EXTRACTS: Illustrators Crime Comics Special © 2020 Book Palace Books (144 pages in full edition)

116 superheroes, which had first been introduced to Spanish readers in 1969 by Ediciones Vértice, continued to be a popular source of entertainment. The creative talents that provided the bulk of the content for these publications was sourced from agencies such as Bardon Art, Creaciones Editoriales and Selecciones Ilustradas, the latter being the brain-child of one of Spain’s greatest comic art visionaries Josep Toutain. They provided a steady source of income as well as a superb training ground for younger artists entering the profession. With such a plethora of titles to choose from, a contest to secure the attention and loyalty of a very discerning readership was now underway. Magazines such as Totem (1977), 1984 (1978), Creepy (1979), El Víbora (1979), Cimoc (1978/1981) and Comix Internacional (1980) were competing with each other to source the best stories from the international market, with countries such as the United States, France and Italy at the head of the queue. Many of those children of the ‘60s, already adolescents, were hungry for comics with a little more edge than the titles they had grown up with. This was a change in demographics that editorial teams were well aware of. One of the most enterprising editors, Josep Toutain was totally geared-up to exploit this trend. He was an astute editor, with a studio filled with many of the top talents of the Spanish strip scene as well as extensive international links, not least of which was his liaison with the ever-mercurial and equally driven James Warren. The cross-pollination of creative talents these two publishers spawned had seen Warren magazines appear in Spanish editions, as well as Spanish artists gracing the pages of such US titles as Creepy , Eerie and Vampirella . Toutain’s mission was quite simply to provide the best content, in terms of art and script, which he could produce, as well as creating additional streams of revenue by licensing the strips he published ABOVE: Bernet and Toutain inspect a copy of Totem , one of many Spanish comic magazines that Toutain launched. Toutain is holding the cover layout which would be used as a guide to the illustrators to show how much space to allocate for type and other elements to be added. RIGHT: Abulí and Bernet in convivial mood at the a convention in 1994.