Latino/Spanish Artists at Charlton: Demetrio (7) - Secret Romance 31

Charlton romance comics cannot be discussed without mentioning Demetrio. Demetrio Sanchez Gomez produced a fair body of work for Charlton, mostly war stories but at least 25 romance stories, as well as a few examples from other genres. Like other Hispanic artists working in American romance comics, his panels and pages have a kind of European flavor that distinguishes them from material produced by other mainstream comic artists. Charlton's romance line was a little more off-beat than DC or Marvel, not always in a weird way - the Spanish artists were part of something interesting that was going on at Charlton at the time. The following list of Demetrio's Charlton romance stories is compiled from the Grand Comics Database but includes additional stories not there identified but which I have in my collection. There are also several that I have not included here which look like Demetrio's artwork but on which I cannot find a signature. Note that there are very few Demetrio romance comic covers, and that the period during which his romance work was published by Charlton extends over three years, from late 1973 through late 1976. Some of the earliest posts on this blog presented six examples of Demetrio's romance stories, so I will update those in the next few weeks as Out Of This World gets into the Latino/Spanish artists working at Charlton from the late 60s through the mid-1970s.

Date	Title	#	Story	#pages	Cover
11/73	Love Diary	87	A Cause of Love	9	Y
9/74	Teen Confessions	85	Perfect Date!	9
10/74	Just Married	102	A Good Fight Is Fun	9	Y
11/74	Teen Confessions	86	Marry Me Soon, Darling	9
11/74	Love and Romance	19	Sweet Victory	9	Y
1/75	I Love You	110	From The Shadows	6
1/75	Secret Romance	30	Ring Twice	9	Y
2/75	Teen Confessions	87	Fabulous Fifties	15	Y
2/75	Time For Love	40	If You Love Him – Let Him Go	9	Y
3/75	Secret Romance	31	They Talk About Me	6
6/75	For Lovers Only	79	The Big Break	9
6/75	Teen Confessions	89	Running Wild!	9
7/75	I Love You	113	Discovered Love	7
7/75	Love and Romance	23	Don’t Pity Me!	6
7/75	Secret Romance	33	The Love Goddess	8
8/75	For Lovers Only	80	Love Above All	7
8/75	Teen Confessions	90	I Remember You	6
8/75	Time For Love	43	Romeo and Who?	6
9/75	Love and Romance	24	A Perfect Catch	6
12/75	Teen Confessions	92	A Night to Remember	12
1/76	My Only Love	4	I Learned My Lesson	6
2/76	Teen Confessions	93	Fast Cars and Faster Women	10
3/76	Secret Romance	37	Bus Ride Blues	6
6/76	I Love You	118	Choose Your Partner	8
9/76	Teen Confessions	96	Bulldog’s Grip	8

Demetrio's work looks different depending on the quality of the inking, just like everyone else's. The example presented below, "They Talk About Me" from Secret Romance 31 (March 1975) is short (6 pages) but with some sweet artwork. I wonder if Elizabeth Berube did the inking and/or coloring on these better Demetrio pieces - there's certainly some commonalities when these are compared with her own work. "They Talk About Me" below is a standard high school romance scenario, with the ex-boyfriend spreading bad rumors about the girl, and Prince Charming putting him in his place. Simple story but definitely cute. Note that the second panel on the splash page represents partial re-use of the art from Demetrio's cover of Love and Romance 19.

Next on Out Of This World, another Demetrio story of similar quality from the pages of Charlton's Secret Romance. As for what Demetrio is doing these days... check this out:

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/demetrio-sanchez.html

Examples of his non-romance work:

http://ilustradoresehistorietistasespaol.blogspot.com/2009/11/demetrio.html