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Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.79: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez
No.79: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez
Garcia Lopez is a Spanish-Argentinian draughtsman whose work has been inspired by the likes of newspaper legends like Alex Raymond, Harold Foster, Milton Caniff as well as artists like Alberto Brecchia and Jose Luis Salinas. Words: Joel Meadows…
He was born in Spain but moved to Argentina when he was only 3 years old. He began his career working for Charlton during the 1960s on romance books like Hollywood Romances, Love Diary and Teen Confessions. In 1974 he relocated from Argentina to New York and began working for DC, a company he would remain with for a number of decades.
Garcia Lopez became the ultimate DC artist during the 1970s creating the company’s style guide and his work was also seen on licensed DC products like children’s clothing, underwear, shoes and T-shirts.
His precise and benchmark level pencils and dramatic camera angles made him an illustrator much in demand during the 1970s and into the 1980s on books like Batman, DC Comics Presents, Deadman, Atari Force and Detective Comics. Garcia Lopez’s portrayal of Batman, for example, drew on artists like Neal Adams and Dick Giordano but also brought something a little lighter and more flowing than the previous generation’s depictions. Garcia Lopez also worked with Howard Chaykin on the subversive sci-fi series Twilight for DC. He became the artist’s artist: a creative powerhouse who influenced artists who came after like Alan Davis, Bryan Hitch and many others. His highly rendered pencils and his eye for composition and storytelling meant that if a story was drawn by him, it instantly gained a touch of class.
Sadly he has fallen a little out of fashion with the current commissioning editors at DC but Garcia Lopez was the artistic face of DC for almost two decades. His work on books like Jonah Hex, Weird Western Tales and Metal Men in Wednesday Comics in the first decade of this century showed that he as lost none of his spark and invention as a comics illustrator. He is an artist with a beautiful simplicity and a true understanding of what makes comics great. No list of greatest comic artists would be complete without his inclusion.
JM
Read the first twenty-one entries so far here too
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.80: Dan DeCarlo
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.81: Marie Severin
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.82: John Paul Leon
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.83: Jim Lee
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.84: Denys Cowan
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.85: Ross Andru
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.86: Paul Gustavson
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.87: George Evans
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.88: Michael Golden
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.89: Matt Baker
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.90: Todd McFarlane
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.91: Fiona Staples
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.92: Carl Barks
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.93: Carmine Infantino
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.94: Alan Davis
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.95: CC Beck
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.96: Syd Shores
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.97: Bob Fujitani
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.98: Tim Sale
Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.99: Jim Aparo
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