John Khe
Luis Bermejo Royo is a Spanish artist of adventure comics, who is best known for his work for the British market and the US publisher Warren Publishing. Born in Madrid in 1931, the Bermejo family settled in Albacete during World War II, where Luis began his career as Manuel Gago's assistant. He then began an association with Editorial Valenciana, starting with contributions to the collection Almanaque y Extras de Jaimito in the 1940s. Still heavilly influenced by Gago, he drew the series 'El Rey del Mar' from scripts by Pedro Quesada in 1948.
Aventuras del FBI #3 - Sabotaje
Bermejo joined Editorial Rollán in Madrid in 1951, where he originated the popular series of comic books 'Aventuras del FBI'. He moved on to magazine Chicos, where he created the characters 'Federico Trota Mundos' and 'La Mujer de la Nieve'.
Aventuras del FBI
He joined his fellow Valenciana colleagues Ortiz, Quesada and Gago in the creation of the publishing house Maga in 1956. After drawing the serial 'Roque Brío', he started the western masterpiece 'Apache' in 1956. This was followed by the 'Marco Polo' serial with Matias Alonso, that was published as a supplement of Pantera Negra magazine from 1963.
Apache
At the end of the 1950s the Spanish market for comics came to a crisis, so Luis Bermejo found himself working for international agencies like A.L.I., Bardon Art and Luis Ferraz. He did a large number of works for the British market, including contributions to Girls Crystal, Tarzan Weekly, John Steel, Pike Mason and many stories for the Thriller Picture Library. He was also notable for his war stories for the Battle and War Picture Libraries, including features like 'Phantom Force Five' and 'Devil's Cauldron'.
Ellendige Elise (Originally from a British girls' comic. Dutch version from Tina, 1973)
He was present in Eagle with 'Mann of Battle' and the 'Heros the Spartan', which he took over from its creator Frank Bellamy in 1963. This was followed by superhero stories starring 'Johnny Future' for the weekly comic Fantastic by Odhams Pres, and the serials '10,000 Disasters of Dort' in Lion and 'News Team' in the "new" Eagle. By 1968 he joined the Italian agency D'Ami, where he worked on painted illustrations for books and magazines. He drew installments for Gino D'Antonio's Bonelli collection 'Storia del West' and remained present on the British market with work for titles like Tell Me Why, Once Upon a Time, Look and Learn and Tiny Tots.
Do you believe in Singsings? (Creepy #88, 1977)
Luis Bermejo was a prolific artist for the US horror magazines Eerie, Creepy and Vampirella by Warren Publishing through Josep Toutain's Selecciones Ilustradas agency from 1974 to 1983. He was one of the main artists for the company's regular character 'The Rook', and he additionally worked for DC Comics. His older work for Maga from the 1960s was by now reprinted in French comic books by Aventures & Voyages like Atémi ('Lanky Lank') and En Garde ('Les voyageurs du bout du monde').
Half page from Vampirella (January 1975)
In the late 1970s, Bermejo increased his presence on the Spanish market. Some of the adult magazines that spawned in Spain from late 1970s published works drawn by Bermejo: the westerns 'Mestizo' and 'Jon Khe', the series 'Orka' (1982), 'Paco Rusque' (1983) and some short stories for Cimoc, Metropol and Zona 84. His adaptation of Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' ('El Señor de los Anillos', 1979-81) was followed by adaptations from books by Isaac Asimov and Raymond Chandler.
Lord of the Rings
He became a regular artist for 'El Capitán Trueno' in 1987, while also contributing stories to the Italian magazines Skorpio and LancioStory. Besides an impressive career in comics, Luis Bermejo was also a prolific illustrator.He eventually dropped his activities as a comic creator to devote all his time to painting. He passed away on 12 December 2015.
El Capitán Trueno