Heavy Metal would like to wish a Happy Birthday to Luis Royo. Fantasy artist Luis Royo was born May 20, 1954 in Otalla, Teruel, Spain. That's 71 years ago!!

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Royo's first comic stories were printed in the late 1970s; According to an archived article from PolcBoltOnline they first appeared in various comic fanzines.

Royo 'took off' quickly and eventually he was doing paperback cover art for book publishers such as Tor Books, Avon, Bantam Books and others.

The first comic story of Royo's to appear in Heavy Metal was "O'Clock" - a 3-page story printed in the November 1981 issue.

Of course, Luis Royo is definitely well-known for his front covers for Heavy Metal; His first cover to HM would be featured on the October 1983 issue.

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Let's take a look at a couple of Royo's paperback covers:

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Of course, many of you may be more interested in Royo's Heavy Metal covers. This IS, after all, a post from Heavy Metal's website after all; You're already here!

So, that being stated:

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Finally, let's close out this Royo birthday-tribute article with a message for the artist himself: Luis Royo. Thanks for all the years of amazing illustration! And wishing a happy 71st birthday to you Luis Royo, from all of us here at Heavy Metal mag!

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