Posted By Dan Greenfield on Mar 28, 2025 | 4 comments

FRANCO’S FREE-FOR-ALL FRIDAYS!

By FRANCO

What can I say about my absolute most favorite artist of all time that hasn’t already been said? 

Some people will tell you to never meet your heroes. They might turn out to be jerks. I say do it. This way you’ll know if they’re jerks.

Back story:

This is the artwork you see everywhere — on t-shirts, posters, backpacks, whatever. Everywhere. The iconic look of most of the DC characters while I was growing up.

I love Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez’s work. DC’s Atari Force was something that hit different for me back in the day when I first picked it up. I own an original page by Ross Andru and JLGL! (How I obtained it is a story for another Friday.)

I also love Deadman as a character. First because of Neal Adams, yes. But mostly because of Jose! When I pitched a book about Deadman to DC, I never thought it would happen, but it did! And after it was all done and published, I got to tell Jose himself how much it all meant to me!

The cover on the right is by Sara Richard

And don’t even get me started on the 1982 DC Comics Style Guide. I’ll leave that to others — just ask Dan Greenfield all about it, or read his interview with Jose in the book itself if you don’t believe me.

I could tell you about my fear of any convention promoter, or seating-chart maker of said places, putting me next to Jose for fear I will buy even more artwork from the guy. Although to anyone reading, you can seat me next to him any time, as I’m joking and I would still get excited by the thrill of being next to him. The man is a delight. And I will keep buying his work.

My own Deadman

I’ve met and spoken to Jose — whose 77th birthday was this week — many times. I’m not stalking him…  even though I kind of am.

One time I was set up next to Jose at TerrifiCon in Connecticut. His friend and helper Fred came over and asked if I could help keep an eye on things as Jose had to get some drawings done.

Are you kidding me?

I went and sat right next to him (Fred did say to just keep an eye on it from my table — but screw that! Let everyone take my stuff, I wanna go watch Jose draw! ) I sat in awe for about an hour, watching Jose draw out his prelims on a sheet of regular copy paper before moving on to final paper for the character he was going to draw. With those prelims he would draw two or three scribble lines and damn if I didn’t know exactly the character he was drawing. Even to the untrained eye, you could tell with one swoop of his pencil he was drawing Wonder Woman! And then I would watch in awe as he tackled the final piece.

My friend Mike Pellerito happened by at that moment and snapped this pic of us.

I don’t know if you can tell from this picture, but there’s a 12-year-old kid inside that goofy 50-something-year-old tall guy sitting next to the master of masters absolutely freaking the f*** out!!!!  I had the stupidest grin on my face for hours.

I was right. Do meet your heroes. Jose did not measure up to the stories I had heard about him. He exceeded them! He is a pure delight and the gentlest of souls.

To drive the point home: After this interaction, he thanked ME for helping him — me???! — and gave me those prelim drawings.

I love this man’s artwork. I love this man’s attitude. I love Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. The master.

Happy Friday.

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MORE

— JOSE LUIS GARCIA-LOPEZ Reflects on the DC COMICS STYLE GUIDE: ‘Thrilled My Work Is Still Alive.’ Click here.

— JOSE LUIS GARCIA-LOPEZ: 13 Favorite Covers by the Maestro of the DC COMICS STYLE GUIDE, by Paul Kupperberg. Click here.

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Franco and his forehead have traveled the world and he writes and draws stuff. Franco is the creator, artist and writer of Patrick the Wolf Boy and Aw Yeah Comics! Franco has worked on books/comics, including Tiny Titans and Superman Family Adventures. Franco was also a high-school teacher and is one of the principal owners of Aw Yeah Comics retail stores. Dan made Franco add that he has won three Eisners.