Spanish Matador Back in the Ring

Spanish matador Jose Tomas is seen fighting a bull in this Nov. 30, 2001 file photo taken in Quito, Ecuador. The Spanish bullfighter who mesmerized aficionados with an icy, death-defying style, only to vanish from the ring at the peak of his career without saying why, is dusting off his cape and sword for a closely watched comeback. "Living without bullfighting is not living," matador Jose Tomas says of his big upcoming bout on Sunday June 17, 2007 in Barcelona. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa) (Dolores Ochoa - AP)

The Barcelona daily La Vanguardia ran a three-page spread on the return of Tomas, whose full name is Jose Tomas Roman Martin, with one section featuring comments from everything from poets to philosophers _ all of them bullfighting buffs.

"Jose Tomas is an excellent poet, and like any great poet or great artist he has a voice that is unique," wrote poet Pere Gimferrer.

The newspaper's regular bullfighting critic, Paco March, recalled a now-legendary fight in July 2002 in which Tomas won one of the profession's highest honors _ being rewarded both ears and the tail of the animal he had just killed in a masterful performance.

"There rang out an 'Ole!' that still echoes in my ears. It was not a dream. I heard it and I now remember it," March wrote.

Success in bullfighting is a question of having a unique style, a personal flair that breaks the mold that usually makes one matador virtually indistinguishable from the next. And in this Tomas excels, added veteran critic Juan Belmonte of Canal Sur television in Seville.

Tomas gets up very close to the bull _ both before luring it into a charge and as its rumbles by _ and looks relaxed and natural in his bravado, showing utter disregard for all the danger, Belmonte said.

"You realize that the guy out there gives the impression that he does not care if he dies right then," Belmonte said.

But he cautioned that bullfighting buffs have short memories and will be very demanding of Tomas as he embarks on this second stage of his career.