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'Italian comics' are comics made in Italy. They are locally know as ''Fumetto'', although this latter term is often used in English to describe a specific comic genre (see Fumetti). The most popular Italian comics have been translated into many languages. The term ''fumetto'' (literally ''little puff of smoke'') refers to the balloon that contains the dialogs. As such, it is a more appropriate nomenclature than the American ''comics'' which implies funny stories, and precisely pinpoints what makes comics such a unique art form: the seamless integration of images and words.
Unlike American comics that were born as daily strips in newspapers, Italian ''fumetto'' has its roots in periodicals aimed at younger readers and in the satirical publications of the 19th century. These magazines published cartoons and illustrations for educational and propagandistic purposes.
The first illustrated satirical publication appears in 1848: it's a daily paper named ''L'Arlecchino'' published in Naples. Other noteworthy examples of satirical papers of the period include ''Lo Spirito Folletto'' published in Milan, Turin's ''Il Fischietto'' and ''Il Fanfulla'', that is established in Rome in 1872.
As far as publications for kids, some of the most significant titles of the period are ''Il Giornale per i Fanciulli'' (1834), ''Il Giovinetto Italiano'' (1849), and ''Il Giornale dei Bambini'' (1881).
In 1899 ''Il Novellino'' debuts: the paper will be the first to publish Outcault's ''Yellow Kid'' in Italy in 1904. But the first Italian comic will not appear until four years later.
In December 27, 1908 Italian newsstands saw the first issue of ''Il Corriere dei Piccoli'', the first mainstream publication primarily dedicated to comics. The first issue introduced readers to the adventures of Bilbolbul, a little black kid drawn by Attilio Mussino that is considered the first Italian comic character. Despite being officially considered the birthplace of ''fumetto,'' the ''Corrierino,'' as it is nicknamed, doesn't use balloons in the stories that it publishes, opting instead for captions in verse. Regardless, the sequential narration and the returning characters make the publication rightfully the first Italian comic magazine.
''Il Corrierino'' introduced American comics to the Italian audience; however, it was edited to replace balloons with captions. Following its spectacular success (it will reach 700.000 copies), several other periodicals appeared during the following years: ''Il Giornaletto'' (1910), ''Donnina'' (1914), ''L'Intrepido'' (1920) and ''Piccolo mondo'' (1924).
The fascist regime was quick to recognize the potential for propaganda through the new medium. During the '20s several periodicals published educational comics for Italian youth, including ''Il Giornale dei Balilla'' (1923) and ''La piccola italiana'' (1927).
Beginning January 1, 1939 the publication of foreign comics was forbidden, and the Italian material was required to follow a strict standard, exalting heroism, patriotism and the superiority of the Italian race. To work around these restrictions, some publishers simply renamed American heroes with Italian names. The only exception to the censorship was ''Topolino'', the Italian name for Mickey Mouse, published by Nerbini starting in December 31, 1931. Apparently, the reason behind this special treatment for Walt Disney's character was Mussolini's children passion for the little mouse.
In 1932 Milan publisher Lotario Vecchi started ''Jumbo'', a weekly magazine that many consider the first true Italian comics publication. The magazine reached a circulation of 350.000 copies, sanctioning comics as a mainstream medium with broad appeal. In 1935 Nerbini sold ''Topolino'' to Mondadori, which published it with great success until 1988.
In 1937 ''Il Vittorioso'' appeared, a Catholic magazine entirely composed of Italian comics. It was an attempt to compete with similar secular publications like ''L'Avventuroso'' (1934), ''Il Monello'' (1933) and ''L'Audace'' (1937).
The end of World War II marks a flur of activity in the Italian comic press: many titles that were forced to suspend publication during the war come back to saturate the newsstands, joined by new publications often backed by improvised publishers looking for a quick buck. The end result of this oversupply of comic material is a crisis of the traditional comic magazine.
Some of the many publications of the period are ''L'Avventura'' (1944), a Roman magazine that presented American adventure strips like Mandrake, L'Uomo Mascherato (The Phantom), Flash Gordon.
Another Roman publication appears in 1945: ''Robinson'', a first attempt to target a more adult audience. It introduces several American characters like Prince Valiant, Tarzan, Secret Agent X-9, Rip Kirby, Li'l Abner and Dick Tracy.
''Robinson'' lasts until 1947, publishing 90 issues.
1945 is also the year one of the most original magazines of the period is born: ''L' asso di Picche'' published in Venice as a result of the work of a group of young venetian artists including Alberto Ongaro, Damiano Damiani, Dino Battaglia, Rinaldo D'Ami and above all Hugo Pratt. Their distinctive approach to the art form earns them the name of ''venetian school'' of comics. Among the characters created for the magazine are Pratt's L'Asso di Picche, Battaglia's Junglemen, Draky and Robin Hood.
Inspired by the success of the Catholic ''Il Vittorioso'', the Italian communist party decides to exploit the comic medium for their own propaganda: in 1949 ''Il Pioniere'' is born. Aimed to a very young audience, the new publication presents fantasy material as well as adventures, with an eye to the social issues of the period.
In 1954 ''Il Disco Volante'' starts publications. It is the Italian version of British weekly ''Eagle'', and introduces Dan Dare to the Italian public. In 1955 appears ''Tintin'', adapted from the French ''Le Journal de Tintin'', which first presents Franco-Belgian comics to the Italian public.
But the most significant phenomenon of the period is the appearance of comics books. Printed in a variety of formats, from strip size to booklets to giant size, they presented collected stories from the periodicals as well as new adventures of Italian characters. It is on the comic books pages that heroes ''made in Italy'' gained popularity, eventually overshadowing their American counterparts.
Among the crowd of Italian characters that are born during these years, ''Tex Willer'' is without doubt the most renowned.
Born on September 30, 1948, from the imagination of Gian Luigi Bonelli and from the pencil of Aurelio Galleppini, Tex Willer will become the model for a line of publications centered around the popular comic book format that becomes known as ''Bonelliano'', from the name of the publisher. These comic books present complete stories in 100+ black and white pages in a pocket book format. The subject matter is always adventure, whether western, horror, mystery or science fiction. The ''bonelliani'' are to these days the most popular form of comics in the country.
Some of the characters that follow Tex Willer's s are Zagor (1961), a tomahawk wielding hero who protects the imaginary Darkwood forest in eastern US, Il Comandante Mark (1966), a soldier in the American independence war, and more recently Mister No (1975), an American pilot who operates a small tourist flying agency in the Amazonian jungle and Martin Mystère (1982), an anthropologist/archaeologist/art historian who investigates all kinds of paranormal phenomena and archaeological mysteries.
Another popular character is the famous criminal master Diabolik, which is published since the 1960s. It gave birth to several epigonous, including Kriminal and Satanik. The latter where created in the 1960s by one of the most famous duos of comics history, Magnus & Bunker, whose most outstanding creation was however the humorous espionage series Alan Ford (1969).
Another famous author of humouristic strips is Franco Bonvicini, whose Sturmtruppen met a wide success abroad.
Though read by a more restricted audience, in the past years the comic characters which met the greatest critical praises are Corto Maltese, by Hugo Pratt, and Valentina by Guido Crepax. While the former is a kind of ''summa'' of the evolution into an adult form of the classic adventure comics, the latter gave birth to that special kind of erotic comics quite typical of the Italian scene, and whose main pupils are today Milo Manara and Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri.
★ Giancarlo Alessandrini
★ Dino Battaglia
★ Giancarlo Berardi
★ Gian Luigi Bonelli
★ Franco Bonvicini
★ Luciano Bottaro
★ Bruno Bozzetto
★ Max Bunker
★ Guido Buzzelli
★ Silvio Cadelo
★ Renzo Calegari
★ Alfredo Castelli
★ Claudio Castellini
★ Giorgio Cavazzano
★ Guido Crepax
★ Gianni De Luca
★ Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri
★ Aurelio Galleppini
★ Vittorio Giardino
★ Dario Guzzon
★ Benito Jacovitti
★ Tanino Liberatore
★ Magnus
★ Milo Manara
★ Lorenzo Mattotti
★ Attilio Micheluzzi
★ Ivo Milazzo
★ Walter Molino
★ Leonardo Ortolani
★ Andrea Pazienza
★ Hugo Pratt
★ Massimo Rotundo
★ Pietro Sartoris
★ Franco Saudelli
★ Romano Scarpa
★ Tiziano Sclavi
★ Giovanni Sinchetto
★ Ferdinando Tacconi
★ Stefano Tamburini
★ Sergio Toppi
★ Silvia Ziche
★ ''Alan Ford'' by Max Bunker and Magnus
★ ''Cattivik'' by Bonvi (later Guido Silvestri)
★ ''Click'' ("Il Gioco") by Milo Manara
★ ''Cocco Bill'' by Benito Jacovitti,
★ ''Corto Maltese'' by Hugo Pratt
★ ''Diabolik'' by Angela and Luciana Giussani
★ ''Djustine'' by Enrico Teodorani
★ ''Druuna'' by Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri
★ ''Dylan Dog'' by Tiziano Sclavi
★ ''Fort Wheeling'' by Hugo Pratt
★ ''Giuseppe Bergman'' by Milo Manara
★ ''Jesuit Joe'' by Hugo Pratt
★ ''Ken Parker'' by Giancarlo Berardi and Ivo Milazzo
★ ''Lazarus Ledd''
★ ''Lupo Alberto'' by Silver
★ ''Martin Mystère'' by Alfredo Castelli
★ ''Maxmagnus'' by Max Bunker and Magnus
★ ''Mister No'' by Sergio Bonelli
★ ''Morgan'' by Hugo Pratt
★ ''Nathan Never''
★ ''Paperinik'' by Guido Martina and Giovan Battista Carpi
★ ''Rat-Man'' by Leo Ortolani
★ ''RanXerox'' by Tanino Liberatore and Stefano Tamburini
★ ''Satanik'' by Max Bunker and Magnus
★ ''Sergeant Kirk'' by Hugo Pratt
★ ''Sturmtruppen'' by Bonvi
★ ''Tex Willer'' by Gian Luigi Bonelli
★ ''Valentina'' by Guido Crepax
★ ''Zagor'' by Sergio Bonelli
★ For a non-exhaustive list of Italian authors, see List of comic creators
★ For a non-exhaustive list of Italian comic books, see List of comic books
★ afNews: daily news and all kind of information about fumetti and comic art. Press agency by Gianfranco Goria
★ uBC Fumetti: main Italian site about fumetti, with translations in English and other languages
| Contents |
| History |
| The birth of Italian Comics |
| Fumetto during Fascism |
| After WWII: Bonelli and the Rise of the Comic Book |
| Famous authors |
| Famous comics |
| Links |
| External links |
History
Unlike American comics that were born as daily strips in newspapers, Italian ''fumetto'' has its roots in periodicals aimed at younger readers and in the satirical publications of the 19th century. These magazines published cartoons and illustrations for educational and propagandistic purposes.
The first illustrated satirical publication appears in 1848: it's a daily paper named ''L'Arlecchino'' published in Naples. Other noteworthy examples of satirical papers of the period include ''Lo Spirito Folletto'' published in Milan, Turin's ''Il Fischietto'' and ''Il Fanfulla'', that is established in Rome in 1872.
As far as publications for kids, some of the most significant titles of the period are ''Il Giornale per i Fanciulli'' (1834), ''Il Giovinetto Italiano'' (1849), and ''Il Giornale dei Bambini'' (1881).
In 1899 ''Il Novellino'' debuts: the paper will be the first to publish Outcault's ''Yellow Kid'' in Italy in 1904. But the first Italian comic will not appear until four years later.
The birth of Italian Comics
In December 27, 1908 Italian newsstands saw the first issue of ''Il Corriere dei Piccoli'', the first mainstream publication primarily dedicated to comics. The first issue introduced readers to the adventures of Bilbolbul, a little black kid drawn by Attilio Mussino that is considered the first Italian comic character. Despite being officially considered the birthplace of ''fumetto,'' the ''Corrierino,'' as it is nicknamed, doesn't use balloons in the stories that it publishes, opting instead for captions in verse. Regardless, the sequential narration and the returning characters make the publication rightfully the first Italian comic magazine.
''Il Corrierino'' introduced American comics to the Italian audience; however, it was edited to replace balloons with captions. Following its spectacular success (it will reach 700.000 copies), several other periodicals appeared during the following years: ''Il Giornaletto'' (1910), ''Donnina'' (1914), ''L'Intrepido'' (1920) and ''Piccolo mondo'' (1924).
Fumetto during Fascism
The fascist regime was quick to recognize the potential for propaganda through the new medium. During the '20s several periodicals published educational comics for Italian youth, including ''Il Giornale dei Balilla'' (1923) and ''La piccola italiana'' (1927).
Beginning January 1, 1939 the publication of foreign comics was forbidden, and the Italian material was required to follow a strict standard, exalting heroism, patriotism and the superiority of the Italian race. To work around these restrictions, some publishers simply renamed American heroes with Italian names. The only exception to the censorship was ''Topolino'', the Italian name for Mickey Mouse, published by Nerbini starting in December 31, 1931. Apparently, the reason behind this special treatment for Walt Disney's character was Mussolini's children passion for the little mouse.
In 1932 Milan publisher Lotario Vecchi started ''Jumbo'', a weekly magazine that many consider the first true Italian comics publication. The magazine reached a circulation of 350.000 copies, sanctioning comics as a mainstream medium with broad appeal. In 1935 Nerbini sold ''Topolino'' to Mondadori, which published it with great success until 1988.
In 1937 ''Il Vittorioso'' appeared, a Catholic magazine entirely composed of Italian comics. It was an attempt to compete with similar secular publications like ''L'Avventuroso'' (1934), ''Il Monello'' (1933) and ''L'Audace'' (1937).
After WWII: Bonelli and the Rise of the Comic Book
The end of World War II marks a flur of activity in the Italian comic press: many titles that were forced to suspend publication during the war come back to saturate the newsstands, joined by new publications often backed by improvised publishers looking for a quick buck. The end result of this oversupply of comic material is a crisis of the traditional comic magazine.
Some of the many publications of the period are ''L'Avventura'' (1944), a Roman magazine that presented American adventure strips like Mandrake, L'Uomo Mascherato (The Phantom), Flash Gordon.
Another Roman publication appears in 1945: ''Robinson'', a first attempt to target a more adult audience. It introduces several American characters like Prince Valiant, Tarzan, Secret Agent X-9, Rip Kirby, Li'l Abner and Dick Tracy.
''Robinson'' lasts until 1947, publishing 90 issues.
1945 is also the year one of the most original magazines of the period is born: ''L' asso di Picche'' published in Venice as a result of the work of a group of young venetian artists including Alberto Ongaro, Damiano Damiani, Dino Battaglia, Rinaldo D'Ami and above all Hugo Pratt. Their distinctive approach to the art form earns them the name of ''venetian school'' of comics. Among the characters created for the magazine are Pratt's L'Asso di Picche, Battaglia's Junglemen, Draky and Robin Hood.
Inspired by the success of the Catholic ''Il Vittorioso'', the Italian communist party decides to exploit the comic medium for their own propaganda: in 1949 ''Il Pioniere'' is born. Aimed to a very young audience, the new publication presents fantasy material as well as adventures, with an eye to the social issues of the period.
In 1954 ''Il Disco Volante'' starts publications. It is the Italian version of British weekly ''Eagle'', and introduces Dan Dare to the Italian public. In 1955 appears ''Tintin'', adapted from the French ''Le Journal de Tintin'', which first presents Franco-Belgian comics to the Italian public.
But the most significant phenomenon of the period is the appearance of comics books. Printed in a variety of formats, from strip size to booklets to giant size, they presented collected stories from the periodicals as well as new adventures of Italian characters. It is on the comic books pages that heroes ''made in Italy'' gained popularity, eventually overshadowing their American counterparts.
Among the crowd of Italian characters that are born during these years, ''Tex Willer'' is without doubt the most renowned.
Born on September 30, 1948, from the imagination of Gian Luigi Bonelli and from the pencil of Aurelio Galleppini, Tex Willer will become the model for a line of publications centered around the popular comic book format that becomes known as ''Bonelliano'', from the name of the publisher. These comic books present complete stories in 100+ black and white pages in a pocket book format. The subject matter is always adventure, whether western, horror, mystery or science fiction. The ''bonelliani'' are to these days the most popular form of comics in the country.
Some of the characters that follow Tex Willer's s are Zagor (1961), a tomahawk wielding hero who protects the imaginary Darkwood forest in eastern US, Il Comandante Mark (1966), a soldier in the American independence war, and more recently Mister No (1975), an American pilot who operates a small tourist flying agency in the Amazonian jungle and Martin Mystère (1982), an anthropologist/archaeologist/art historian who investigates all kinds of paranormal phenomena and archaeological mysteries.
Another popular character is the famous criminal master Diabolik, which is published since the 1960s. It gave birth to several epigonous, including Kriminal and Satanik. The latter where created in the 1960s by one of the most famous duos of comics history, Magnus & Bunker, whose most outstanding creation was however the humorous espionage series Alan Ford (1969).
Another famous author of humouristic strips is Franco Bonvicini, whose Sturmtruppen met a wide success abroad.
Though read by a more restricted audience, in the past years the comic characters which met the greatest critical praises are Corto Maltese, by Hugo Pratt, and Valentina by Guido Crepax. While the former is a kind of ''summa'' of the evolution into an adult form of the classic adventure comics, the latter gave birth to that special kind of erotic comics quite typical of the Italian scene, and whose main pupils are today Milo Manara and Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri.
Famous authors
★ Giancarlo Alessandrini
★ Dino Battaglia
★ Giancarlo Berardi
★ Gian Luigi Bonelli
★ Franco Bonvicini
★ Luciano Bottaro
★ Bruno Bozzetto
★ Max Bunker
★ Guido Buzzelli
★ Silvio Cadelo
★ Renzo Calegari
★ Alfredo Castelli
★ Claudio Castellini
★ Giorgio Cavazzano
★ Guido Crepax
★ Gianni De Luca
★ Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri
★ Aurelio Galleppini
★ Vittorio Giardino
★ Dario Guzzon
★ Benito Jacovitti
★ Tanino Liberatore
★ Magnus
★ Milo Manara
★ Lorenzo Mattotti
★ Attilio Micheluzzi
★ Ivo Milazzo
★ Walter Molino
★ Leonardo Ortolani
★ Andrea Pazienza
★ Hugo Pratt
★ Massimo Rotundo
★ Pietro Sartoris
★ Franco Saudelli
★ Romano Scarpa
★ Tiziano Sclavi
★ Giovanni Sinchetto
★ Ferdinando Tacconi
★ Stefano Tamburini
★ Sergio Toppi
★ Silvia Ziche
Famous comics
★ ''Alan Ford'' by Max Bunker and Magnus
★ ''Cattivik'' by Bonvi (later Guido Silvestri)
★ ''Click'' ("Il Gioco") by Milo Manara
★ ''Cocco Bill'' by Benito Jacovitti,
★ ''Corto Maltese'' by Hugo Pratt
★ ''Diabolik'' by Angela and Luciana Giussani
★ ''Djustine'' by Enrico Teodorani
★ ''Druuna'' by Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri
★ ''Dylan Dog'' by Tiziano Sclavi
★ ''Fort Wheeling'' by Hugo Pratt
★ ''Giuseppe Bergman'' by Milo Manara
★ ''Jesuit Joe'' by Hugo Pratt
★ ''Ken Parker'' by Giancarlo Berardi and Ivo Milazzo
★ ''Lazarus Ledd''
★ ''Lupo Alberto'' by Silver
★ ''Martin Mystère'' by Alfredo Castelli
★ ''Maxmagnus'' by Max Bunker and Magnus
★ ''Mister No'' by Sergio Bonelli
★ ''Morgan'' by Hugo Pratt
★ ''Nathan Never''
★ ''Paperinik'' by Guido Martina and Giovan Battista Carpi
★ ''Rat-Man'' by Leo Ortolani
★ ''RanXerox'' by Tanino Liberatore and Stefano Tamburini
★ ''Satanik'' by Max Bunker and Magnus
★ ''Sergeant Kirk'' by Hugo Pratt
★ ''Sturmtruppen'' by Bonvi
★ ''Tex Willer'' by Gian Luigi Bonelli
★ ''Valentina'' by Guido Crepax
★ ''Zagor'' by Sergio Bonelli
Links
★ For a non-exhaustive list of Italian authors, see List of comic creators
★ For a non-exhaustive list of Italian comic books, see List of comic books
External links
★ afNews: daily news and all kind of information about fumetti and comic art. Press agency by Gianfranco Goria
★ uBC Fumetti: main Italian site about fumetti, with translations in English and other languages
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psst.. try this: add to faves
