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

117 internationally. In 1981 Toutain commissioned Enrique Sánchez Abulí to devise a six-page gangster-themed script. Abulí’s proposal featured a gangster and a stunning blonde as the main protagonists in the story of a professional killer set in 1930s New York. Toutain decided to strengthen the international appeal of the strip with the addition of Alex Toth ( Zorro , House of Secrets , Bravo for Adventure ) to undertake art duties. Toth’s championing of Spanish cartoonists added another plus factor. It was at Barcelona’s first Comic Fair in the spring of 1981 that Toth and Abulí met in person. ABOVE: No situation is too hot for Luca Torelli. RIGHT: Bernet caricatures himself.