Xtina Happy B’day Roberto Magnus Raviola

Xtina Happy B’day Roberto Magnus Raviola 

Se c’è un principe della sagoma nera nella storia dei fumetti, se c’è un campione della sintesi di linguaggio iconico a strisce, se c’è un maestro capace di fondere insieme la brutale essenzialità del bianco nero con la poesia evocativa del racconto, se c’è, o meglio c’era, un disegnatore siffatto allora non può che chiamarsi Roberto Raviola, detto Magnus. I vecchi disegnatori che l’hanno conosciuto e che gli sono stati contemporanei, ma soprattutto che hanno interagito con la sua intensa vita produttiva ci raccontano quale è stata la logica genesi di un liguaggio artistico, di una grammatica che ha fatto anche proseliti, praticamente la fretta. La necessità produttiva, il tempo sempre più stretto spesso ha portato molti stanchi disegnatori a cedere buona parte della propria capacità, sacrificando la qualità e avvicinandoli molto al rischio del graffito, cioè del segno che va oltre lo sporco, che si perde nel mare della mancanza di senso. Per un raffinato artista come Magnus le maglie strette di tale necessità non lo hanno sconfitto ma sono state pretesto per la virtù di un salto di qualità espressivo. Siamo nel periodo arcaico ma il termine non appaia come una diminutio rispetto al più popolare e ufficialmente riconosciuto magnus classico, rispetto al quale ritroviamo la piena maturità del controllo della forma plastica e privo della successiva espansione manieristica. 

Il percorso di eliminazione del superfluo, sia attraverso l’abilità del taglio e della zoomata sul focus dinamico della scena, sia con la sistematizzazione espressiva dei dati naturalistici e perfino anatomici ( una per tutte la geniale semplificazione dell’allineamento falangeo), ha trovato il felice traguardo stilemico nel l’invenzione della “sagoma magnusiana”. E’ stilema e dato di linguaggio perché non rientra nella casualità contingenziale dei controluce e degli abbagli ambientali ma archetipo di struttura narrativa.

Magnus,  Roberto Raviola (31 May 1939 – 5 February 1996, Italy)   

Roberto Raviola, best known as Magnus, was a non-conformist comics author, who is best known for his “fumetti neri” (comics noir). After working as an illustrator for a while, he started his comic career in 1964. He used the pseudonym Magnus, self-ironically derived from the Latin expression ‘Magnus Pictor Fecit’ (“A Great Painter Did It”). He teamed up with writer Luciano Secchi (Max Bunker), with whom he launched successful series like ‘Kriminal’ (1964-71), ‘Satanik’ (1964-70), ‘Dennis Cobb Agente Secrete SSO 18’ (1965-67) and ‘Alan Ford’ (1969-75, 1986) and ‘Gesebel’ (1966), published in pocket comics by Corno. The duo Magnus-Bunker aditionally pruduced ‘Maxmagnus’ for Eureka magazine between 1968 and 1970.

In 1975, Magnus started the series ‘Lo Sconosciuto’, which was published in magazines like Strisce e Musica and Orient-Express. In 1977 he published ‘La Compagnia della Forca’, a midieval fantasy saga with Giovanni Romanini. Afterwards, he started the long saga ‘I Briganti’, based on a Chinese novel. He additionally created ‘Milady 3000’ in 1980 and returned to the pocket genre with the grotesque and excessive pornographic comic ‘Necron’.

Magnus’s work has also been introduced in France through the magazines Métal Hurlant and L’Écho des Savanes and publishers like Albin Michel and Magic Strip. In L’Écho des Savanes, he began the erotic graphic novel ‘Les 110 Pilules’, which was previously published in Totem in Italy (‘Le 110 Pillole’) and then continued by Georges Pichard. In 1988, Magnus did art and story of ‘Le Femmine Incantate’, inspired by/taken from chinese novels for Dolce Vita.

Born today Giorgio Cambiotti

Born today Giorgio Cambiotti

Giorgio Cambiotti (30 May 1931 – 31 January 2004, Italy) was one of the pioneers of Italian erotic comics. He worked at the Studio Rosi from 1968. There, he drew several episodes of ‘Kriminal’, ‘Messalina’, and ‘Reno Kid’. He best known as the creator of ‘Jacula’, the heroine vampire and main character of around 100 adventures from 1969 to 1982. The comic also reached a French and German audience.

Cambiotti also drew stories for the German (‘Perry Rhodan’), British (‘Artiglio D’Acciaio’) and the US (‘Twilight Zone’, ‘Star Trek’, stories for Starstream) markets. In the 1970s, he drew ‘La Donna di Satana’ and ‘Yasmine’, and cooperated with the publishing house Spada, where he drew several stories with ‘Mandrake’ and ‘The Phantom’ in 1972. He then started contributing to Ediperiodici, Eura Editoriale, and Casa Editrice Universo.

courtesy lambiek.net

Drabble comic strip in Italy becomes Famiglia Belbelli

Drabble comic strip in Italy becomes Famiglia Belbelli

Published weekly in La Settimana Enigmistica 

Kevin Fagan ( 22 June 1956, USA) is the creator of the semi-autobiographical comic strip, ‘Drabble’. He has been working as a syndicated cartoonist through United Feature Syndicate since 1979, when he was 22 years old. His ‘Drabble’ strips are largely based on the author’s college days as a history major at California State University, Sacramento. They have gained large popularity and have been collected in several books. ‘Drabble’ greeting cards have been published by Recycled Paper Greetings and earned an nomination from the National Cartoonists Society for best greeting cards. Fagan and his family reside in Mission Viejo in southern California.

Adam Graphic Novel

Adam Graphic Novel only on outisfumetti.com

Adam

How does a scriptwriter react to the misadventures he has always only imagined?
In this episode the story tells about the animated adventure of Adam, an American author of comics and an expatriate in Cuba, and of his unintentional implication in an episode of the revolution of Fidel Castro.

Giovanni G.L. Bonelli interview

Giovanni G.L. Bonelli interview

Quando feci una intervista a G.L. Bonelli e poi mi portò al mio primo ristorante cinese.

Domanda: Perché tra le tante ciofeche non si ristampa questo volume del grande Jorge Moliteni?

Jorge Luis Moliterni (1933 – 18 April 1979, Argentina)  began his career in advertisement, but started working in comics full time from 1957. His early work, that included episodes of ‘Lord Crack’, appeared in periodicals like Hora Cero and Frontera. He alternated with several other artists on Hugo Pratt’s ‘Ernie Pike’ and ‘Sargento Kirk’ series. He drew the ‘Watami’ series with scripts by Hector German Oesterheld in Misterix from 1962.

In the mid-1960s, Moliterni began working for international publishers and agencies, such as the Fleetway in Britain and the Charlton Comics in the USA(as George Moliterni). His UK work was mainly related to World War II subjects, including contributions to the War and Battle picture libraries, and episodes of ‘Codename: Warlord’ to Warlord, but also stories for girls’ magazines. In the Italian magazine Il Corriere dei Regazzi, he produced the adventures of Davy Crockett’s son ‘Bob Crockett’ from 1972. Shortly before his death, Moliterni drew ‘Los Profesionales’ for Ediciones Record. Jorge Moliterni died in 1979.

Michel Piccoli plays in De Luca’s comic story

Michel Piccoli plays in De Luca’s comic story

Michel Piccoli in Il segreto dell’isola episode of il commissario Spada. Published on Il Giornalino 1984

Jacques Daniel Michel Piccoli (27 December 1925 – 12 May 2020) was a French actor, producer and film director with a career spanning 70 years. He was lauded as one of the greatest French character actors of his generation who played a wide variety of roles and worked with many acclaimed directors.

Piccoli was born in Paris to a musical family; his French mother was a pianist and his Swiss father was a violinist. He appeared in many different roles, from seducer to cop to gangster to Pope, in more than 170 movies. He appeared in six films directed by Luis Buñuel including Belle de Jour (1967) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), but also appeared as Brigitte Bardot’s husband in Jean-Luc Godards Contempt (1963) and as the main antagonist in Alfred Hitchcocks Topaz (1969). He also appeared in many films by Claude Sautet, sometimes co-starring in them with Romy Schneider.

In the 1990s, Piccoli also worked as a director on three films. One of his last leading roles was his portrayal of a depressed, newly elected pope in Nanni Moretti’s We Have a Pope (2011).

Piccoli was part of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés circle in the 1950s, which included Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. He was a member of the French Communist Party in this era. A life-long left-winger, he objected to repression in the Soviet bloc, and supported the Solidarity trade union in Poland.

Piccoli married three times, first to Éléonore Hirt, then for eleven years to the singer Juliette Gréco and finally to Ludivine Clerc. He had one daughter from his first marriage, Anne-Cordélia. He also had two adopted children with Ludivine Clerc. Piccoli died from complications of a stroke on 12 May 2020, aged 94.

Gianni De Luca (25 January 1927 – 6 June 1991, Italy) 

Gianni De Luca was born in Gagliato, but he was raised in Rome from the age of 6. He provided the illustrations for an edition of Hector Malot’s novel ‘Sans Famille’ in 1945, and enrolled at the Faculty of Architecture in 1947. He gave up his studies after about two years to spend all his time on drawing comics. His first published story was ‘Il guercio sconfitto’ in Tam-Tam volume 2 by SEMCI in March 1946. He then published the comic books ‘Anac il distruttore’ and ‘La meravigliosa invenzione’ in the ‘Albi Roma’ series of the publishing house A.V.E. in 1946. In that same year, he made is first appearance in A.V.E.’s magazine Il Vittorioso with header designs. He made his actual debut in this weekly’s pages in 1947 with the serial ‘Il Mago Da Vinci’. This was followed by stories with the characters ‘Ted’ and ‘Jim Brady’, as well as the feature ‘Battaglia ai ciuffi bianchi’ with Alberto Malfatti for the younger readers.

In 1948-1949, he made illustrations for Jacovitti’s series of school diaries ‘Diario Vitt’, that were also published by A.V.E. He subsequently made fantasy serials like ‘I naufraghi del Mc. Person’, ‘Prora vichinga’, ‘L’impero del sole’, ‘La sfinge nera’ and ‘Il tempio delle genti’, that show influences of Hal Foster and Alex Raymond. He revamped his style for the 1951 story ‘Gli ultimi della Terra’ (‘The last on earth’), and returned to a more classical rendition for the historical stories ‘Il cantico dell’arco’ and ‘Le braccia di pietra’ (‘The Stone Arms’) in 1952.

He continued to contribute serials to Il Vittorioso until about 1957, including the thriller ‘Giallo alla 14ª strada’ (text by Mario Basari), in which he showcased his talent for drawing expressive characterizations of faces, and ‘Ragazzi di Ungheria’ (text by Lino Monchieri). Throughout his career, De Luca managed to apply the styles and techniques that befitted the stories he was assigned to draw.

By 1953, De Luca had also begun a long collaboration with Il Giornalino, the children’s magazine of Edizioni Paoline. His first story was ‘La leggenda della montagna’ (‘The legend of the mountain’), for which he used a photo-realistic technique based on light and dark. Between 1955 and 1959, he drew the feature ‘La più grande storia mai raccontata’ (‘The greatest story ever told’), that featured comic versions of Bible stories. This was followed between 1960 and 1968 by ‘I dodici in cammino’, a history of the Christian Church. During the 1960s, he was however mainly occupied with illustrating.

He returned to comics for a first time in 1967, with the melodramatic story ‘L’ultima Atlantide’, and then for good in 1969 with the western feature ‘Bob Jason’. Il Giornalino first published De Luca’s best-known serial from 1970. Together with writer Gian Luigi Gonano, he created the adventures of crime fighter ‘Il Commissario Spada’. The series was groundbreaking in many ways, since it introduced subjects like violence, organized crime, satanic sects, terrorists and murderers to the pages of a Catholic magazine for young readers, that was at the time mainly distributed in parishes. However, the duo continued the adventures of their hero until 1982.

Other notable work by De Luca is the Shakespearean cycle he made with Raul Traverso from 1975 to 1978. This includes faithful adaptations of plays like ‘The Tempest’, ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Romeo & Julia’. In the 1980s, he made ‘Il giornalino di Gian Burrasca’ with Claudio Nizzi, based on the novel of the same name by Vamba, and an adaptation of the Paulo Ferrarini novel ‘La Freccia Nera’ (1988).

He also embarked upon the ambitious saga ‘Paulus’ with Tommaso Mastrandrea, dealing with the Acts of the Apostles from a futuristic viewpoint. He additionally made comics biographies of Marilyn Monroe and the Italian comedian Totò. Gianni De Luca’s series ‘I Giorni Dell’Impero’, that was set in imperial Rome, was published posthumously, in its unfinished state.

Xtina by Monica comic strip Girl with a Pearl Earring

Xtina by Monica comic strip Girl with a Pearl Earring

Girl with a Pearl Earring (Dutch: Meisje met de parel) is an oil painting by Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer, dated c. 1665. Going by various names over the centuries, it became known by its present title towards the end of the 20th century after the large pearl earring worn by the girl portrayed there. The work has been in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague since 1902 and has been the subject of various literary treatments. In 2006, the Dutch public selected it as the most beautiful painting in the Netherlands.

The painting is a tronie, the Dutch 17th-century description of a ‘head’ that was not meant to be a portrait. It depicts a European girl wearing an exotic dress, an oriental turban, and an improbably large pearl earring. In 2014, Dutch astrophysicist Vincent Icke [nl] raised doubts about the material of the earring and argued that it looks more like polished tin than pearl on the grounds of the specular reflection, the pear shape and the large size of the earring.

The work is oil on canvas and is 44.5 cm (17.5 in) high and 39 cm (15 in) wide. It is signed “IVMeer” but not dated. It is estimated to have been painted around 1665.

After the most recent restoration of the painting in 1994, the subtle colour scheme and the intimacy of the girl’s gaze toward the viewer have been greatly enhanced. During the restoration, it was discovered that the dark background, today somewhat mottled, was originally a deep enamel-like green. This effect was produced by applying a thin transparent layer of paint—a glaze—over the black background seen now. However, the two organic pigments of the green glaze, indigo and weld, have faded.

Garibaldi biographic novel

Garibaldi biographic novel

Unpublished, 1982. 

Text: Manlio Bonati, Art: Manlio Truscia

Garibaldi, Giuseppe. – Patriota, generale e uomo politico (Nizza 1807 – Caprera 1882). Dopo aver aderito alla Giovine Italia e preso parte a moti insurrezionali in Italia, visse alcuni anni (1835-48) in America, combattendo per l’indipendenza in vari paesi. Rientrato in Italia, partecipò al governo provvisorio di Milano e, dopo la proclamazione della Repubblica romana, nonostante i dissidi nati con Mazzini circa l’atteggiamento da tenere nei confronti di Casa Savoia, ricevette l’incarico della difesa di Roma. Sconfitto dai francesi, fuggì nuovamente all’estero (1849). Al rientro in Italia (1854) si allontanò ulteriormente dalle idee di Mazzini, accondiscendendo a divenire sostenitore della monarchia sabauda finché questa dimostrasse di credere fermamente nella causa italiana e assumendo la guida dell’esercito sardo contro l’Austria (1858-59). Dopo l’annessione da parte del Piemonte di Lombardia, Emilia, Toscana e Romagna, G. riavviò il processo di unificazione d’Italia, che sembrava essersi bloccato nell’impossibilità di prendere Roma, con l’impresa dei Mille, che consentì di unire il Mezzogiorno al Piemonte (1860) e quindi di giungere alla costituzione del Regno d’Italia (1861). Per le sue imprese, nelle quali dimostrò di avere non solo rare doti militari ma anche indiscutibile acume politico, G. è considerato uno dei più grandi artefici del Risorgimento italiano.

Manlio Bonati
E’ nato nel 1952 a Parma città in cui, dopo aver conseguito gli studi classici, vive e lavora. E’ un appassionato bibliofilo e raccoglie dal 1976 testi storici – alcuni molto rari – con particolare riferimento alle imprese d’esplorazione di tutti i tempi (si occupa anche di Risorgimento, Colonialismo italiano e straniero, della prima e della seconda guerra mondiale, guerra civile americana, eccetera). Per quanto riguarda gli esploratori, predilige quelli africani e polari. Dal 1980 ha iniziato a scrivere articoli storici su riviste come Aurea Parma, Domus Mazziniana, Bollettino della Società Geografica Italiana, Miscellanea di storia delle esplorazioni, Il Polo, Almanacco Piemontese, Contatto, Il Laboratorio, Quatuor Coronati Emulation 931, Il Reduce d’Africa e Trekking (dal 1988 al 2002 è stato responsabile della rubrica mensile Esploratori). Nel 1991 ha curato a Parma una grande mostra dedicata a 50 esploratori italiani dell’Africa e dei Poli del XIX e XX secolo, poi replicata nel 1995 a Fermo nel Museo Polare e di nuovo a Parma nel 1998 per l’anniversario del Cral Comit. Ha scritto, con la moglie Alessandra, soggetti e sceneggiature di fumetti storici per Il giornalino (serie sulla guerra civile americana: Fra due bandiere e Nuove Frontiere; sul Risorgimento: Leo Battaglia) disegnati da Sergio Tarquinio e per Kronos. In gioventù ha inventato storie per Tarzan della casa editrice Cenisio di Milano, per Topolino di Mondadori, per Pony Express, eccetera. Dal 1970 ha pubblicato articoli sul genere su testate come Il fumetto, Comics, Comics World, Wow. Negli anni ’80 ha preparato ed introdotto alcuni libri di fantascienza a fumetti per l’Editrice Nord di Milano: Conan il barbaro e Ghita di Alizar. Suoi studi storici sono apparsi in vari volumi miscellanei, ma l’opera più importante è stata pubblicata nel 1997: Vittorio Bottego, un ambizioso eroe in Africa (Silva Editore di Parma), biografia del noto esploratore africano, suo concittadino. Nello stesso anno ha fatto parte del Comitato Scientifico di Parma per il Centenario della morte di Bottego, collaborando alla realizzazione del Convegno e alla relativa mostra Vittorio Bottego e le esplorazioni in Africa 1897-1997, infine all’omonimo catalogo, pubblicato nel 2003 da Monte Università Parma. Nel 2000 ha curato la riedizione del Viaggio nei Bogos dell’esploratore perugino Orazio Antinori, edito da Effe – Fabrizio Fabbri Editore di Perugia, mentre nel 2003 ha impostato ed introdotto il volume La presenza italiana in Africa 1870-1943, edito dal Comitato di Parma dell’Istituto per la Storia del Risorgimento Italiano (del quale fa parte), che ospita relazioni di Claudio Cerreti, Gino Scala e Francesco Surdich. Ha preparato le note e gli approfondimenti della prima edizione italiana del libro di Angelo Umiltà Les Italiens en Afrique, Svizzera, 1887, edita nel novembre del 2004: Gli italiani in Africa. Con appendici monografiche su esploratori e personaggi che calcarono il suolo africano dal 1800 al 1943 edizioni T&M Associati di Reggio Emilia (lussuoso volume, tirato in 200 copie numerate, nel quale l’amico Giorgio Barani ha eseguito la traduzione e realizzato l’impostazione editoriale). Il volume si è esaurito nel giro di tre mesi. Nel dicembre 2005 è uscito il primo volume, per Il Tucano Edizioni di Torino, di una nuova collana dedicata alle biografie di esploratori italiani dell’Ottocento. La collana Gli Esploratori è diretta da Manlio Bonati. I primi tre titoli sono: Vittorio Bottego. Coraggio e determinazione in Africa Orientale di Manlio Bonati del 2005, Umberto Cagni. Dal mare alle vette del mondo di Cesare Censi e Guido Boggiani. Orme nell’ignoto di Isabella Bonati previsti per il primo semestre 2006. Questi Autori si alterneranno con altri studiosi: Roberto Colla e Gino Scala.  E’ il corrispondente, con l’amico Barani, per gli esploratori italiani dell’Ottocento e del Novecento dello storico inglese Raymond John Howgego, autore della monumentale Encyclopedia of Exploration.   Collabora dal giugno 2004 al sito internet www.ilcornodafrica.it, mentre dal febbraio 2005 fa parte della Redazione, affiancando i redattori Nicola Di Paolo, Gian Carlo Stella e Alberto Vascon.  Dal Febbraio 2005 fa parte del Comitato di Parma per le celebrazioni del Bicentenario della nascita di Giuseppe Garibaldi. Nel maggio 2005 Bonati è stato nominato dal Comune di Parma componente della Commissione consultiva per la toponomastica.
 
Manlio Truscia’s first job was on the Italian western hero ‘Tex Willer’ in 1964 when, he worked for a short period with Erio Nicolò. During the 1970s and 1980s he did pencil drawings for ‘Kriminal’ and ‘Satanik’. He has drawn for the magazines Intrepido and Monello for Universo Publishers, and for Edifumetto and Ediperiodici. He then started his association with the weekly Adamo, published by Corno, where he worked on four different series contemporaneously, each with its own style. He also drew the character ‘Adam’, created in association with Giancarlo Malagutti. Since then he has become a visualizer and illustrator, working in advertising, educational publishing and adventure stories. He has designed covers for the Gialli Mondadori and Segretissimo book series.

Another great book by Alex Toth

Another great book by Alex Toth

Although his name may not be familiar to children of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s who grew up on Saturday morning cartoons, Alex Toth (1928-2006) was responsible for creating and designing many of the characters those children cherished. 

In 1947, Alex Toth began illustrating comic books for DC Comics. At the age of 19, he was tasked with penciling several of the company’s comic book series, such as Action Comics, Detective Comics, The House of Secrets, Green Lantern, All-American Western, and numerous others. 

However, Toth is best known for his animation work for Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. Beginning in 1965, he was responsible for inventing and designing many of their cartoon characters in addition to storyboarding their television episodes. Through sketches and model sheets, Toth conceived and shaped the look and feel of some of Hanna-Barbera’s most popular characters, including Space Ghost, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, the Super Friends, Thundarr the Barbarian, Captain Caveman, and many others. Working with Hanna-Barbera over the next two decades, Toth gave life to the heroes of a generation of television viewers.

Recognized for his contributions to the comics industry, Toth was inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990.

Rip Kirby the best comic strip start ever

Rip Kirby the best comic strip start ever

Rip Kirby is a 1946-1999 American comic strip created by Alex Raymond and Ward Greene featuring the adventures of private detective Rip Kirby. With a run spanning five decades, the strip was in the hands of writer/artist John Prentice for more than 40 years.

After World War II, Raymond did not return to work on any of his previous successful comic strips (Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim, Secret Agent X-9) but instead began work on a new strip in which ex-Marine Rip Kirby returns from World War II and goes to work as a private detective, sometimes accompanied by his girlfriend, fashion model Judith Lynne “Honey” Dorian. (Her given name and nickname were borrowed from the names of Raymond’s three daughters.)

Rip Kirby was based on the suggestion by King Features editor Ward Greene that Raymond try a “detective-type” strip. First published on March 4, 1946, the strip was given significant promotion by the syndicate, even including fully painted promotional art, a rarity in comic-strip promotions. The strip enjoyed success, and Raymond received the Reuben Award in 1949.

During Raymond’s years on the strip, the stories were initially written by Ward Greene and later, following Greene’s death, by Fred Dickenson. Some sequences were also written by Raymond. In 1956, Raymond was killed in a car crash. King Features quickly needed a replacement and found it in John Prentice. Dickenson continued to write the series until the mid-1980s when he was forced to retire for health reasons. Prentice then took over the writing along with others. Prentice kept the strip going until his own death in 1999. The strip ended with Rip’s retirement on June 26, 1999. Prentice received the National Cartoonists Society Story Comic Strip Award for 1966, 1967, and 1986 for his work on the strip.

Over the years of publication, the strip was ghosted and assisted by many artists and writers, including Frank Bolle (who completed the last episode), Al Williamson, and Gray Morrow.

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