José Massaroli

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José María Massaroli (born in 1952) is an Argentine comic artist, born in the Ramallo Partido, Buenos Aires Province.

He moved to Buenos Aires when he was 18 years old, and studied drawing with Angel Borisoff, Narciso Bayón and Pablo Pereyra in the Institute IDA. In 1973 Manuel García Ferré opened the doors of the world of the comics to him, integrating him to the team at the magazines "Larguirucho" and "Hijitus". That same year his first comic, "The woman of the Past", was published in the magazine "Beyond the Terror". In 1974, he met Ángel A. Fernández, from whom he learned the technique of the realistic comic with a strong influence of expressionism, in the line of Milton Caniff, Frank Robbins and Hugo Pratt. During more than two years he pencilled numerous chapters of Dennis Martin, Haakon, Precinto 56, and versions of films among others, to be inked and signed by Fernández.

From 1975, Massaroli drew realistic comics for publishing houses like Columba, Haakon and Tres por la Ley, of Héctor Germán Oesterheld; Dennis Martin, of Robin Wood; Near Encounters, of Ricardo Ferrari, Carrick, of Ray Collins, Record, Universe of Italy and Thompson of Great Britain. He returned to humour in 1981, collaborating in Operation Ja Ja and Rico Tipo.

In 1982, the mythical Oscar Bevilacqua presented him in Caras y Caretas, on the verge of reappearing; there Massaroli create the "guapo" Orquídeo Maidana, a comic character inspired in a poem from Jorge Luis Borges, among other many collaborations. He wrote and drew "Juan Moreira" in realistic style for the newspaper "La Voz" in 1983; those were followed by biographies in comic strip form: Manuel Dorrego, Juan Facundo Quiroga, and Chacho Peñaloza. Finally he returned to recreate the daily adventures of Orquídeo Maidana, until the closing of the newspaper.

From 1985, and for more of ten years, Massaroli worked in Jaime Diaz Studios as a layoutman, participating in the animation of numerous series of TV (Aladdin, Timon and Pumba, Scooby Doo, The Smurfs, The Jetsons, Pink Panther); he drew comic strips of terror for the magazine "Gespenster Geschichten" of Germany; he published in magazines like Sex Humor, Fierro, Satiricón and Zone 84. He also illustrated The Punisher for Marvel Comics too.

From 1991 he drew comics in the "Disney style" for the United States and Europe as Tale Spin, Chip 'n Dale, Goof Troop, Bonkers, Darkwing Duck. He also made The Flintstones and numerous illustrations for books of the collection "Look and Find". In 1995, by means of Daniel Branca, he collaborated with the Egmont Publishing House of Denmark, drawing comics of Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, The Beagle Boys, Gyro Gearloose and others.

In 2006, he began to write the scripts of "Los Grutynos", a new comic strip, with illustrations of Ramón Gil, for the Noticias de la Costa newspaper, from Río Negro Province, Argentina.