Jesse Santos (June 24, 1928 – April 27, 2013) was a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

comic-book artist. He is best known as the co-creator of ''

Dagar the Invincible ''Tales of Sword and Sorcery Featuring Dagar the Invincible'' is a comic-book series created by writer Donald F. Glut and artist Jesse Santos for Western Publishing's Gold Key Comics line. Publication history The first issue had the cover date of ...

'' and ''

Tragg and the Sky Gods ''Tragg and the Sky Gods'' was a comic-book title published by Gold Key Comics in the mid-1970s. The series was created by writer Donald F. Glut and artist Jesse Santos. Later, artist Dan Spiegle would work on the title. Appearances The character ...

'' with writer Donald F. Glut.

Biography

Jesse Santos was born in

Teresa, Rizal Teresa, officially the Municipality of Teresa ( tgl, Bayan ng Teresa), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Rizal, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 64,072 people. It is situated in the slopes of the ...

, the Philippines, and began drawing professionally at the age of 14. One of his artistic influences was

Francisco Coching Francisco V. Coching (January 29, 1919
lambiek.net – September 1, 1998) was a Filipino ...

. His other influences include

Hal Foster Harold Rudolf Foster, FRSA (August 16, 1892 – July 25, 1982) was a Canadian-American comic strip artist and writer best known as the creator of the comic strip '' Prince Valiant''. His drawing style is noted for its high level of draftsmanship ...

Burne Hogarth Burne Hogarth (born Spinoza Bernard Ginsburg, December 25, 1911 – January 28, 1996) was an American artist and educator, best known for his work on the ''Tarzan'' newspaper comic strip and his series of anatomy books for artists. Early life ...

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gr ...

Alex Raymond Alexander Gillespie Raymond Jr. (October 2, 1909 – September 6, 1956) was an American cartoonist who was best known for creating the ''Flash Gordon'' comic strip for King Features Syndicate in 1934. The strip was subsequently adapted into many ...

, and

Tony Velasquez Antonio "Tony" Velasquez (29 October 1910 – 1997) is a Filipino illustrator regarded as the Father of Tagalog comics and as the pioneer and founding father of the Philippine comics industry. He was the creator of '' Kenkoy'', an “iconic Phil ...

. Santos began his career in the ''Komiks'' industry by drawing the "Kidlat" feature in '' Halakhak Komiks'' in 1946. He moved to the United States in 1969 and began working for

Western Publishing Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was a Racine, Wisconsin, firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also produced children's books and ...

's line of

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...

after a chance meeting with editors

Chase Craig Wingate Chase Craig (August 28, 1910 – December 2, 2001) was an American writer-cartoonist who worked principally on comic strips and comic books. From the mid-1940s to mid-1970s he was a prolific editor and scripter for Western Publishing' ...

and Del Connell. His earliest work in the U.S. is inking

Jack Sparling John Edmond Sparling (June 21, 1916 – February 15, 1997), was a Canadian comics artist. Biography Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Sparling moved to the United States as a child. He received his early arts training at the Arts and Crafts Club in New ...

's penciled artwork in ''The Microbots'' #1 (Dec. 1971). He became the artist on the ''

Brothers of the Spear "Brothers of the Spear" was a long-running backup feature in the ''Tarzan'' comic-book series created by American company Western Publishing and published first through Dell Comics and then through Gold Key Comics. Though published as part of a li ...

'' series in 1972 and worked with writer

Gaylord DuBois Gaylord McIlvaine Du Bois (sometimes written DuBois) (August 24, 1899 – October 20, 1993) was an American writer of comic book stories and comic strips, as well as Big Little Books and juvenile adventure novels. Du Bois wrote ''Tarzan'' for Del ...

on the first 12 issues. That same year, Santos and writer Donald F. Glut co-created ''Dagar the Invincible'' and ''Tragg and the Sky Gods''. They also collaborated on ''

The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

''. Santos received an offer from

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

to work on their ''

Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...

'' series, but turned it down. In the 1980s, Santos left the comics industry and became involved in advertising and animation design. He worked on such series as ''

Bionic Six is a 1987 animated television series. It was produced by Universal Television and animated by TMS Entertainment, Tokyo Movie Shinsha (now TMS Entertainment) and distributed, through first-run syndication, by MCA Inc., MCA TV, years before the la ...

'', ''

Blackstar ''Blackstar'' is an American animated science fantasy television series, produced in 1981 by Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott for Filmation. The series was Filmation's second fantasy epic, the first being '' The Freedom Force'', a segment of '' ...

'', ''

Dino-Riders ''Dino-Riders'' is an animated television series that first aired in 1988. ''Dino-Riders'' was primarily a promotional show to launch a new Tyco toy line.

'', '' Jem'', and ''

Tiny Toon Adventures ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' is an American animated comedy television series that was broadcast from September 14, 1990, to December 6, 1992. It was the first collaborative effort of Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Animation ...

''. After retiring in 1998, Santos often performed as a

lounge Lounge may refer to: Architecture * Lounge, the living room of a dwelling * Lounge, a public waiting area in a hotel's lobby * Lounge, a style of commercial alcohol- bar * Airport lounge, or train lounge (e.g., AMTRAK's Acela Lounge), a premium ...

singer and self-produced an album of

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

love ballads.Cooke pp. 96–97

Bibliography

Archie Comics

* ''Archie's Super Hero Comics Digest Magazine'' #2 (1979) * '' Mad House'' #96 (1974)

Gold Key Comics

* ''

'' #1–12 (1972–1975) * ''Gold Key Spotlight'' #6, 8 (1977) * ''The Microbots'' #1 (1971) * ''

Mystery Comics Digest ''Mystery Comics Digest'' was one of three digest size comics published by Gold Key Comics in the early 1970s. The other two were '' Golden Comics Digest'' and '' Walt Disney Comics Digest''. ''Mystery Comics Digest'' was published for 26 issues, ...

'' #1–4, 7, 9–10, 12–15 (1972–1974) * '' The Occult Files of Doctor Spektor'' #1–24 (1973–1977) * ''Tales of Sword and Sorcery Featuring

'' #1–17 (1972–1976) * ''

'' #1–8 (1975–1977)

References

External links

*
Jesse Santos
at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
Jesse Santos obituary
at

Legacy.com Legacy.com is a United States-based website founded in 1998, the world's largest commercial provider of online memorials. The Web site hosts obituaries and memorials for more than 70 percent of all U.S. deaths.Keagle, Lauri Harvey"Death in the D ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Jesse Place of death missing 1928 births 2013 deaths 20th-century Filipino artists 21st-century Filipino artists Advertising artists and illustrators Artists from California Artists from Rizal Comics inkers Filipino animators Filipino comics artists Filipino emigrants to the United States Silver Age comics creators