Italian comics

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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 artform: the seamless integration of images and words.

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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 see the first issue of Il Corriere dei Piccoli, the first mainstream publication that is primarily dedicated to comics. That very first issue presents to the readers 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 will introduce American comics to the Italian audience, albeit edited to replace balloons with captions. Following its spectacular success (it will reach 700.000 copies), several other periodicals appear during the following years: Il Giornaletto (1910), Donnina (1914), L'Intrepido (1920) and Piccolo mondo (1924).

The fascist regime is quick to recognize the potential for propaganda through the new medium. During the '20s several periodical that use comics to educate Italian youth are publised, including Il Giornale dei Balilla (1923) and La piccola italiana (1927). Since January 1, 1939 the publication of foreign comics is forbidden, and the Italian material is required to follow a strict standard, exalting heroism, patriotism and the superiority of the Italian race. To work around these restrictions, some publisers simply rename American heroes with Italian names. Only exception to the censorship is Topolino, the Italian name for Mickey Mouse, that is 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 gives birth to Jumbo, a weekly magazine that many consider the first true Italian comics publication. The magazine reaches a circulation of 350.000 copies, sanctioning comics as a mainstream medium with broad appeal. In 1935 Nerbini sells Topolino to Mondadori, which will publish it with great success until 1988. In 1937 appears Il Vittorioso, a Catholic magazine entirely composed of Italian comics, 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 artform 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 humouristic 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.

  • 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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