Alex N. Niño was born in Tarnac, The Philippines, and dreamed of being a comic artist since he was a small boy. He began his career assisting his father, who was a photographer. He was a medical student at the University of Manilla, but eventually chose an artistic profession. In 1965, after learning the finer points of the comics profession from Jess Jodloman, he started a collaboration with Clodualdo del Mundo and created 'Kilabot Ng Persia' ('The Terror of Persia') for Pilipino Komiks. Later, he teamed up with Marcelo B. Isidro to create 'Dinoceras' for Redondo Komiks.
More Than Human
After working on a couple of stories with Mars Ravelo, he began an association with publisher Pablo S. Gomez, who gave him full artistic freedom. In 1966, Niño came up with his own comic, 'Gruaga - The Fifth Corner of the World', for Pioneer Komiks. Again in associationi with Isidro, he made the series 'Mga Matang Nagliliyab' ('The Eyes that Glow in the Dark') in Alcala Komiks. Alex Niño freelanced for several comics companies, like PSG Publications, where he did a series of short stories about Bruhilda Witch and where a number of his collaborations with Pablo Gomez were made into movies.
Even the Dead shall Laugh (Weird Mystery #6, 1973)
By 1975, Niño ended his collaboration with Gomez and started to focus on the U.S. market, like many of his contemporaries. Already active in the US since the early 1970s, he contributed to D.C. mystery titles and drew comic adaptations of literary classics like 'Moby Dick', 'The Time Machine' and 'The Three Musketeers' for Pendulum Press. In 1973 he illustrated 'Captain Fear' for Adventure Comics from a script by Bill Kanigher. For Rima, he made the series 'Space Voyagers'. He was additionally the artist of several stories of 'Korak, the Son of Tarzan', and until 1978 he was a regular artist for DC's Weird War Tales.
He continued his adaptation work at Marvel in 1975, and also drew for the company's 'Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction'. Starting in 1977, he was additionally present in Warren's horror magazines, Eerie, Creepy and Vampirella. He was active as an illustrator for Heavy Metal and Byron Press. During the 1980s, Niño's work appeared in Batman Annual and Space Clusters, as well as publications by New Comics Group and Pacific Comics. In 1994, he returned to the comics field more prominently with a new version of 'Conan the Barbarian', scripted by Roy Thomas.
Space Voyagers