Jordi Bernet

Jordi Bernet Cussó (born 14 June 1944) is a Spanish comics artist, best known for the gangster comics series ''Torpedo'' and for American weird western comic book ''Jonah Hex''.

Career

He was born in Barcelona, the son of a Spanish comic book artist, Miguel Bernet.

He made his debut in comics at fifteen, continuing his father's humorous series ''Doña Urraca'' (''Mrs. Magpie'') after his death in 1960, under the pseudonym "Jordi". While this could support his family, it did not satisfy his artistic ambitions that were inspired by artists such as Hal Foster, Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff. From 1962, Bernet developed a more realistic style, and took on smaller assignments from Italian and British publishers, until he started illustrating for the Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Spirou'' in 1965. He drew the series ''Dan Lacombe'' with his uncle Miguel Cussó as writer, and created a similar series ''Paul Foran'' with writer José Larraz, but due to disagreements over editing decisions by Dupuis, Bernet ended the relationship with ''Spirou''. Turning to the German market, in the 1970s he collaborated with Cussó to create ''Wat 69'', a sexy and humouristic heroine for the magazine ''Pip'', and ''Andrax'', a science fiction series for ''Primo'', which both became successful in Germany.

Later work

After the fall of Franco, Bernet returned to Spain and worked for several Spanish comics magazines such as ''Creepy'', ''Metropol'' and ''Cimoc'', eventually meeting three writers with whom he would form productive partnerships. With Antonio Segura he created the amazone fantasy series '' Sarvan'', and the series ''Kraken'', depicting a sewer monster terrorizing a futuristic fascist society.

Bernet first collaborated with Enrique Sánchez Abulí on several short stories, collected in ''Historietas negras''. When Alex Toth, after producing two stories of ''Torpedo 1936'' in 1981, decided he did not share Abulí's darkly humorous view of mankind and parted with the project, Bernet was asked to continue the work. This became the beginning of a long-lasting series, which became a popular success and was awarded at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. It eventually formed the basis of its own magazine, ''Luca Torelli es Torpedo'' in 1992. Later collaborations with Abulí include ''De vuelta a casa'', ''La naturaleza de la bestia: Ab Irato'' and ''Snake: por un puñado de dolares''.

Bernet also formed a creative partnership with the Argentine writer Carlos Trillo, resulting in the sexually explicit series ''Cicca Dum-Dum'', the less lewd and more comical series ''Clara de noche'', and several one-shots, including ''Custer'', ''Light and Bold'' and ''Ivánpiire''.

Bernet's more recent publications include several albums for the Italian western character ''Tex Willer'', and a run of work for the U.S. comics market, including a ''Batman'' story, and a trilogy detailing "the shocking origin" of ''Jonah Hex''. Bernet has later continued to work with Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray on ''Jonah Hex''.

American artist Will Eisner described his impression of Bernet's work in an anthology preface:

Bibliography

Spain

* ''Historias negras'' (1981, with Abulí, Glénat)
* ''Sarvan'' (1982, with Segura, Norma Editorial)
* ''Torpedo'' (1982, with Abulí, Glénat)
* ''Kraken'' (1983, with Segura, Glénat)
* ''De vuelta a casa'' (1984, with Abulí, Toutain)
* ''Custer'' (1985, with Trillo, Glénat)
* ''La naturaleza de la bestia: Ab Irato'', Glénat
* ''Snake: por un punado de dolares ?
* ''Light and Bold'' (1987, Toutain)
* ''Ivánpiire (1989, El Jueves)
* ''Clara de noche'' (1992, El Jueves)

United States

* "Blackout" in ''Batman Black and White'' Vol. 2 (1996, DC Comics, )
* ''100 Bullets'' #26 (1999, Vertigo/DC Comics)
* ''Solo'' #6 (2005, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #13: "Retribution" (2006, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #14: "Fathers And Sons" (2006, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #15: "Retribution Part 3" (2006, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #21: "The Devil's Paw" (2007, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #23: "Who Lives and Who Dies" (2007, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #27: "Starman" (2008, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #30: "Luck Runs Out" (2008, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #32: "The Matador" (2008, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #37: "Trouble Come in Threes" (2009, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #38: "Hell or High Water" (2009, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #42: "Shooting the Sun"(2009, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #52: "Too Mean to Die"(2010, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #54: "Shooting Stars" (2010, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #57: "Tall Tales" (2010, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #59: "Riders on the Storm" (2010, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #61: "Honeymoon Bullets" (2011, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #63: "Bury Me in Hell" (2011, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #65: "Snowblind" (2011, DC Comics)
* ''Jonah Hex'' #67: "Ghost Town" (2011, DC Comics)

Awards

* 1986: Angoulême Best Foreign Album Award, for ''Torpedo: Chaud devant''
* 1991: Barcelona International Comics Fair Gran Premio
* 1994: Nominated for the Harvey Award for Best American Edition of Foreign Material, for ''Torpedo''
* 1995: Nominated for the Harvey Award for Best American Edition of Foreign Material, for ''Torpedo''
* 2011: Comic-Con Inkpot Award

Sources

Jordi Bernet publications in ''Spirou''
an

BDoubliées

Jordi Bernet Spanish albums
Ediciones Glénat


Bedetheque

;Footnotes

External links

on Lambiek Comiclopedia
Story about Bernet's "Andrax"

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernet, Jordi
1944 births
Living people
People from Barcelona
Spanish comics artists
Spanish erotic artists
Artists from Catalonia
Inkpot Award winners
20th-century Spanish male artists