The man behind the LEGENDARY DC Comics style guide

The images of the DC character roster go beyond the world of

comics

to be part of our culture. These depictions created over 40 years ago remain the iconic versions of Superman, Batman and many other familiar heroes, and they were all created by one artist, José Luis García López, G López. He grew up in Argentina from the age of three, having been born 3 years earlier in Spain in 1948. His talent for drawing was fathered at an early age and he began to work professionally at the age of 13. He worked for small publishers around children's series. He took an apprenticeship and He did production work along with covers and other artwork at age 16, started going to art school at night, juggling classes with this professional work, often working in bars in whatever time slot he could find between his work shift and his classes, at least until the The owners realized he wasn't old enough to be in the bar.

One of his instructors was

legendary

comics

artist Alberto Breia, who taught illustration for children's fiction books and advertising. When he was 18, he worked through an agent who drew romance comics for Charlton. He was already well above average, and Charlton's romance work and a science fiction book for a Catholic publisher that was expanding into comics eventually gave him the opportunity to work at a larger publisher, Columba, where he worked mostly on Roland, a pirate adventure, as well as in adaptations of Spanish classics by authors such as Cervantes and Lope DEA in 1974 moved to the United States, he did not have any job prepared, he only planned to trust his luck to find work, as expected, not much happened.

Some time after getting an apartment in Hell's Kitchen he headed to the address he had found in the DC Comics editor's notes, but got lost in Rockefeller Center. He regrouped and contacted a fellow Argentine artist working in New York, who agreed to take him to the DC office the next day. That same day, this time he found his way to DC and, as expected, he was once again given a job. That same day, his friend, artist Frank Yoni, who had worked for Mad Magazine and other publishers, asked him if he would like to be introduced to Marvel as well.

To his response, no, please, I have enough. I imagine if he had gone to Marvel. First, he quickly graduated to inking his own books, the first of which was Hercules Unbound with writer Gary Conway, much of this work being done by Wally Wood, a comics legend in his own right. Right, who always brought a lot of his own

style

to the work he was finishing next, he and writer Michael Fleer collaborated to produce the first ongoing Jonah Hex series, believe it or not, he wasn't comfortable with superheroes at that time. moment, believing that he didn't quite do it. has the feel of them, it's hard to imagine that the artist who, at least for me, defines the look of American superheroes ever felt that way, but García López would soon have the opportunity to learn how to draw some of the most iconic characters. from DC when he started Superman versus Wonder Woman This Time ink by Dan Atkins the artist said that when they asked me to do this job the first thing they did was take me to Infantino's office it was Jo Orlando and someone else I don't remember who and they showed me Superman versus Spider-Man, which was done by Ross Andrew and Gordiano, was fantastic, really fantastic.

I guess it was the first thing I saw in comics that really hit me. I remembered the Meil ​​Adams stuff and everything except this book. pure comic book thing, it wasn't illustration, it wasn't the artist trying to show his talent, it was about the characters, the movement and they asked me if you could do something like this and I said well, I don't know, this is fantastic, I don't think I can, but they said no, we think you can do it and that was it. Clearly, comics readers agreed that much of his work from this point on would be done in smaller or special runs because, as he admits, he wasn't good with deadlines (the artist said I don't remember that I didn't pay attention).

Paying close attention to deadlines is really the only unprofessional part of my career. I don't remember if they gave me a deadline or if they thought I would be able to do it faster than me, I have never been very fast, it is very difficult for me to sacrifice work, but things still turned out well for García López because, as you can see, At the time his work was among the best comics he'd ever had. Seen in 1981, he followed this up with the artwork for Batman versus Hulk in DC's 27th special series. Sometimes when you see a DC or Marvel artist jump on the company's other characters, they seem a little strange, but García López's Hulk was a classic. to the best versions we had seen from other Marvel artists, he did more excellent work at DC during this period, he drew the first appearance of Snowman and Batman 337, he also drew some issues of the new Teen Titans in '85, writer Marv Wolfman . commented that I knew I had this amazing artist who could draw almost anything I wanted, so I decided to make the story the biggest show I could think of, while he's best known for his iconic takes on DC superheroes.

García López also has a great touch. For science fiction, the star graphic novel Raiders with his lushly painted artwork is a great example of this. García López took the time to replace Steve, the Roode guy, another of my favorite artists on his and Mike Baron's Nexus. I usually hate finding the back issue of Nexus and realize it's not the type, but it's never a disappointment to see García López's art as a substitution, an added bonus. Mike Baron's Badger made a guest appearance in this issue and also appeared in the Atari Force licensed comic making what would be a forgettable tie-in to capitalize on the popularity of the new video game console, an artistic showcase that is still highly sought after by collectors. from today.

These works set the stage for one of the great science fiction comics of all time, but we will get In short, the best-known work that García López has ever produced is, as you may have guessed, the

legendary

DC

style

guide

. That's how it came about at this time in 1979 or 1980, the artist had moved to Miami for a few years. But they received a call from Joe Orlando from DC and brought García López to New York for a week and a half while they shared their plans for the project they had in mind.

The artist says Warner had already made style

guide

s for the animation of the Looney characters. Tunes' idea was to do something similar for DC characters, they wanted something that would unify the line of DC characters so that no matter who drew them, the characters would still look like they belonged in the same world. I remember we had a meeting with a Warner executive and we had a supervisor from Warner. I also came back to Miami Beach and started working on it. I made sketches and the sketches included all the costumes and design elements for each character and they selected the ones they wanted to use, then I took them and the pencils?

Dick Gordiano did the inking. Some of those sketches were based on classic poses, especially with characters like Superman and Batman, which they already had in mind they wanted to use at the same time. I had the freedom to create other poses. ideas we worked on that way and everyone was very happy with the results when it was finished it was something that all the artists wanted to have at least that's what they told me some people told me that they were going to do a job for DC just to get the book, You may have seen that DC is relaunching the now over 40-year-old style boy so that comics readers can finally get a look at this complete masterpiece, all without having to illustrate a book for DC Comics.

It's a testament to how enduring these illustrations have been. Chances are, if you see a Superman lunch box or a t-shirt with sparkles, it's still García López art after all this time it's been used, and DC continued to have their best artists update this style guide over the years. years when the Batman movies were released. García López's interpretations of film characters from the late '80s and '90s bridged the gap between the comedic versions of the Larger than Life characters and what Hollywood was able to produce in many ways as cool as those films looked and, hey, even Batman and Robin. at least it looked good, it's García López's art on all the licensed products that defined those versions of Batman and his supporting cast, but the artist was still producing comics during this period, usually one-shots, Fillin's, and miniseries , so I would have time to create Flawless Dynamic. work he is known for if you are a comic fan like me make sure you like this video and subscribe.

I'll be taking much deeper dives into the legendary artist whose work inspires us and that's the best way to make sure that See it too, you can click the link tree in the description just below to take a look at the comics this art me inspired to do. We are scarlet. Twilight is a pulp influence. Suspense inspired by Batman and other heroes of the 30s and 40s. It's a combination of the art deco atmosphere of Golden Age comics with all the best we expect to see in comics today and my other book, August, is an 80s inspired sci-fi space opera with some spaghetti western thrown in if you're a fan of Star Wars Transformers He-Man any of those things this is the book for you.

I tried to make it feel like something amazing from the late '80s that you can go back and read for the first time. You can check out both at the link below for individual issue collections or live campaigns and let's go back to the Cinder and Ash video from 1988 is a comic set in New Orleans written by Jerry Conway. Follows two private investigators as they search for a kidnapping victim and struggle with trauma. Each of them suffered in Vietnam during the conflict and that sci-fi epic I mentioned earlier is one of my favorite comics of all time.

Twilight García López teamed up with writer Howard Shen, who deconstructed DC's Silver Age science heroes and united them into a single galaxy. Covering Epic, it's a darker look at these previously unique heroes, the designs are of the period, but are timeless enough to not look retro, and as always, García López brought his unparalleled drawing prowess to every page, as whether space cruises flying through the galaxy or epic ones. Crowd scenes with hundreds of characters. Also Drew Road was a version written by Max Allen Collins that was later adapted into a film with Paul Newman, Tom Hanks and Future7.

Daniel Craig in the 2000s. García López continued to contribute to the runs of classic DC characters in the 2009 arc. In Batman Confidential he introduced a more realistic version of the 1960s television villain, King Tut, and worked with writer Len Wine adapting an unused script from the same Adam West series by sci-fi legend Haren Ellison that introduced Twoface to the world of Batman 66 in Wednesday Comics. He took advantage of the large format to highlight the metalman. He continues to contribute artwork to DC short stories and anthologies to this day. José Luis García López's art remains the iconic interpretation of DC's heroes.

These images go beyond nostalgia, in my opinion, they have become part of. our American mythology and his designs, expressive characters and impeccable drawing make his work the high water mark that other artists judge themselves, probably the best illustration of this is an anecdote from DC editor Andrew Heler . I don't remember exactly when it happened, just that it happened. One day I was sitting in my office, a man walked through my door and stared at a spot on the wall behind me and just above my head, although I had never met the man, I knew his distinctive face: it was Jean Gerard, aka like Mobius and him He was looking at a drawing of Wonder Woman by José Luis García López without recognizing me, he made his way to my office and behind my desk until he was right in front of the drawing, he lowered his glasses from his nose to see it better.

The drawing, after a moment, turned to me, this García López, asked with a strong French accent, does he use models, no, no, I answered smiling, son of Mobus, his, I didn't need to say another word, I already knew he was the oldest. accomplished, an artist. I could pay someone else, thank you so much for checking out if you have any favorite artists you'd like me to cover next, let me know in the comments until next time, have a good time.