is a weekly comic magazine published in Rome, Italy, from 1975. History and profile ''Lanciostory'' was created in 1975 by Editrice Lancio to target the adult audience i ...

'' and '' Skorpio''. In the 1990s, Solano López produced work in the erotic comics genre, achieving hits with ''El Prostíbulo del Terror'', from a story by Barreiro, and ''Silly Symphony'', made for the magazine ''Kiss Comix''. Solano López died on August 12, 2011, from a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

.Murió Francisco Solano López, dibujante de El Eternauta

References

External links

on Lambiek Comiclopedia

on Dan Dare

Dan Dare - site dead {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Francisco Solano 1928 births 2011 deaths Argentine comics artists Argentine erotic artists