EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 22 © 2018 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

56 Luis Bermejo Rojo One of the leaders of the Valencia group f artists, who achieved fame long before he worked for the British and American markets Luis Bermejo Rojo was born in Madrid, in 1931, but spent his childhood in Albacete. Fortuitously for Bermejo, Albacete was also the home toManuel Gago, one of the foremost Spanish comic strip artists of the time. Bermejo was already passionate about drawing and introduced himself to Gago, who took the boy on as a studio assistant. Between the years of 1946-47, Bermejo assisted Gago on the inking of various of his comics. Due to the astonishing ease with which he could draw, he was given his own series ‘El Rey del Mar’ (‘King of the Sea’) in 1948 by Editora Valenciana, one of the largest publishers of Spanish comics at the time. From there on, Bermejo work load took on a life of its own as he began working for various publishers, feeling at ease drawing either realistic or humourous strips. In 1951 he returned to Madrid and began his academic studies at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando. It was around that same year that his own graphic-style began to develop as he drew the series Aventuras del FBI (Adventures of the FBI) for publisher Rollán . This series met with a large FACING PAGE: Heros the Spartan, pen and ink, and watercolour on board (1967). Bermejo had taken over in 1963 from the original British artist Frank Bellamy. The art was painted directly on the board. This piece was from the last adventure appearing in Eagle comic volume 17 (1967). BELOW LEFT: Aventuras del FBI , published by Rollán (1951). Bermejo’s first success, due to his dynamic artwork. BOTTOM RIGHT: Pantera Negra , published by Maga (1956). Although not his own creation, Bermejo did illustrate some episodes of this jungle adventure series.