Hector Garrido
(Sept. 29, 1927 - April 19, 2020)
3 Investigators Crimebusters
Cover Artist
Hector Garrido at home on February 13, 2010.
Hector's neighbor, T3I artist Ed Vebell, is seated next to him.
Photo courtesy of Hector Garrido and Dan Napolitano.
Hector Garrido circa mid-1980's.
Photo courtesy of Jim McNamara.
Hector Garrido painted the cover art for all eleven titles of The 3 Investigators Crimebusters series, 1989-1990, a spin-off of the original The Three Investigators series, 1964-1987. More information about the Crimebusters series, including scans of every cover, can be found HERE.
An excerpt from Garrido's bio follows:
"I am Argentinian by birth; I studied art in Buenos Aires. As a young artist I immigrated to the United States. I was professionally active here beginning in the 1950s. Beginning around 2000, I went into semi-retirement, painting devotional subjects. I am now retired.
I am best known to fans of GI Joe and for such book series such as The Three Investigators (I painted all the Crimebusters covers), Danny Dunn, the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, The Destroyer (Remo Williams), and the Baroness.
My original artwork for GI Joe was featured on the 1980s-era merchandise packaging. For book publishers, I painted the covers of numerous sci-fi, (gothic) romance, and thriller/horror books. Perhaps most notably in the horror genre, I painted the iconic covers for TM Wright's Strange Seed/Children series. I was also a Time Magazine cover artist, and my 1969 cover, "Astronauts" is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. For much of my career, I created collector plates for the Bradford Exchange. My plate "Our Lady of Lourdes" sold over 1 million copies."
Some of Garrido's original artwork remains for sale on his Flickr page, which is maintained by a friend, and 100 percent of the proceeds will go directly to his family.
Just for fun, I've included a photograph below of Mr. Garrido's only known surviving 3 Investigators Crimebusters painting paired up with an original T3I Harry Kane painting. Both paintings were formerly part of my T3I collection, both are now residing in a private collection. To the left, Harry Kane's original 1971 cover painting for #16 "Nervous Lion". To the right, Hector Garrido's original 1989 cover painting for 3 Investigators Crimebusters #1 "Hot Wheels". I thought the Kane paintings were large but was amazed to find that the Crimebusters painting was even larger, especially considering the small dimensions of the Crimebusters books!
