Comics Artists 0
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Harris O'Malley
Link: www.studiounderhill.com
Studio Underhill, P.O. Box 685135 Austin, TX 78768-5135 USA
Harris O'Malley is the writer/artist/publisher of the dark urban-fantasy series Between
the Cracks and Masquerade.
He's also collaborated with writer Jens Altmann on the horror graphic novel Beserker.
Shane Oakley
Link: shaneoakley.blogspot.com
Shane Oakley's credits include the brilliant British comics revival Albion (panel
from #6, right),
Monsters for
Accent UK, Limbo -
a proposed collaboration with Alan Moore for Tomorrow
Stories - concept art for the British
horror film written and directed by Frazer Lee Urbane and
Vortex Comics' Mister
X back
in 1989.
It was Shane who was instrumental in getting the Albion project off
the ground in partnership with Alan Moore and IPC's Andrew Sumner.
• Buy Albion from
Amazon.co.uk (Titan edition)
• Buy Albion from
Amazon.com (Wildstorm edition)
• Read an interview with Shane Oakley on downthetubes
J. Edward Oliver
Official: www.jeoliver.co.uk
Wikipedia Entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_Edward_Oliver
Cartoonist with a huge number
of strips to his credit, who died in May 2007, but his web site lives
on as a lasting memorial to his talents. (Peter
Gray pays ribvute to him on his web site).
His work included strips for the deceased Buster,
Whizzer and Chips and Whoopee.
He is perhaps best known for his E C Ryder (but later, just J. Edward
Oliver) strip which began in Disc (and Music
Echo) in late 1970 and ran for seven years
until it was cut from the pop newspaper in 1977, by then called Record
Mirror.
It was the longest-running pop strip in history.
Jose Ortiz Moya
1932 –
Credits include: Capitán Don Nadie, Príncipe Pablo, Juan Bravo, Dan Barry, Sebastián Vargas, Balín, Pantera Negra, Sigur, Johnny Fogata, Carolynn Baker (the Daily Express), Tarzán, Hombre, Jack the Ripper, Burton y Cyb, Juan el largo, Tex and The Thirteenth Floor (Scream!).
Now living in Cartagena (Murcia), Spain, Jose Ortiz is the son of a painter who first began drawing at just 16, working as an assitant to Manuel Gago, author of El Guerrero del Antifaz (Mask of Guerrero). His first published work was El Espía (The Spy) for Editorial Maga. He then moved to Valencia to share a studio with his brother, Leopoldo, and other comic strip professionals such as Luis Bermejo and Miguel Quesada, which became known as the Escuela Valenciana (Valencia School).
Ortiz went on to draw several more strips for Editorial Maga including: El Capitán Don Nadie (1952), El Príncipe Pablo (1953), Sebastián Vargas (1954), El Duque Negro (1957), Balín (1955), El Duque Negro (1955), Pantera Negra (1956), and Johny Fogata (1960). At the end of the 1950s he also began working with Toray and Brugera on Sigur el Vikingo and a series about histories of Western gunmen – Hazañas del Oeste – as well as illustrating novels such as Bisonte Extra and illustrating adaptations of classic novels under the umbrella title Colección Historias such as Los Viajes de Gúlliver (Gulliver's Travels) and Las Cruzadas (The Crusades).
In the 1960s he began working for the publishers in the United States, Britain and Italy, drawing war strips commissioned via the Bardon Art Agency run by Barry Coker, who sourced artists for IPC and who is much-praised by talents such as Brian Bolland and others. Ortiz drew the fondly-remembered newspaper strip Carolynn Baker for the Daily Express for two years and series such as U.F.O. Agent for Eagle.
In the 1970s, he worked with editor/writer Josep Toutain (who also worked with creators such as Dick Matena) on Mitos del Oeste (Myths of the West) books about the old American West, published in both Spain and distributed in the United States. Their success led in turn to Ortiz' work for Warren, on a huge range of strips for their horror, fantasy and science fiction titles Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella, and was declared Warren's best artist in 1975. Ortiz credits at the time also include work on strips such as Tarzan, Son of Tarzan and The Crow.
He also continued his work for Toutain, on titles such as the highly acclaimed Los Cuatro Jinetes del Apocalipsis (Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse).
After 12 years of work for the US and elsewhere Ortiz returned to working for Spanish companies, and on his own projects. In the 1980s he again worked on historical strips, largely with writer Antonio Segura, re-telling, for example, the story of the infamous Jack the Ripper and many other series, all drawn in his distinctive style. The partnership has been very successful and continues to this day desite the decline in comic sales in Spain in recent years.
In 1982 Ortiz became co-publisher at the short-lived magazine house Metropol with nephew Leopoldo Sánchez, and Mariano Hispano and Manfred Somme, releasing just three titles in one year of operation - Metropol, Mocambo and KO Comics. Ortiz drew his well-known strip Man for the latter title, as well as illustrating the strips Bogey and Frank Cappa.
In the early 1990s Ortiz drew Bud O'Brien u Ozono and in 1992 completed two highly respected albums as part of a series, Relatos del Nuevo Mundo (Stories of the New World ), published by Planet for the Spanish market as part of the celebrations marking the fifth centenary of the discovery of America. An ambitious undertaking spanning some 25 large format hardcover colour albums incorporating one long strip each, Ortiz contributions for this were La Civilización Inca (The Civilization of the Incas) and Orígenes del Hombre Americano (The Origins of American Man). Other comics artists on the project also known for their US work included Jesus Redondo and Alex Niño.
Sadly, the Spanish comics market seems in just as much of a decline as the UK in recent years but Ortiz continues to find work beyond its borders, working on the cowboy strip Tex for Italian publisher Sergio Bonelli, along with other strips such as Ken Parker and Magico Vento.
In 1998, the Asociación de Amigos del Tebeo de la Región de Murcia (the Association of Friends of the Tebeo of the Region of Murcia) awarded Ortiz the honour “Paparajote de Oro” for his work.
• Lambiek Entry: http://lambiek.net/artists/o/ortiz_jose.htm
• Excellent
bio (in Spanish) at: www.murciacomic.com/quienesquien/ortiz.htm
