If you’re a collector of trading cards, comic books, novels, movie posters, et al, you’ll probably run into the name “Boris Vallejo” at some point. Moreover, you’ll probably run into it as a selling point, a reason why you should give this comic or poster some extra attention. So who the heck is he? Let Back to the Past tell ya!
The Beginnings of Boris: Paperback Cover King
Vallejo’s cover for the paperback reprint of “The Mountain Monster”.
Boris Vallejo is a legendary painter whose work has been enjoyed stateside since he emigrated here from Peru way back in 1964. But his work isn’t in the “fine art” category, no siree. Vallejo’s work has, since the beginning, existed firmly in the sci-fi and fantasy space. Well-muscled barbarians, strange alien cities, scantily clad damsels in distress, these have been Boris’ bread and butter for sixty years.
The publishing industry moved away from monthly pulp magazines in the 50s and towards colorful paperbacks in the 60s. What once would have been featured in a novel-length magazine was now a standalone book. Moreover, many of those older pulp magazine stories were being reprinted in this “new” format. All these books needed covers, eye-catching pin-up poster images that could sell the story at a glance.
Enter Boris Vallejo and his contemporaries! Their paintings were often more interesting than the book they were attached to! Boris stood out both for his talent and for the franchises he worked on: he provided covers for reprints of stories starring Doc Savage, Conan The Barbarian, Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, and more. This brought his art to the attention of well-established fan communities that welcomed him with open arms.
Comic Magazine Legend
Boris Vallejo’s painted poster for National Lampoon’s Vacation.
Although the Comics Code Authority had loosened up a lot by the 1970s, it was still very restrictive on standard comic books. One way around that was to publish magazines that happened to have comic stories in them. Those publications were not governed by CCA and therefore could get away with sex, violence, and horror at levels unimaginable on spinner racks.
Boris Vallejo would work extensively as a cover artist for these magazines in the 70s. At Marvel, he drew covers for The Savage Sword of Conan, Vampire Tales, Tales of Zombie, and more. Warren Publications put him to work on their flagship horror titles Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella. His most frequent employer in this field was the legendary sci-fi anthology Heavy Metal, who carried his artwork both on the cover and inside its pages as pin-ups.
Another of Boris’ magazine employers was National Lampoon. The generation-defining humor mag made excellent use of Vallejo’s artwork throughout their run, both as cover and pin-up artist. That work led to their most famous collaboration: the iconic, faux-heroic movie poster for National Lampoon’s Vacation.
Trading Card Icon
Wolverine #102.5, featuring cover by Boris Vallejo based on his Marvel Comics trading card work.
The 1990s saw an explosion in the market for collectible trading cards. Boris Vallejo, joined by his wife Julie Bell, proved to be a perfect artist for this new market. First, he’d been producing fan-favorite work in the correct aspect ration for around thirty years. Second, he was very experienced in producing beautiful new artwork in a short period of time. Classic Vallejo art was reprinted in various trading card ranges, including several whose only theme was him. New Vallejo artwork was commissioned for cards based on The X-Men, Vampirella, Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, DC, Marvel Vs. DC, WildC.A.T.s, Lady Death, and more!
One notable card set was X-Men Fleer Ultra: Wolverine, in which Boris & Julie painted cards 28-36 (of 100). Each card of this series had a single comic panel printed on the back, creating a full story when collected in full. Fleer released the story as a mail-away one-shot, numbered Wolverine #102.5, complete with a new cover by Boris Vallejo. Wizard magazine offered a limited edition of the comic signed by Vallejo, complete with certificate of authenticity. One such copy comes to auction on March 30, 2024!
Boris Vallejo: A Legend in his Own Time
Boris Vallejo is still alive at 84 years old as of this writing, He and his wife Julie still take corporate and private commissions through their website to this day. You can actually see Boris & Julie posing with a 2015 private commission entitled Superman vs Darkseid: When Titans Clash 2.0. The pair’s work is held in the highest esteem by comic, sci-fi, and fantasy art lovers the world over.
If you’ve got a collection of variant covers, art prints, original comic book or animation art, et al, we’d like to help you sell it! Drop us a line today to get that process started. Follow us on social media @b2pcollect to keep up with everything we get up to!
