Misty Presents: The Jaume Rumeu Collection, 5

Femme Fatales, deals with the underworlds and giant spiders abound in this collection of horror stories from iconic girls' comic Misty, all drawn by Jaume Rumeu Perera.

Jaume Rumeu Perera was born in 1930 in Catalonia. He began drawing comics in 1952 when he signed to the art agency Creaciones Editorial, under the name Romeo, and debuting on the comic Johnny el Temerario (Johnny the Daredevil). A master of multiple genres, he drew science fiction, adventure, espionage, sports and romance comics and during his forty year comics career his work was published across Europe. In the UK he worked primarily romance and girls’ comics, adopting the pseudonym Homero in the late 1960s. For DC Thomson he drew Susette for Cherie and Juliette for Romeo, and for IPC, he drew comics for Tammy, Jinty and Misty. His work for Misty includes such iconic stories as The Black Widow, Spider Woman and The Loneliest Girl in the World. As the comics market shrank in the 1980s, he continued to draw comics across the continent, such as football comics for DC Thomson and horse comics for the Swedish and Dutch market. He retired from drawing comics in 1992, and died in 2003.

David Roach joined the art Droids at 2000 AD in late 1986 after studying Fine Art and Philosophy at art college, going on to draw Nemesis the Warlock and Judge Anderson for five years. In the ’90s he was one of many artists enticed over to America where he drew Star Wars and Aliens for Dark Horse, Star Trek for Wildstorm, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs for Topps and numerous strips for DC including a lengthy association with Batman which he both drew and inked. Much of the late ’90s was spent drawing Dungeons and Dragons illustrations for Wizards of the Coast, but he returned to British comics in 1999 with work for Panini’s Doctor Who Magazine where he still draws or inks the comic strip, and is the company’s Principal Graphic Novel cover artist. The new millennium also saw a return to 2000 AD where he drew Judge Dredd, Synnamon and in 2016 returned to Judge Anderson in Prog 2000. Away from comics, Roach has created artwork for records, advertising, storyboards and countless commissions. He also lectures in art and enjoys an alternate existence as a fine artist working with life-models to create large scale drawings of the nude. In a parallel career Roach has also written extensively about art, comics and pop culture and has contributed to various titles including Escape, Comic Book Artist and Illustrators magazine. He has written or co-written numerous art books including the Warren Companion (with Jon B Cooke for TwoMorrows, 2001), The Fleetway Companion (with Steve Holland for the Book Palace, 2007) The Art of War (Carlton, 2008), Life Style Illustrations of the ’50s and ’60s (two volumes for Fiell books compiled by Rian Hughes, 2010, 2013) and several books for Dynamite including the Art of Vampirella (2013), The Art of José González (2015) and Masters of Spanish Comic Art (2017). Future books will include The Art of Luis García Mozos and Drawings Volume 1; a collection of his favourite life-drawings. He lives in Cardiff with two daughters and far too many comics.

Julia Round’s research examines the intersections of Gothic, comics, and children’s literature. Her books include Gothic for Girls: Misty and British Comics (2019), winner of the Broken Frontier Award for Best Book on Comics) and Gothic in Comics and Graphic Novels: A Critical Approach (2014). She is a Principal Lecturer at Bournemouth University, one of the organisers of the International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference, and edits Studies in Comics journal and the Encapsulations book series. She shares her work at www.juliaround.com

Jaume Rumeu Perera was born in 1930 in Catalonia. He began drawing comics in 1952 when he signed to the art agency Creaciones Editorial, under the name Romeo, and debuting on the comic Johnny el Temerario (Johnny the Daredevil). A master of multiple genres, he drew science fiction, adventure, espionage, sports and romance comics and during his forty year comics career his work was published across Europe. In the UK he worked primarily romance and girls’ comics, adopting the pseudonym Homero in the late 1960s. For DC Thomson he drew Susette for Cherie and Juliette for Romeo, and for IPC, he drew comics for Tammy, Jinty and Misty. His work for Misty includes such iconic stories as The Black Widow, Spider Woman and The Loneliest Girl in the World. As the comics market shrank in the 1980s, he continued to draw comics across the continent, such as football comics for DC Thomson and horse comics for the Swedish and Dutch market. He retired from drawing comics in 1992, and died in 2003.