Joyas Literarias Juveniles #22 - 'A Traves del Desierto'.
José Grau Hernández was born in 1914 in Valencia. He studied at the San Carlos School of Fine Arts in Valencia and was eighteen years old when he started his career working for the magazine KKO, published by Enrique Guerri in 1932. He was a pioneer in narrative techniques in the field of Spanish comics with series like 'El As de Exploradores' (Guerri, 1934) and 'Los Tambores de Fu Manchu' (Valenciana, 1943). In the period following the Spanish Civil War, Grau had an extensive production with serials like 'El Misterioso Doctor Satán' (1943), 'Rostro de Cuero' (1945), 'King, El Pequeño Policía' (1946), 'Tigris, El Africano' and 'El Capitán Sol' (1948).
'Rudy - Ce Qui Manquait' (Fillette #416, 8 July 1954, France).
In addition, Grau contributed to magazines like Jaimito, S.O.S., Trampolín and Patoruzito. He made historical comics about Curro Bravo (Patoruzito, 1954) and Juan León (1954, with F. Amorós), two Spanish bandits during the period of the French domination. José Grau was a specialist in comics featuring girls, such as 'Las Hermanas Dionis' and 'Sally', created for supplements of newspapers, as well as the stories he drew for magazines Marilo and Sissy.
'El Teniente Negro'.
Starting in 1962 José Grau worked for Bruguera on series like 'El Teniente Negro' (1962) and 'El Capitán Trueno' (1968), and on several adaptations of literary classics for the collection Joyas Literarias Juveniles. From the 1960s on, he also worked extensively for the British market through Bardon Art on war, girls and adventure comics, including the series 'Cathy' (1981). José Grau spent the final years working on a comic called 'El Encubierto de Valencia' (1985-1996), that has remained unpublished.
'Juan León'.