« There will be no questions asked if I kill you here, gringo! » — Bad hombre Alejandro Roja
On February 5, 2024, versatile veteran cartoonist José Delbo (born in Buenos Aires, Argentine, on December 9, 1933) left us at the most respectable age of ninety. Comics fans of a certain age will no doubt recall him chiefly from his long stint on DC’s Wonder Woman (1975-1981, issues no. 222-286), but to my mind, that’s hardly his finest hour: he wasn’t done any favours there, hobbled as he was by pedestrian (or worse) writing and indifferent (or worse) inking. Same goes for his run on Batgirl (1976-82) in Batman Family and Detective Comics.
For a detailed rundown of his remarkably long and varied career, you can’t go wrong with this excellent bio.
This post’s title gave away my candidate for Delbo’s magnum opus, such as it is; but I would be remiss in failing to also note his charming work on Dell’s The Monkees (fifteen issues), where he got to demonstrate his deft hand at humour; and his winningly bizarre collaboration with Tony Tallarico, Geronimo Jones (nine issues, 1971-73, plus one that remains unpublished).
Incidentally, Billy’s distinctive steed appears to be an Appaloosa: « The Appaloosa’s eye-catching pattern comes from the spotted horses brought into the Americas by Spanish Conquistadors. Known as the Dalmatian horse breed, it was bred in the mid-18th century by the Native American Nez Percé people. Its name comes from the Palouse River that flows through what used to be Nez Percé territory. » [ source ]
Charlton Comics’ flagship western title, Billy the Kid (153 issues, 1955-1983, including its first five as “Masked Raider”), endured as long as it did for good cause: notable runs by accomplished artists, among them John Severin, Rocco Mastroserio, Luis Domínguez, Delbo, and finally Warren Sattler. Yet, for my money, it’s Joe Gill’s spare but psychologically consistent and highly humane scripting that holds the enterprise together.
Happy trails, and gracias for everything, Señor Delbo!
-RG
Who's Out There? 
Some pretty nice covers, there. I confess to having paid little attention to Charlton back then, so I overlooked Delbo’s art.
Please consider doing a loooooong feature and posting a few dozen Delbo covers.
PS: Thanks for making me aware of yet another artist I missed back “in the day.”
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Hi Neal! You wrote:
>Some pretty nice covers, there. I confess to having paid little attention to Charlton back then, so I overlooked Delbo’s art.
Oh, that sort of thing happens all the time. It’s often not only the company, but the genre that gets tuned out.
> Please consider doing a loooooong feature and posting a few dozen Delbo covers.
I certainly *will* consider it. I’d been meaning to write more about Geronimo Jones, and perhaps I’ll feature, come the next Hallowe’en Countdown, one of the lush jobs Delbo did in the late 60s-early 70s for The Witching Hour, pretty much the only times he was allowed to ink himself at DC. For my money, that’s his most visually impressive work.
> PS: Thanks for making me aware of yet another artist I missed back “in the day.”
It’s part of our raison d’être, and I’m happy to have had some success in this case. Cheers, friend!
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I like Delbo’s art for Gold Key’s Yellow Submarine 64-page one-off. He did a good job of adapting his style to that of the cartoon animation. A great comic.
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Hi Caspar! Right you are… though I’ve never seen a copy of this sought-after item in the wild, so to speak, I just checked it out online, and I can’t imagine anyone doing a better job than Delbo did here. A most impressive testament to his versatility.
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Thanks for posting such a nice selection of Jose Delbo’s covers for the Billy the Kid series. I feel like a lot of the Charlton books are unfortunately overlooked by both fans and historians.
Yesterday I put together a short tribute to Delbo’s career on my own blog, and I made sure to include an example of his work from Billy the Kid.
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Hi Ben! The Charlton titles are most certainly overlooked, but I’m doing my bit to redress — ever so slightly — that injustice.
Lovely work on the tribute. I appreciate your candour — not everyone can be a personal favourite — but as you rightly point out, solid, dependable artists are the backbone of the industry, whatever its failings. They’re often the ones with some of the longest, most varied careers.
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Oh, I forgot! It’s definitely worth mentioning that Charlton’s Billy the Kid comic books have fallen into the public domain and can be read on the Comic Book Plus website, along with plenty of other great old comic books!
https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=1507
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Hi Ben! It’s certainly a point well worth making! Not all of them are PD just yet, though — though there are more each year! At this point, comicbookplus is up to issue 67… which still provides *plenty* to enjoy. I especially recommend the John Severin issues: 19 to 28, if memory serves. Dig in, folks!
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