Jesús Blasco (3 November 1919 – 21 October 1995) was a Spanish author and artist of

comic books 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 ...

, whose career covered most of the conventional history of comic strips. He worked extensively in British comics in the 1960s and 1970s.

Career

Blasco debuted in 1935 in the Spanish magazine ''Mickey'', at the age of fifteen. For the magazine ''Boliche'', however, he created the series and character named '' Cuto'' (translation: ''Cutter''). Originally a strip in the vein of

Percy Crosby Percy Lee CrosbyPercy Lee Crosby
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, the character became a globe trotting and time-travelling boy adventurer, casually handling firearms and hot wiring sportscars, and romancing adult women. Blasco's art veered from cute animal cartoons to the shadowplay realism of

Milton Caniff Milton Arthur Paul Caniff (; February 28, 1907 – April 3, 1988) was an People of the United States, American cartoonist famous for the ''Terry and the Pirates (comic strip), Terry and the Pirates'' and ''Steve Canyon'' comic strips. Biography ...

and

Noel Sickles Noel Douglas Sickles (January 24, 1910 – October 3, 1982) was an American commercial illustrator and cartoonist, best known for the comic strip ''Scorchy Smith''. Sickles was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. Largely self-taught, his career beg ...

. He created strips for various audiences, including '' Anita Diminuta'', a girl strip. In the 1960s, he landed a deal with

Fleetway Fleetway Publications was a magazine publishing company based in London. It was founded in 1959 when the Mirror Group acquired the Amalgamated Press, then based at Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London. It was one of the companies that mer ...

that brought him continental exposure. In 1968, he co-created the cartoon ''Los Guerilleros'' for the Belgian publication Spirou, With the strips ''

Steel Claw The Steel Claw was one of the most popular comic book heroes of British weekly adventure comics of the 1960s and 1970s. The character was revived in 2005 for ''Albion'', a six issue mini-series published by the Wildstorm imprint of DC Comics. P ...

'' and ''

Buffalo Bill William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but he lived for several years ...

'', events lead to a collaboration with

Pat Mills Patrick Eamon Mills (born 1949) is an English comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since. He has been called "the godfather ...

to create '' Invasion!'' in the first issue of 2000AD (1977). The 1970s saw more

Alex Toth Alexander Toth (June 25, 1928 – May 27, 2006) was an American cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but he is also known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout ...

-esque Westerns such as

Tex Willer Tex Willer is the main fictional character of the Italian comics series ''Tex'', created by writer Gian Luigi Bonelli and illustrator Aurelio Galleppini, and first published in Italy on 30 September 1948. It is among the most popular character ...

. Blasco also co-created the strip '' Capitán Trueno'', which has influenced the look of many other Japanese and Euro creations, such as ''

The Mysterious Cities of Gold ''The Mysterious Cities of Gold'', originally released in Japan as and released in France as ''Les Mystérieuses Cités d'Or'', is an animated series which was co-produced by DiC Audiovisuel and Studio Pierrot. Set in 1532, the series fo ...

''. Blasco also did fairy tale illustrations and tarrocci cards. His work is relatively unknown in the United States, with his main exposure being three appearances in

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

's ''Creepy'', which were all miscredited to other artists.

References

External links

Jésus Blasco biography
on Lambiek Comiclopedia

on Dan Dare {{DEFAULTSORT:Blasco, Jesus 1919 births 1995 deaths Spanish comics artists Spanish comics writers People from Barcelona Artists from Barcelona Spanish writers