[go: up one dir, main page]

Showing posts with label Demetrio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Demetrio. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Latino/Spanish Artists at Charlton: Demetrio (9) - Time For Love 43


Charlton's Time for Love 43 (Aug 1975) has another 6 page story sporting some decent Demetrio artwork. This time another well-used romance comic theme is used - that of the star struck aspiring actress exploited by the philandering lead actor, while the reliable home town guy waits, offering support, until the girl's illusion is dispelled. She allows herself to be easily taken in by the unprincipled celebrity, to the extent that she begins believing he loves her and intends to follow through with his promises. Of course it all comes crashing down, and Mr. Dependable has to pick up the pieces. Fortunately she's able to learn from her experience and see the man who really cares about her as the gem he is. Some artistic devices of note: the protagonist's hair begins to spill out over the edges of the panels in the last 3 pages of the story, quite nicely done; here and there we see some of the trademark Demetrio psychedelia - particularly nice examples in panel 2 on page 4 and in panel 4 of page 6. European cars, broody females, a flock of seagulls, 70s hairstyles. Here it is:







There was a point in the story where Elaine seemed to be suggesting that Peter was too controlling, but one has to wonder how he put up with her running off with the flashy actor when it is obvious he cares for her.


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Latino/Spanish Artists at Charlton: Demetrio (8) - Secret Romance 37

The artwork in this 6-page Demetrio romance story, "Bus Ride Blues" from Secret Romance 37 (March 1976), is again of superior quality. We have a female protagonist taking a bus tour to forget about the guy she was going to marry until she found out he was cheating on her. At each of the stops on the tour she spies the same handsome stranger, each time with a different woman. She ends up falling for him, but his explanation for those other women doesn't match the visuals - he's a salesman, and they were all clients!? He has his arm round beautiful female clients!? I have a hunch the heroine is going to find herself being cheated on again eventually, but at the end of the story she's still blinded by love, which should have been the title of the story I think. Anyway, there are some nice panels, and I don't want to take away from the beautiful Demetrio art. The idea was good, but the way it was resolved was rather implausible, in my opinion. Perhaps there was some miscommunication between the writer and artist of this story - from when I spoke to Joe Gill, the prolific Charlton writer a year before his death, he talked about the Spanish artists that Charlton was getting work from by mail - he rarely if ever got to meet some of the artists working for the company in the late 60s/early 70s period. Anyway, here's the story - another of the better Demetrio pieces:




Salesman? Clients?




Some nice panels, I think you'll agree - layouts too. But customers!?

Friday, May 11, 2012

Latino/Spanish Artists at Charlton: Demetrio (7) - Secret Romance 31

Charlton romance comics cannot be discussed without mentioning Demetrio. Demetrio Sanchez Gomez produced a fair body of work for Charlton, mostly war stories but at least 25 romance stories, as well as a few examples from other genres. Like other Hispanic artists working in American romance comics, his panels and pages have a kind of European flavor that distinguishes them from material produced by other mainstream comic artists. Charlton's romance line was a little more off-beat than DC or Marvel, not always in a weird way - the Spanish artists were part of something interesting that was going on at Charlton at the time. The following list of Demetrio's Charlton romance stories is compiled from the Grand Comics Database but includes additional stories not there identified but which I have in my collection. There are also several that I have not included here which look like Demetrio's artwork but on which I cannot find a signature. Note that there are very few Demetrio romance comic covers, and that the period during which his romance work was published by Charlton extends over three years, from late 1973 through late 1976. Some of the earliest posts on this blog presented six examples of Demetrio's romance stories, so I will update those in the next few weeks as Out Of This World gets into the Latino/Spanish artists working at Charlton from the late 60s through the mid-1970s.


Date
Title
#
Story
#pages
Cover
11/73
Love Diary
87
A Cause of Love
9
Y
9/74
Teen Confessions
85
Perfect Date!
9

10/74
Just Married
102
A Good Fight Is Fun
9
Y
11/74
Teen Confessions
86
Marry Me Soon, Darling
9

11/74
Love and Romance
19
Sweet Victory
9
Y
1/75
I Love You
110
From The Shadows
6

1/75
Secret Romance
30
Ring Twice
9
Y
2/75
Teen Confessions
87
Fabulous Fifties
15
Y
2/75
Time For Love
40
If You Love Him – Let Him Go
9
Y
3/75
Secret Romance
31
They Talk About Me
6

6/75
For Lovers Only
79
The Big Break
9

6/75
Teen Confessions
89
Running Wild!
9

7/75
I Love You
113
Discovered Love
7

7/75
Love and Romance
23
Don’t Pity Me!
6

7/75
Secret Romance
33
The Love Goddess
8

8/75
For Lovers Only
80
Love Above All
7

8/75
Teen Confessions
90
I Remember You
6

8/75
Time For Love
43
Romeo and Who?
6

9/75
Love and Romance
24
A Perfect Catch
6

12/75
Teen Confessions
92
A Night to Remember
12

1/76
My Only Love
4
I Learned My Lesson
6

2/76
Teen Confessions
93
Fast Cars and Faster Women
10

3/76
Secret Romance
37
Bus Ride Blues
6

6/76
I Love You
118
Choose Your Partner
8

9/76
Teen Confessions
96
Bulldog’s Grip
8


Demetrio's work looks different depending on the quality of the inking, just like everyone else's. The example presented below, "They Talk About Me" from Secret Romance 31 (March 1975) is short (6 pages) but with some sweet artwork. I wonder if Elizabeth Berube did the inking and/or coloring on these better Demetrio pieces - there's certainly some commonalities when these are compared with her own work. "They Talk About Me" below is a standard high school romance scenario, with the ex-boyfriend spreading bad rumors about the girl, and Prince Charming putting him in his place. Simple story but definitely cute. Note that the second panel on the splash page represents partial re-use of the art from Demetrio's cover of Love and Romance 19.







Next on Out Of This World, another Demetrio story of similar quality from the pages of Charlton's Secret Romance. As for what Demetrio is doing these days... check this out:

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/demetrio-sanchez.html

Examples of his non-romance work:

http://ilustradoresehistorietistasespaol.blogspot.com/2009/11/demetrio.html

Monday, December 28, 2009

Latino/Spanish Artists at Charlton: Demetrio (6) - Secret Romance 33

"The Love Goddess" (July 1975) is an eight page Demetrio story set in the motion picture industry. Richard Wharton and his wife Eliza (you don't need me to tell you this is a thinly veiled reference to Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor) have fought throughout their stormy marriage. Wendy, a young actress, gets swept away with the fantasy of marrying Richard as he romances her in front of his wife, and proposes they wed after he divorces Eliza. Having been warned by Steve Romano (who is seriously in love with Wendy) that Richard is just using her to annoy his wife, and that Wendy is the latest in a string of girls who all thought things would be different with them, Wendy forges ahead with the relationship with Richard, despite the awkward fact that he is married. It's public knowledge that Richard and Eliza aren't getting along, so apparently this justifies, in Wendy's mind, her being the 'other woman' in Richard's infidelity.
What Wendy really can't grasp is that Richard is still going through his mid-life crisis - he's moving towards/into old age and he's in big time denial about the natural aging process as it applies to his physical body. Being an actor he's used to adopting different personae, so he slips easily into playing the still young mature guy. Don't you love the way Demetrio draws Eliza's and Wendy's hair? And who is the colorist on these Demetrio stories? Nice job!
Despite the obvious chemistry between herself and Steve, Wendy continues to be carried along by her infatuation with the illusion that Richard presents. But as Steve predicted, Eliza won't allow it to go too far, although she is not exactly the bitch about it that we'd been led to expect. Instead she gives Wendy a fairly good shove in the right direction by setting up a rendezvous for her with Steve, after first counteracting the spell that her husband had cast over the younger woman by letting her see him without his props. What was she thinking? Really! And she knows it - she was bewildered by Richard's charm and status, but now she has all the facts she sees which side her bread is buttered on. Yes that young, handsome man Steve, who adores her so, will make a much more appropriate lover and father for her future children. Age gaps can be okay, but this one wasn't right, not by a long way. And Wendy should have known better than to go messing with a married man. Does she really want the reputation that goes with that? I don't think so.

Latino/Spanish Artists at Charlton: Demetrio (5) - Teen Confessions 89

"Running Wild" by Demetrio in the June 1975 issue of Charlton's Teen Confessions lightly touches on one of the darker aspects of the hippie culture of the late 60s and early 70s. Combine 'free love' in its most literal, sexual sense, with ultra-right wing, conservative patriarchy, chauvinism, and sexism, and you have the Hell's Angels, or in the case of this story, some nasty bikers trying to act the part. Rosalie is an unsuspecting young lady wanting to enjoy the apparent freedom of the times, but her boyfriend, Pike Roman, is a member of a biker gang, one that shares its women amongst its members. So Rosalie finds herself having to answer to the gang leader's expectations that she's shared property that he has rights to in terms of sexual enjoyment.
Rosalie's not exactly hip with this scene, but if she wants to hang out with Pike then she has to let Chopper use her whenever he feels like it, and maybe the rest of the gang also. Luckily Rosalie is loved by a square guy with a decent set of values, which include monogamy. His name is Tim, they've been friends for some time, and he has parental approval, but he's too boring for Rosalie in her state of wanting constant kicks. Tim is serious about Rosalie, though, enough to spell out warnings regarding the way she's getting involved with some bad company, although she's not ready to listen. Tim isn't afraid to approach Rosalie when he sees her at the local cafe with Pike and Chopper. Chopper seems intent on beating Tim up, but he's reminded that they don't want to draw heat from the Fuzz.Tim isn't intimidated, but leaves because it is Rosalie's desire that he does so. He obviously doesn't go too far away though, as he's on hand later to come to Rosalie's rescue.

Chopper and Pike take Rosalie and another girl to a secluded spot where they usually have their way with their chicks. Rosalie's uncomfortable, but doesn't know what to do until Tim shows up and offers her a way out, which she gladly accepts. But the bikers aren't going to let Tim just waltz in there and steal their girl, so they start working him over, free of the fear of being seen by the police. Rosalie has to act fast to save Tim, and she runs over to his car and uses it to ram the two bikers' machines. This chaotic event serves to momentarily distract Chopper and Pike from punching Tim, and he manages to reach his car and Rosalie drives him away. She's learned her lesson for sure, and won't be in a hurry to associate with those low life bikers again.

Tim's chivalrous cavalry charge has opened Rosalie's eyes to what had been developing between them all along, and we're left with sufficient evidence to conclude that they're going to live happily ever after. Another nice 9-page job, another pretty girl, by Demetrio.