Rafael Cortiella

Rafael Cortiella (1931–2019) was one of the great illustrators of this country, as well as a draftsman, painter, and advertising and film poster artist. His covers for romantic, western, horror, science fiction, detective, and adventure novels are spectacular—full of strength and dynamism. This remarkable body of work was published in countries such as Spain, England, Germany, and France, and in almost every part of the world.

He began his artistic studies at the School of Arts and Crafts of La Lonja. At around 17 years old, he published his first work: the comic strips of Don Triqui (Ed. Ameller), humorous adventures of a married couple in small landscape-format booklets—stories that had originally been started by Ayné. He later worked for the publishing house Símbolo, drawing comics such as Cobalto, Comando Roy, and Clay Sutton, one of the titles that first brought him popularity and in which he was the sole creator.

During the 1950s and 1960s, he diversified his work in publishing houses such as Toray, Ferma, and Bruguera, producing western, adventure, war, and romantic comics. He also worked with Josep Toutain’s Selecciones Ilustradas agency, creating romantic comics for Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

Around the 1960s, he focu...