Editing Enrique Badía Romero

{{Short description|Spanish comics artist (1930–2024)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| name          = Romero
| image         = Enrique Badía Romero CRS festival 1110 1.jpg
| imagesize     =
| caption       =
| birth_name    = Enrique Badía Romero
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1930|04|24|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Barcelona]], [[Restoration (Spain)|Spain]]
| death_date    = {{death date and age|2024|02|15|1930|04|24|df=y}}
| death_place   =
| nationality   = Spanish
| cartoonist    =
| write         =
| art           = y
| pencil        =
| ink           =
| edit          =
| publish       =
| letter        =
| color         =
| alias         = Badia, Enric Romero
| notable works = ''[[Modesty Blaise]]''<br/>''[[Axa (comics)|Axa]]''
| awards        = [[#Awards|Full list]]
| website       = http://www.badiaromero.com
| nonUS         = y
}}

'''Enrique Badía Romero''' (who signed his work simply '''Romero'''; 24 April 1930 – 15 February 2024) was a Spanish [[comics artist]], best known to English-speaking audiences for his work on ''[[Modesty Blaise]]''. He was also the co-creator of the [[post-apocalyptic science fiction]] strip ''[[Axa (comics)|Axa]]'', as well as a substantial body of work in his native Spain.

==Biography==
Romero's career began at the age of 15 when he was taken on as an apprentice of the artist Emilio Freixas.<ref name=DMB>{{cite web|last=Friedrich|first=Peter|publisher=Die deutsche Modesty Blaise website|title=Enrique Romero|url=http://www.sayyide.de/html/enrique_romero1.html}}</ref> After contributing to the publication ''Susy'' in 1949, he went on to produce artwork for several series under the signature "Badia".<ref name=dandare-EBM>{{cite web|last=Dan Dare|title=Enrique Badia Romero|url=http://www.dandare.info/artists/romero.htm}}</ref> He launched the magazine ''Alex'' in 1953 and two years later founded the publishing firm Ruiz Romero for which he produced the series ''Cromos'', ''Hombres de Lucha'' and ''Historia de la Guerra''.<ref name=lambiek-EBM>{{cite web|last=Lambiek Comiclopedia|title=E. Badia Romero|url=http://lambiek.net/artists/r/romero_eb.htm}}</ref>

Enrique Badía Romero often collaborated with his brother [[Jordi Badía Romero]] (1938–1984). He died on 15 February 2024, at the age of 93.<ref>{{cite web |title=Enric Badia Romero 1930–2024 |url=http://www.badiaromero.eu |website=Romero |access-date=16 February 2024}}</ref><ref>[https://downthetubes.net/in-memoriam-modesty-blaise-and-axa-artist-enric-badia-romero/ "In Memoriam: Modesty Blaise and Axa artist Enric Badia Romero"], downthetubes.net, 16 February 2024</ref>

===''Modesty Blaise''===
[[Image:Modestyblaise10055sm.JPG|right|350px|thumb|A Romero original from one of the later ''Modesty Blaise'' storylines]]
Romero began his association with writer [[Peter O'Donnell]]'s ''Modesty Blaise'' strip in 1970 when he was called in to finish the storyline ''The War-Lords of Phoenix'' due to artist [[Jim Holdaway]]'s unexpected death.<ref name=dandare-EBM/> Initially, Romero intentionally imitated Holdaway's style in order to make the changeover less noticeable, but soon established his own take on the character of Modesty Blaise, portraying her in a more exotic and voluptuous style than Holdaway did.<ref name=DMB/> Romero drew the ''Modesty Blaise'' strip until 1978, and while doing episodes of [[André Chéret]]'s ''[[Rahan (comics)|Rahan]]'' for the [[Franco-Belgian comics]] magazine ''[[Pif gadget]]'' from 1976, and beginning in 1978, Romero collaborated with [[Donne Avenell]] to create the science fiction series ''Axa'' for the English tabloid newspaper ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]''.<ref name=lambiek-EBM/>

In 1986 Romero returned to ''Modesty Blaise'' and remained with the strip until O'Donnell retired in 2001. In 2002, Romero was commissioned to draw a [[graphic novel]] adaptation of the ''Modesty Blaise'' short story "The Dark Angels"; this work was initially published exclusively in [[Scandinavia]] but was later reprinted in a special issue of ''[[Comics Revue]]'' in the United States. Romero's entire run on the ''Modesty Blaise'' strip is continually reprinted in an ongoing series of compilation volumes published by the UK company [[Titan Books]] since 2005, while ''Comics Revue'' in the USA has reprinted all of his post-1986 work on the strip.

In the 2000s and on, Romero worked on ''[[Durham Red]]'', and other projects for the magazines ''[[2000 AD (comics)|2000 AD]]'' and ''[[Judge Dredd Megazine]]'', as '''Enric Romero''',<ref name=dandare-EBM/> and in 2011 he drew for the Italian market some short stories of ''[[Djustine]]'', the horror-western character created by [[Enrico Teodorani]].

==Bibliography==
{{Expand section|date=December 2008}}
Comics work includes:

* ''[[Judge Anderson]]'': "Golem" (as Enric Romero, with [[Alan Grant (writer)|Alan Grant]], in ''[[2000 AD (comics)|2000 AD]] Annual 1987'', 1986)
* ''[[The Scarlet Apocrypha]]'': "Children of the Night" (as Enric Romero, with [[Dan Abnett]], in ''[[Judge Dredd Megazine]]'', vol. 4 #15, 2002)

==References==
{{reflist}}  

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.badiaromero.com}}
* [http://www.lfb.it/fff/fumetto/aut/r/romero.htm Romero dossier] FFF {{in lang|it}}
* [http://bdoubliees.com/vaillantpif/auteurs5/romero.htm Romero publications in ''Pif gadget''], [http://bdoubliees.com/charliemensuel/auteurs5/romero.htm ''Charlie Mensuel''] BDoubliées {{in lang|fr}}
* [http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=droid&page=profiles&choice=ENRICRO Enric Romero] at 2000 AD online
* [http://lambiek.net/artists/r/romero_eb.htm Enrique Badia Romero] on [[Lambiek]] Comiclopedia
* {{comicbookdb|type=creator|id=15086|title=Enrique Romero}}
 
{{ACArt|country=ES}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Badia Romero, Enrique}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2024 deaths]]
[[Category:Spanish comics artists]]
[[Category:Spanish comic strip cartoonists]]
[[Category:Spanish fantasy artists]]
[[Category:Artists from Barcelona]]
[[Category:20th-century Spanish artists]]