Carlos Roume (1923-2009)

On Monday, various sites noted the death last week of Carlos Gabriel Roume, a leading Argentinean comic artist, painter and sculptor. He died on 26 September 2009 in Tandil in the Buenos Aires Province, aged 86.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1923, he was the ninth son of architect Francisco Roume. He began his professional career in advertising, working for Publicidad Albatros at the age of 22 and then for Publi-Art for two years. He then worked independently, travelling to France at the age of 25 where he again worked in publicity for several years.

Returning to Argentina, Roume began drawing comics featuring the character "Lapacho Juan" in Patoruzito magazine. In the early 1950s, he drew a number of literary adapatations, amongst them "Vida de Lassie" [Life of Lassie] for Editorial Abril, "Robinson Crusoe", "Moby Dick" and "Motin a Bordo" for Pimpinela.

He became more widely known in his native country over the next few years, from 1952 drawing the Tarzanesque character "Sabu" and, from 1957, collaborating with Héctor Germán Oesterheld on various series for Hora Cero: "Nahuel Barros", "Tipp Kenya", 34 episodes of "Patria Vieja" [Old Homeland], and "Pichi".

In 1959, Roume joined other South American artists working for the British market, drawing episodes of "Dick Daring" for Thriller Picture Library and "Buck Jones", "Kansas Kid", "The Gun Tamers" and "Kit Carson" for Cowboy Picture Library. He made the step to weekly comics taking over "Olac the Gladiator" from Ruggero Giovannini in Tiger in 1961-62; other weekly strips followed, including "Blade of the Frontier" (Valiant, 1962-63), "Two Fists Against the World" (Hurricane, 1964), "Rodney Stone" (Ranger / Look & Learn, 1966) and "Black Beauty" (Tina, 1967).

He briefly reprised his role as artist on "Olac the Gladiator" in 1968 and produced short stories and illustrations for Tell Me Why, Princess Tina and World of Wonder in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but was by then employed more heavily elsewhere in Europe. In Italy's Il Corriere dei Piccoli he drew "Hayawatha", "Zane Canon" and "Alazzan".

From the 1970s on, Roume was able to work almost exclusively in his home country, his work including the series "Manquillán, el cóndor perdido" for Clarin magazine and, from 1974, many western series—Roume was always at his best depicting the movement and beauty of horses—for Ediciones Récord. In 1984 he illustrated a special edition of "Martín Fierro" by José Hernández. He continued to draw comic strips for the magazine Fénix until 1995.

Roume remained a popular figure at Argentine comic conventions. In October 2005, he was a guest of honour at the Primer Festival International de Historieta de Morón, which brought together many of the elder statesmen of Argentinean comics.

(* photo found here; "Rodney Stone", adapting the novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and illustration "Horses on the Camargue" both © Look and Learn Ltd.)