El Cobra was a lonely gunman and steel-edged wrongdoer. Eternally on the move, he comes across, on
his way, pretty young women (often grieving widows) who he invariably abandons
at the end of each story before returning to his wandering path. This realistic and violent western, with the
classic and invariable scheme (the hero arrives in a new place, he repairs an
injustice and goes to the end even if he is asked to stay).
El Cobra was basically a restart of the character Garrett
by artist Arturo del Castillo and stories by Albert August Delan Phelps. The
difference was Garrett had a purpose seeking vengeance on those who murdered
his family.
El Cobra first appeared on May 12, 1975 in an issue of Lanciostory
which was published by Eura Editoriale. The series lasted through 27, issues.
It was also published under the title Le Crotale in Long Rifle and in La Route
de l'Ouest between 1983 and 1986.A sequel to El Cobra was published in 1978-79,
with texts by Ray Collins (Eugenio Zappietro).
and drawings by Miguel A. Repetto with a graphic design very similar to
that of Del Castillo.
Arturo Pérez Del Castillo was born in Concepcion, Chile1925
August 25, . He started working for an advertising agency, but eventually
joined his brother Jorge Perez del Castillo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in
1948. He got a job as a letterer and illustrator with Editorial Columba and its
magazine Aventuras, and remained affiliated with the publisher until the mid-1950s.
He did his first work for for the comic weekly Aventuras, and a year later, he
also created comic strips for the magazines Intervalo and El Tony. He quickly
became famous for his skillful and detailed pen work, mainly for western
comics.
Del Castillo's most famous work is the Hector Oesterheld
scripted 'Randall: the Killer' series, that commenced publication in Hora Cero
in 1957. Del Castillo refined his graphic style even further and other
important works followed. He joined the Italian agency of Rinaldo Dami and from
the late 1950s throughout the 1960s. He mainly worked for the British publisher
Fleetway, starting with a number of comic strip adaptations of Alexandre Dumas
novels, including 'The Three Musketeers' and 'The Man in the Iron Mask'.
Also for Britain, he drew western stories in Top Spot
('Ringo') and Ranger ('Dan Dakota - Lone Gun') and also for the Cowboy Picture
Library. 'Ringo' was one of his longest running serials, that he created in
cooperation with Oesterheld between 1968 and 1974. His western stories also
appeared in France in the pocket-sized comic books published by Arédit and
Sagédition, and in Holland in the comic magazine Sjors.
Also through Dami was the western series 'Garret' with
scriptwriter Ray Collins (Eugenio Zappietro), that was published in Argentina
in Misterix by Editorial Abril in 1962. Other westerns were 'Ralph Kendall',
'Larrigan' and 'Los tres Mosqueteros en El Oeste', that were published in Italian
magazines like Corriere dei Piccoli. In the second half of the 1970s, Del
Castillo was present in the Argentine magazine Skorpio by Editorial Record with
his series 'El Cobra' (a restart of 'Garret') and 'Loco Sexton', the latter
again with Oesterheld. Additionally, he made short-lived series or oneshot
stories with writers like Alfredo Grassi, Guillermo Saccomano ('Comanchero'),
Walter Slavich ('Bannof') and Mazzitelli.
He worked for the publications of Editorial Columba, such
as El Tony, D'Artagnan and Fantasía, until his retirement in 1989. Among his
new creations were 'Bannister' with Ray Collins in El Tony in 1981. Arturo Del
Castillo died in Buenos Aires, Argentina on December 5, 1992.
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