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

85 but later worked on the monthly war comics as well. He also drew the daily strip Caroline Baker, Barrister-at- Law for the Daily Express between the years 1962-63, for which he had been invited over to the UK to do sketches at a magistrate’s court. For Eagle he drew the series UFO Agent— that later became the superhero S mokeman , and for Lion he drew Trelawney’s Mob , The Phantom Viking, and on The 10,000 Disasters of Dort shared drawing duties with Luis Bermejo. However in 1968 he got back to drawing romantic stories, which he alternated with strips for TV Action such as ‘The Persuaders’, and worked for DC Thomson on Warlord and Diana . In 1974 a working opportunity arose for the American market through a connection between the Valencia studio and the S.I. art agency in Barcelona. Josep Toutain, the head of the agency had managed to place many of his artists in the Warren horror magazines. Though Ortiz had never drawn horror comics before, his graphic style felt right at home. Up until then he had inked his work mostly with a brush and in a style reminiscent of the classic American adventure strips. For Warren he began to ink with a pen, and later with technical pens (which permitted him to work faster, as he didn’t have to continually dip his pen or brush in an inkpot). His drawings now had lots of cross-hatching and lots of blacks for the shading. Since Ortiz could draw practically anything and any subject, it wasn’t strange he ended doing such different series for Warren as the horror Victorian-era ‘Night of the Jackass’, the weird western ‘Coffin’, or even taking over Pantha when it was revived in Vampirella (and after Auraleon’s first stint on it). With the passing years, and though he arrived In the 1950s Ortiz was already a professional and accomplished artist working on various series. FACING PAGE TOP: Dan Barry El Terremoto , Editorial Maga 1954. A western series. FACING PAGE BOTTOM: Pantera Negra , Edidorial Maga 1956. A jungle adventure series. ABOVE: Balin , Editorial Maga 1955. A historical series. BOTTOM LEFT: Sigur el Vikingo , Toray 1958. A pseudo-historical fantasy series.