Rolf Gohs

Rolf Gohs

Biographical information
Born:	October 26, 1933
Died:	August 23, 2020
Nationality:	Swedish
Occupation:	Cover Artist, Artist
Website:	N/A
*Best Fantomen* cover 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1983, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2006 Best Fantomet cover 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2004, 2012 Best Mustanaamio cover** 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992

Rolf Ernst Gohs (October 26, 1933 – August 23, 2020) was a Swedish comics artist and illustrator.

Biography

Gohs was born in Estonia and grew up in Poland during World War II. Eventually, Gohs and his family came to Sweden when he was 13 years old. In Sweden, he discovered comics and soon decided to become a comics artist. At the age of 16 he got a job as studio artist for the Swedish publisher Centerförlaget.

His chance to become a comics artist came when the Italian comic strip "Amok" (known as "Kilroy" in Sweden, a blatant Phantom-ripoff) was cancelled in Italy. The strip had become a huge success in Sweden and the Swedish publishers decided to produce new episodes, and Rolf Gohs was selected as the artist. This also led to opportunities to create a few comics of his own.

In 1957, Gohs began his career as cover artist for Fantomen. He continued this career until 2012 and produced over 900 covers for Fantomen and other publications. His covers have been reprinted all over the world, making him one of the most published Phantom artists.

In the 1960's, Gohs drew two Phantom stories, one of which he wrote the script for as well. He also made some additional art for Italian Fratelli Spada stories that were published in Fantomen at the time. But besides those few exceptions he has produced no comic stories featuring the Phantom.

In 1969, Gohs co-founded the publishing house Inter Art, to publish his own comic strip "Mystiska 2:an". Inter Art soon went bankrupt, but "Mystiska 2:an" was picked up by other publishers and Gohs has produced new stories sporadically until 1985. Several episodes were published as back-up stories in Fantomen.

Inspired by the legends of the Children's Crusade of the 13th Century, Gohs created the comic "Dom Oskyldiga" ("The Innocent"), which was published as a back-up comic in Fantomen 21-23/2002.

Besides Phantom covers, Gohs created covers for dozens of comic books in Sweden, thereby creating art featuring several of the world's most popular comic characters.