The revered Argentinian artist Juan Gimenez has passed away from complications of the coronavirus, it’s been reported. He was 76.
Gimenez was perhaps best known for his work on Metabarons, but he was one of the great SF comics artists, famed for his visionary, detailed machinery and beautifully rendered characters. His work is really emblematic of the European SF look is often associated with Heavy Metal magazine – and in fact he served as art director for a segment of the Heavy Metal animated film. But his career stretched far beyond that.
Born in Mendoza, Argentina in 1943, Gimenez studied art in Barcelona, Spain, and eventually moved to Spain. He became well known for his work in Italian and Spanish comics, with his breakout hit Leo Roa, before teaming with Alejandro Jorodowsky for The Metabarons in the 90s. He also worked in illustration, storyboards and concept art.
Juan Gimenez had recently traveled to Spain, which has been hard hit by CV-19, but had travelled back to Argentina, where he was hospitalized on March 22.
Quite a bit of his work is available in English from Humanoids. And you can actually read the first volume of Metabarons digitally for free right now.
Comics twitter mourned the master with examples of his art.
Beautiful thing at the end of each day. Today, of course, the great Juan Giménez. RIP.
Stay home.
Wash your hands. pic.twitter.com/AAI8wF9AJk
— Ron Marz (@ronmarz) April 3, 2020
https://twitter.com/f_francavilla/status/1245912424932347904
https://twitter.com/CullyHamner/status/1245906186089697285
RIP the great Juan Giménez.
I didn't know him but loved his work. He was actually a major influence (don't know if it shows) on the more tech sci-fi bits of my old IRONWOLF graphic novel.
Sadly sounds like he was a victim of CoVID19. pic.twitter.com/fgaQCPkTb8— Mike Mignola (@artofmmignola) April 3, 2020
We lost Argentina's master comics artist Juan Giménez to COVID. Sad… https://t.co/9cWY6XZX2O
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) April 3, 2020
So sad to hear about the death of Juan Giménez. Read some Metabarons tonight.
— Matthew Rosenberg (@AshcanPress) April 3, 2020
https://twitter.com/IvanBrandon/status/1245926070722785280
https://twitter.com/TheBurnham/status/1245912679748743168
https://twitter.com/TJoyceChin/status/1245908765292937217
https://twitter.com/droog811/status/1245910132476628999
https://twitter.com/HeatherAntos/status/1245888835327844352
https://twitter.com/JacksonLanzing/status/1245888206928662528
Ah man, Juan Gimenez is a huge loss. Massive influence on modern sci-fi and our collective imaginations. pic.twitter.com/dTUBcuDEy3
— Ram V (@therightram) April 3, 2020
Truly a master.
