Aside from my love of comic collecting which hit its peak between 1988 and 1991 I had previously grown fond of the small pocket sized 'Commando' graphic novels, I collected these from the time I was 12 to about the time I turned 15 - these smaller, square formatted black and white graphic novels were normally set during World War 2 and depicted Allied soldiers on daring missions featuring land sea and air divisions of the military. The Commando comic was published by D.C Thompson and every issue featured a very dramatic, danger filled scenario on its cover which was in full colour and produced by the very talented contracted artists in traditional oil or acrylic paint.
The covers themselves almost always told a story in their own way, killer visuals, eye popping colour and composition that really amped up the comics impact on shelf.
I'll probably profile a couple of these artists in detail on this blog for anyone interested but the first artist I wanted to draw attention to was Jordi Penalva.
Penalva who was born in 1927 and learnt his illustrative craft at the Escola d'Arts Aplicades i d'Ofocos Artostocs de Barcelona (School of Arts and Artistic Trades),he further honed these skills at the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de Sant Jordi (School of Fine Arts).
His illustrative cover career really took off when he painted the covers for Cowboy Picture Library in 1958 where he painted 146 covers depicting the high adventure life of cowboys and gunslingers, his early career also saw him paint covers for Thriller Picture Library and Lone Rider Picture Library. However, it was Jordis dramatic composition and artistic flair that saw him deliver his best work as a Fleetway artist for the War and Battle picture libraries in the 1960's. It was in the mid 1960's where Penalva also worked for D.C Thompson's Commando pocket library, over a period of 10 years he painted 180 covers for the Commando series. Jordis high demand also saw him provide illustrations for other publications such as Playboy Press and the horror series for Eerie and in particular he provided art for Semic's newspaper strips of James Bond, Modesty Blaise and The Saint.
Below is a small sampling of his work and composition skills that celebrate his talents as one of the best cover artists for the picture library press.
Be sure to check out my blog post which covers Ian Kennnedy's combat art here
Be sure to check out my blog post which covers Ian Kennnedy's combat art here
Jordi's style varied between more softer highly detailed work to a more gritty and textured style of painting.
Anatomy and attention to detail were important for cover art, note how the sten gun here is shown unloaded as the Commando scales the rock face.
The high tension covers set the tone of the interior and art either depicted full on action combat or the 'calm before the storm'.
Penalva's Sean Connery piece for the work he did on the James Bond strip for Semic Newspapers.(below)
Jordi Penalvas original artwork can be bought here
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