Welcome back to the World Comics segment where history and trends from comics around the world come up. Today we’ll be focusing on the art styles that inspired a couple of artists around the world. While the native name of Fumetto suggests that these stories are little more than a pass time; Italian Comics (Fumetti) possess a lot of creativity that comes and goes. Unfortunately, Disney set one of its roots with corporate world domination in this field.
I’d rather not retread familiar ground so let’s get the basics out. The comics started out as satire in magazines with the most famous being Corriere dei Piccoli. By the end of their lifetime were losing to the likes of imports and the digital market.
The Mixed Origins of Fumetti
But… unlike their contemporaries fumetti were also educational for the kids, sometimes they even make fun of education. However anyone worth their history knows Italy became a fascist regime in the aftermath of World War I. Comics at that time became more of a propaganda tool; characters like Dick Fulmine having subtle callbacks to dictator Benito Mussolini. Foreign material was blocked off; ironically most of their popular brands are inspired by American media like Flash Gordon and cowboys. Except for Disney characters like Micky Mouse because Mussolini’s kids were such big fans.
Stella Nascente
By the time World War II was over, the propaganda had to go. During this time more magazines, genres, and characters arise, the most famous are adventurers like Dylan Dog and especially westerns like Tex. Along with these characters were small booklets that people could carry around easier. It made going to work or play easier for readers.
Alternatively there were Fotoromanzo or Photo Comics, which use real photographs and actors to play a story. For whatever reason foreign readers say these comics are Fumetti. Man English speakers need to know more Italian. Not that it’s stopped Darths and Droids from using a similar format for some crazy situations.
Revisioned Riviste
Throughout the decades comics started to become more sophisticated in terms of subject of study. An adult-focus magazine named after Charlie Brown character Linus headlines this new approach. The new culture began to grow with the start of the International Comic Fair. The artwork is also more expressive and emotional with the comics of Hugo Pratt like Corto Maltese. Pratt inspired other artists to make their own comics like Sergio Toppi. By that point, the adventure genres started to repeat just with better artwork.
Fumetti Neri
But one of the most influential comics of this time is Diabolik, a ruthless anti-heroic thief and assassin who inspires anti-conformist ideas. The series is essentially rebelling against norms in both the comics and the real world. Like did you know this character was created by the sisters Angela and Luciana Giussani in the 60s? During a time when Italian women faced unwaged labor. This inspired a few other characters like Kriminal and Satanik and the subgenre of fumetti neri, the black comics. Apparently the only requirement is having the letter K in their name.
They became so popular yet so engrossed in their anarchist themes; that there were real life public campaigns against fumetti to the point of trials. So the fumetti had to tone down the sex and violence all the while dancing around the sensors. Well not really, they actually introduced smarter teenagers to erotic content. The erotic content even opens up more doors with things like Valentina paving the way for a lot of erotic comics.
Diverting to the Divertente
But controversy can only stay around for so long. Humor made a come back when parodies of fumetti neri like Cattivik came up; but the most famous one is the Donald Duck feature called Papernik (a.k.a. The Duck Avenger). The series was so popular the Duck Avenger went stateside and cements Donald’s place in the comics. Other humor works made use of satire like Sturmtruppen. WWII actually becomes funny and Alan Ford‘s innovative yet humorous approach to the spy genre is something undefined by genre standards.
Relazioni Estere
Italy also had a very unique relationship with Argentina. A few artists had been housed there to escape from yet another fascist regime. This included collaborators of Corto Maltese and the Eternaut publishing. A partnership with the magazines Lanciostory and Skorpio who manages to compete with the wet blanket of Linus due in part to their saucy content.
Disney Invasion on Fumetti
Unfortunately with TV on the rise, new ideas had to come on. Some comics quite literally went onto the small screen for a time. But then Marvel Comics entered the game thanks to publication rights. Only the most famous stories of Italy’s past stuck around afterwards. Once again Disney began dominating with more American characters like Popeye and Tom and Jerry coming in too.
By the eighties Italy did just about everything to keep its content afloat. A lot of companies began making deals out of the country for more partnerships including the Franco-Belgians. By this point only Italy’s comic company of Sergio Bonelli Editore managed to keep their content going; all thanks to Dylan Dog and Martin Mystere. A lot of the other magazine and newspaper publishers were starting to go bankrupt because of this though. Even Marvel’s content ended up jumping to publishers like Spider-Man thwiping to another building. At least until Marvel set up Marvel Italia even taking the Disney comic rights. Kind of ironic of what happened 20 years later.
Business Wars
The Bonelli content was still going strong in the 90s; with the only threat being horror comics being considered harmful to minors. But Dylan Dog was too popular to stop. Superheroes also make a comeback to the point of parody came in Rat-Man. Other magazines like Kappa Magazine are dedicated to publishing manga; Akira and Fist of the North Star took the country by storm. Marvel by this point acquires Panini, firmly establishing itself and Disney into Italy yet again. All the while they keep layers of merchandise between all of its licenses and original content. Unfortunately, the magazine market just couldn’t keep up and had to change gears.
One Last Pushback for Fumetti
Graphic novels soon became the norm. Publishers like Coconino Press take up root and expands horizons to the bookstores across the globe. Marvel followed suit with the Panini Comics brand establishing itself as the de facto publisher alongside Bonelli. Loads of content from Marvel and Disney dominate the country including the series W.I.T.C.H. which has a TV adaptation locally and overseas. The digital market also heats up with content published on this online format.
Other companies such as BAO Publishing rose up during the turn of the new decade. The quality of the comics in the graphic novels have caught the attention of many. A partnership with Europe Comics and a few other publishers also allow classic Italian comics to come to people overseas. Now the only thing to do is get the word out and appeal to broad audiences; not just with the internet but the world at large. Otherwise Disney will take over the comic world one country at a time.