'Fantomas'.
Rubén Lara Romero was a Mexican artist best-known as one of the main illustrators of Mexican 'Fantomas' stories for the collection Tesoro de Cuentos Clasicos of Editorial Novaro. Born in Mexico City, he published his first work in magazine Nota Roja, for which he created the super detective 'Azulito Azulejo'. He subsequently made cover illustrations for Pepín before beginning a collaboration with the publishing house Editomex at age 21.
Romero drew for the publisher's montly romance titles 'Cárcel de Mujeres' and 'Lagrimas, Risas y Amor' for a period of ten years. He later worked for publisher Novaro on 'Mujeres Célebres' and 'Estrellas de Deporte', before becoming an artist for 'Fantomas' in 'Cuentos Clásicos'. The masked hero eventually got its own title, and to keep up with the production, Lara set up Rubens Studios and was helped by additional artists like his brother Jorge as well as Luis Carlos Hernández, Jose S. Reyna, Fermín Márquez and Agustín Martinez. The original series ran until the early 1980s.
A dispute over copyrights motivated Lara and part of his team to leave Novaro. He returned to Editomex, for which he created another masked hero, 'El Comodín'. He also drew a comics version based on the TV series 'Simplemente María', before beginning collaborations with the magazines Duda (as Cosme, Editorial Posada) and Rebeldía (Editorial Proyección).
Throughout the years, Lara has also worked on other titles, including 'Del Trueque al Cheque', 'Detective Particular', 'Elegidos de la Fama', 'Epopeyas del Anahuac', 'Figuras', 'Historia Patria', 'Jornadas Bíblicas', 'Juventud Contra la Ley Lágrimas de amor' and 'El Monje Loco'.
Rubén Lara Romero was an influence on Alex Corrales.