José "Pepe" González (1939 – 13 March 2009
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comic book artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

Career

Early career

José González started his career at the age of 17 working on ''Rosas Blancas'' and ''Brigitte'' for the company ''Editorial Toray''. He joined the agency Selecciones Ilustradas in 1960 and drew romance comics for Fleetway. González also worked as a pin-up artist during this time for the international market.

Vampirella

Due to his connections with the Selecciones Ilustradas agency, González started working for

Warren Publishing Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren (publisher), James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include ''After Hours (magazin ...

in 1971. Jim Warren described his reaction to seeing González's art in ''The Warren Companion'': Starting with issue 12 in 1971, González became the primary artist for the character

Vampirella Vampirella () is a fictional vampire superheroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and comic book artist Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine ''Vampirella'' #1 (Sept. 1969), a sister publication of ''Creepy'' ...

. Comics historian David Roach discusses the reaction to González's art on Vampirella in ''The Warren Companion'': González received immediate acclaim for his work on Vampirella, and his first story won the Warren Award for best art in a story in 1971. González drew the Vampirella story for every issue from issue 12 through issue 34. He won another Warren Award in 1974 for best art on a story for his work in issue 33. By mid-1974, González's output for Vampirella reduced and multiple fill in artists including Jose Ortiz and

Leopold Sanchez Leopold may refer to: People * Leopold (given name) * Leopold (surname) Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons'' * Leopold Bloom, the protagonist o ...

contributed Vampirella stories. González would remain as the primary artist for Vampirella for the next few years, but by 1977 he shared duties with artist Gonzalo Mayo. Warren would also reprint the three part series "Herma", which had appeared in 1974 in issues 8-10 of the magazine ''1984''. After issue 82 of ''Vampirella'' in 1979, González ceased drawing for Warren, except for one page pin-up contributions (which had started appearing with issue 39 in 1975) which were printed on the Contents page. González would return to Warren in 1982 and would draw stories for ''Vampirella'' in the final 6 non-reprint issues of the title until Warren's bankruptcy. From 1971 through 1983, González drew 58 stories for Warren Publishing, putting him in the top 10 most prolific artists at the company. He drew 53 total strips of Vampirella, making him that title's most prolific artist.

Bibliography

Interior art includes:

Warren

*''

'' #12-34, 37-38, 42-44, 50, 53, 56-62, 65-68, 71-72, 74-76, 82, 106, 108, Annual 1972

Sources

External links

Jose González biography
on Lambiek Comiclopedia Documentary series "LOVE STRIP: 6 EPISODE DOCU-THRILLER ABOUT THE NIGHTS AND DAYS OF PEPE GONZÁLEZ"
www.vampilovestrip.com/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Jose 1939 births 2009 deaths Spanish comics artists Artists from Barcelona