Victor de la Fuente (1927-2010)

Victor de la Fuente, one of the great names in Spanish comics, died on Friday, 2 July, in Le Mesnil St Denis, France. He was 83 and had been ill for some years. He worked for the original Eagle comic in the early 1960s, drawing 'Blackbow the Cheyenne', the story of a doctor in the Wild West who dresses as an Indian to resolve conflicts, and episodes of 'Can You Catch a Crook?', a spot-the-clue format police strip.

He began drawing for War Picture Library and Battle Picture Library in 1962 and became a favourite of editor Ted Bensberg. He was also one of the main artists for 'Trelawny of the Guards', an unusually thoughtful for the period (1966) Second World War series featuring Sergeant Trelawny who, unlike his more gung-ho contemporaries, realises that he is making life-or-death decisions about the troops under his command. For D. C. Thomson he drew almost 50 issues of Commando between 1964 and 1972, many of which have been reprinted more than once over the years.

A collection of four war stories, Diario de guarra: Victor de la Fuente was published in Spain by Panini only a few weeks ago, containing four stories reprinted from Fleetway's war libraries in 1963-66 ('Hounds of Hell', 'The Destroyers', 'The Hidden Strength' and 'Height of Bravery').

An exhibition of his work was held in 2002 at the Salón Internacional del Cómic de Oviedo, where De la Fuente created a large drawing of a cowboy on horseback in just four minutes. His fellow comic strip creator Carlos Giménez said: "The day that comics are recognised as art, originals by Victor de la Fuente will be found in museums next to the greatest painters."

Obituary: The Guardian (4 August).