Skorpio #99 (1984), story page 2 by Arias

La Última Misión del Barón Rojo" ("The Last Mission of the Red Baron"). Cover date March 1984.

Arias's depiction of a World War I aviation battle and warplanes is excellent. Angles on the pilot in panels 1 and 4 focus our attention on the Red Baron himself. I was struck by the texture of the smoke trails of the plummeting planes.

Victor Hugo Arias was an Argentine war and adventure comic artist who began his career in 1955. A year later he created his first series, "Polo Aster," for Argentina's comic magazine Poncho Negro. He also worked for Argentine comic magazines such as Hora Cero Extra, Frontera Extra, and Colección Batallas Inolvidables (Unavoidable Battles Collection).

The decline in Argentina's comic book industry led Arias to leave for Europe where he remained for more than a decade. He lived in Milan and London and worked for publishers in England (Fleetway, D.C. Thompson), Italy (Corriere dei Piccoli), and Spain (Turai of Barcelona).

He returned to his home country in 1974 to write and draw war stories such as "A Cross of Iron," "Bitter Bread," and "Mercy for Their Souls" as well as adventure series for Ediciones Record. His stories appeared in Skorpio Plus and Tit-Bits and were reprinted in Skorpio and Lanciostory in Italy. He continued to work in the industry into the 1990s. His last comics work included the 2008 Italian publication of the four-part series "Trapalanda" that he wrote and drew based on Patagonia's mythical city of the same name.

Sources: Agencia de noticias de la CTA Autónoma de la Provincia de Córdoba, Lambiek Comiclopedia, Tebesfera, Wikipedia, Comicvine