We already told you that Dolmen is publishing great classics of British comics in Spain within its Albión line. It started with the adventures of Spider, a crime genius, and now he continues with an unforgettable series that was very popular in our country: Steel Claw, since it had the drawings of the great Jesus blasco (Barcelona 1919-1995), the unforgettable author of Cuto and one of the great masters of Spanish comics.
Blasco drew for ten years this series that tells the story of Louis Crandell, a laboratory assistant who has a steel prosthesis in one hand and suffers an accident that allows him to become invisible with electric shocks. A character that get inspired The invisible man, de H.G. Wells (Invisibility comes to both of them accompanied by a kind of megalomania and criminal madness).
Although, unlike the protagonist of Wells, Crandall is not completely invisible; his paw remains always visible, what serves to terrorize his enemies (Imagine a metallic hand that flies through the air and is directed towards you with evil intentions).
This volume includes the first adventures of the character, created in 1962 by the British science fiction novelist and comic book writer Ken Bulmer, that are already drawn by Blasco although I was not the graphic creator of the character (it was Trevor Newton). And it also includes other interesting extras like articles by Paul Grist and Jaume Vaquer, or covers of the English and Spanish editions (which were made by Jesús Blasco himself for the longed-for publisher Vértice).
‘Steel Claw’ page
Hero or villain?
Like what happened with Spider, Steel Claw starts out as a villain, worried only about himself and hunted by the police. But if something made these British heroes special it was their humanity, since they could go from villains to heroes or antiheroes. And Claw of Steel always moved on that fine line. Like Spider he was very clever and powerful, but I ran the risk of giving in to his dark side at any moment, which made these two very interesting characters.
The series was born in October 1962 and would run until 1973, becoming very popular in countries like Germany, Spain, the old Yugoslavia, India and Sweden, being published in some of these countries long after its last appearance in the United Kingdom.
And, above all, she influenced a whole generation of authors who have honored her in their work, as Alan Moore and Alan Davis in Captain Britain, or Grant Morrison in his Zenith.
Ten years ago Planeta already tried to release an edition that closed due to lack of sales. Hopefully this one has better luck because these comics are really fantastic.
‘Steel Claw’ page
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Science fiction, police intrigue and even horror
The series seamlessly mixes genres like science fiction, police intrigue and even horror (Taking advantage of the wonderful black and white drawings, almost photorealistic, by Jesús Blasco).
Sean Connery’s James Bond hit in theaters, made the series drift into adventures of spies and dark criminal organizations. In fact, when Crandall joined the shadowy organization The Shadow Squad, his paw, which he affectionately called “old friend”, began to fill up with gadgets (a gun in the index finger, sleeping gas in the heart, a steel cable in the ring, a radio antenna in the little finger or a retractable blade in the thumb, as well as a sophisticated system of picks to open any lock) .
And it also had a stage where Steel Claw was almost a superhero, taking on the most colorful villains, such as modern pirates or mad scientists.
‘Steel Claw’ page
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Pioneer in conquering the international market
With only 15 years old, Jesús Blasco won a magazine comic contest Mickey that opened the doors of the industry for him. Then he swept away the adventures of Cuto, the great hero of postwar Spanish comics. But it was so good that the Spanish comic quickly became too small for him, being one of the first Spanish cartoonists to succeed outside our borders. Soon he was joined by his brothers Alejandro and Adriano, who were also great cartoonists (Blasco was his teacher and also that of a whole generation of Spanish authors).
Although in 1953, when Jesus started working abroad, his brothers put themselves at his service. They said that Adriano did the sketches in pencil first, that Alejandro was mainly dedicated to the funds and Jesus was always responsible for the inking and final finishing, but normally they ended up doing what they could each one before the avalanche of work that Jesús Blasco received , turned to one of the most important authors of European comics.
As they explain to us in another of the interesting articles in the comic, Jesús Blasco’s first job for the British market was an adventure by Buffalo Bill that he drew when he was 34 years old. Later many other comics would arrive that would deserve an edition in Spain, such as Robin Hood, Dick Turpin, Kit Carson, Kansas Kid … but his greatest success was Steel Claw.
Cover of ‘Steel Claw’
Blasco made the characters in Steel Claw look alive and therefore that readers identified with them and waited week after week to see how their adventures continued, outlandish as they were.
After the closure of Zarpa de Acero Jesús Blasco and his brothers would continue working in the international market, for characters such as Tex. And in 1986 he would resurrect the Captain Thunder, together with its creator, Víctor Mora.
During his impeccable career Blasco was awarded the “Yellow Kid” of the Lucca Comic Fair (Italy) and with the French honorary decoration of the Order of Arts and Letters. He died on October 21, 1995, the same day as another great Spanish cartoonist, Manuel Vazquez Gallego (Anacleto, the Gilda Sisters)
We leave you an exceptional document. This program of Cartoon (broadcast by TVE in 1984), which includes a complete interview in which Jesús Blasco reviews his career.
Program dedicated to the Paladins of the comic, highlighting ‘Captain Thunder’, ‘The Valiant Prince’ and ‘The Warrior with the mask’. In addition, a comic workshop with Manfred Sommer, Leopoldo Sánchez and Fernando Fernández; and the authors gallery is dedicated to Jesús Blasco (‘Cuto’, ‘Claw of steel’).
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