"Voltar: A Visual-Splendor in the Tradition of the Masters"
Six black-and-white plates in an extra-illustrated, printed folder.
This is #421 of 1000 numbered copies, signed by the artist on the first plate.
Voltar was a comic book character created, written, and illustrated by Filipino illustrator Alfredo Alcala in 1963. Voltar was first published in the United States in 1977 in Magic Carpet #1. Alcala was probably best known for his inking on Marvel Comics' black & white magazine Savage Sword of Conan.
Limited edition portfolios were a phenomenon of the 1970s and 80s. They grew out of a greater appreciation of comic and fantasy artists. Middle-Earth lead the way publishing a 1973 portfolio of Frank Frazetta drawings that quickly sold out its 500-copy print run. It was followed by Barry Smith's Tupenny Conan Portfolio in 1974 and another Frazetta portfolio, The Lord of the Rings, in 1975. This lead to a decade of large format, limited edition portfolios: a suite of new illustrations created without restrictions or censorship, with better printing on better paper, reproduced in a large size, to fully appreciate the artwork.