An Appreciation: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

If you grew up in the 1980s, then chances are you know Jose Garcia-Lopez's work, even if you didn't read comics or don't know his name. His art was not only featured in the pages of DC Comics, but also on almost every bit of company merchandise imaginable, from t-shirts to toy packaging and everything in between. If you took a Wonder Woman lunch box to school in, say, 1985, then it's likely you carried around some stellar Garcia-Lopez art and were the envy of all your friends. Much of this merchandising art was pulled directly from Garcia-Lopez's highly influential and legendary DC Style Guide. For decades, this was the company bible, to which all artists referred when drawing the deep stable of DC characters, and it was Garcia-Lopez's art that they were referencing.

His sequential art is not to be ignored, either. Look at the page below from a Superman comic. Note how each panel is brimming with life—from the wonderful variety of facial expressions on the diners who can't believe they're eating in the same restaurant as Superman, to the regular rhythms of a restaurant, from idle table chatter between dinner companions to a waiter uncorking some bubbly to a couple dancing in the background. And then, that final panel, with Lois Lane, pulling a surprised Superman out to the dance floor! Glorious! So elegant and fluid, simply a lovely piece of pop art, which beautifully renders just how inspiring and hopeful superhero comics can be when done right.

His art is still everywhere you look today. He's still drawing comics from time to time, of course, but go to Target and take a look at the DC graphic tees. That Justice League shirt you have your eye on? That's Garcia-Lopez art. Go to the children's book section and you'll find scads of baby, toddler, and preschool-age books stuffed full of Garcia-Lopez's iconic illustrations of DC characters. My kids have several of these books, and the image at the top of this post is on the final page of one of them. Whenever we get to that page, their eyes grow big as they try to name the characters or we ask them who's wearing blue, or red, or orange, etc. I'm pretty sure our kids are learning primary colors from superhero costumes.

Garcia-Lopez's art is so inextricably linked to the childhoods of Gen Xers that we'll always be indebted to the man. His work made me want to pick up a pencil and draw when I was just barely able to sketch, and way before I ever knew his name. Today, even if my kids never end up learning his name (but you know I'm gonna teach it to them), it's pretty cool that they'll know his work by sight, just like their father did.

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez turns seventy today. Happy birthday, sir, and thanks for all the memories and the inspiration.

Comments

Paul SMarch 27, 2018 at 6:43 AM
What a talent. Happy (belated) Birthday Jose!
I love your observations on the Superman comic. Wearing my Pfeiffer tinted glasses it looks like Lois Lane is wearing Susie Diamond's iconic red dress.
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Joe K.October 29, 2019 at 11:04 AM
I'm a huge Garcia-Lopez fan. His covers were always amazing, especially the treatment - and attention - he gave to those second-tier heroes like Hawkman, Dr Fate, and Deadman.
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