Jose Gonzales

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Gonzales Mayo is probably my second favourite artist from the Warren era. His work may not be as prodigious or as famous as Jose Gonzales - but he definitely created his own following and his own niche. In all he drew 29 stories in 20 magazines, and in Vampirella #64 he illustrated a marathon seven stories.

Mayo's Vampirella is a wilder, more primitive character, placing more emphasis on her need for blood and her passionate nature.

In the frame on the right she can be seen chained to the wall (legend has it that Drakulonians could transform themselves into bats, but not when chained) at her own request to save Adam, Pendragon and her other companions from her own blood lust. Yet, despite Mayo's obvious talents I still prefer the depth and emotion in Jose Gonzales' work.

Gonzales Mayo's world was filled with demons, dragons and magic, yet he could also draw gangsters and police, although he had a habit of drawing the heads of his characters a tad large for their bodies. In general though, his art was both classic and detailed.

In many ways he was a more traditional illustrator of Vampi, and the black and white medium of the Warren stories suited his style.

In the panel on the right Vampi has been captured by weird tentacled machines, and a metal gag placed over her mouth to prevent her from talking. I am delighted to see the bat tattoo on her right breast - so often forgotten and now never seen at all.

The panel comes from the strangely titled story Ghostly Granny Gearloose in Vampirella #70. The story is a blend of adolescent bondage fantasy and wicked humour. This type of story was not that common for Vampirella, despite the common perception that all her comics were for was sexual titillation.

Below is an example of the crazed wizard type of character that Mayo drew so well, all attempting to take over the world (or some such mad caper) and all of them thwarted by our heroine from the stars (as we thought then). Later we were to discover that Vampirella's origin was not as simple as we thought - but that's another story.

Sadly Gonzales Mayo never did any covers, nor has he returned since Vampirella moved to Harris Publishing.

He may not have drawn the most stories during Warren's time, but his consistency was impressive and no one has beaten seven stories in one magazine, then or since.

Profile:

Vampirella Gallery Trading cards 35

Below is a list of the stories Gonzales Mayo has illustrated

Story	Comics the story has appeared in
Tales of Lost Drakulon	Vampirella #110 (Warren)
Blood Wager	Vampirella #45 (Warren)
Mother's Coming Home	Vampirella #47 (Warren)
Dr Wrighter's Asylum of Horror	Vampirella #52 (Warren)
The Beauty and the Beast	Vampirella #52 (Warren)
The Day the Music Died	Vampirella #54 (Warren)
Twilight of Blood	Vampirella #54 (Warren)
Chaos in a Sleepy Suburb	Vampirella #54 (Warren)
The Manipulators	Vampirella #64 (Warren)
The Eradicators	Vampirella #64 (Warren)
The Vindicators	Vampirella #64 (Warren)
The Intruders	Vampirella #64 (Warren)
The Stalkers	Vampirella #64 (Warren)
The Iconoclasts	Vampirella #64 (Warren)
The Survivors	Vampirella #64 (Warren)
The Phantom of Hollywood	Vampirella #69 (Warren)
Ghostly Granny Gearloose	Vampirella #70 (Warren)
A Gathering of Demons	Vampirella #73 (Warren)
Shadow of the Dragon	Vampirella #77 (Warren)
Kiss of the Dragon Queen	Vampirella #78 (Warren)
Shanghaied	Vampirella #79 (Warren)
Scourge of the Dragon Queen	Vampirella #81 (Warren)
Revenge of the Renegade Wizard	Vampirella #86 (Warren)
Army of the Dead 1	Vampirella #97 (Warren)
Army of the Dead 2	Vampirella #98 (Warren)
Spell of Slaughter	Vampirella #99 (Warren)
Attack of the Star Beast	Vampirella #101 (Warren) Vampirella and the Blood Red Queen of Hearts (TB)
Return of the Blood Red Queen	Vampirella #102 (Warren) Vampirella and the Blood Red Queen of Hearts (TB)
Feeding Frenzy	Vampirella #112 (Warren)

All images on this site are copyright © 2002, Harris Publications, Inc. VAMPIRELLA ® and other characters are trademarks of Harris Publications, Inc. Text and concepts © 2002 Mike Grace. All rights reserved.