Rafael López Espí is a Spanish comic artist and illustrator who worked for Spanish publishing group Ediciones Vértice, which published Spanish translations of popular Marvel comics. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, he created new covers for Spanish versions of the comics, including multiple issues of Avengers, Captain America, Colonel Fury (the retitled Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD), Defender Dan (the retitled Daredevil), Doctor Strange, Thor, and X-Patrol (the retitled X-Men).

López Espí was born in 1937 in Barcelona, Spain, and his career began in 1953 at Simbolo publishing house where he drew war stories. Elsewhere, his work appeared in comics like La Atlántida and Los Tambores del Bruc, and newspapers like La Prensa.

His next move was to join Josep Toutain’s agency where he worked on comics for the color section of La Prensa. From there, he drew romance comics for Glamour magazine, then worked on Western comic strips. In the 1960s he worked with Bardon Art and Luis Ferraz on the Don Starr series, and Western comics that included Riffle, Billy McGregor, and Rex Raven, plus war and romance stories for the British Fleetway publishing group.

López Espí did comics for Spanish publisher Toray, creating Western stories in the Historias del Oeste collection. Then he joined the publisher Vértice to create covers for 3-09 Agente Secreto, Mytek, and other comic series. He left comics for years, then returned in the early ‘90s to join the Swedish agency Dalger Press. There, he created the girls comic Conny, which ran in the magazine Min Häst, which was then reprinted in the German publication, Bastei Verlag.

Several pieces of López Espí’s Marvel art are featured in the current Hake’s premier auction. The recreations now open for bidding include the covers of Iron Man Vol. 2 #11, Ghost Rider Vol. 2 #35, Werewolf by Night Vol. 2 #9, Power-Man Vol. 1 #14, Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos Vol. 2 #30, Nova #31, Marvel Two-In-One Vol. 2 #100, Ms. Marvel #8, and Spider-Woman #11. The hand-painted art, which was published in 1975-1979, is on thick artboard that measures around 10” x 13-3/4” to 10” x 14-1/2”. In addition to the covers, Hake’s is also selling a Spider-Man illustration on heavy paper stock.

Hake’s Auction #237 is running on hakes.com through March 21-22, 2023.