fumetto lecture

Language and Comics: A primer on Fumetto

Seminar X

TODAY’S LESSON

A primer on Fumetto

GOALS

First, we discuss a panoramic view of Fumetto, from an historical perspective;Second, we discuss a case study: Corto Maltese;Third, we have a a look at a popular Italian web-comic, zerocalcare.

Language and Comics.A primer on Fumetto.

Fumetto is an italian word that roughly corresponds to 'baloon'.

The term is in part based on a metonymy: it is used to refer to all types of comic forms, insofar as they have baloons as a narrative tool.

N.B. A metonymy is a figure of speech, in which a part stands for the whole.


Fumetti (plural of fumetto) were born as a non-native literary form 105 years ago (1908), as they offered translations of US strips and comics.

The magazine Il corriere dei piccoli ('the children's courier') was the pioneer of this newborn genre.


The magazine presented translations of e.g. ”Little Nemo” (“Bubbi”, in Italian) and similar other comics.

By 1910, though, some italian authors started creating comics for the magazine, such as Quadratino ('little square') (Barbieri, 2009: ch.1).


Fumetti were designed as an educational tool for children. In fact, fumetti were born with two differences with respect to their U.S. counterparts.

First, there were no baloons in these translations: all the dialogues were written as captions to the panels.


Second, all dialogues were written in rhyme, to maintain a literary approach to the narrative aspect of fumetti.

Although for children, fumetti had to absolve a pedagogical function, as they often formed a first gateway to literacy, in the eyes of publishers (Favari, 1996: ch.2).


Consider the examples (1)-(2):

(1) (2)


Example (1) is a panel from the “Little Nemo”, while (2) is from Quadratino.

The main character, “Quadratino”, was a child with a square-shaped head. This was a reference to Cubism, then the latest emerging trend in painting.

The stories also involved simple puns based on elementary notions of geometry. Again, fumetti had to absolve a pedagogical function.


In the '20s, the first fumetti for adults appeared, in the guise of translations of US adventure comic strips.

One example is L'uomo mascherato ('the masked man'), the italian version of “Phantom”, in (3), but others include Mandrake or Flash Gordon:

(3)


One important factor was that, with the raise of Fascism during the '20s, chauvinistic policies on all cultural matters became the norm.

So, all fumetti characters had to be re-named with Italian-like names, although this decision was implemented in some bizarre ways.


In practice, Superman became Nembo Kid (nembo is 'nimbus'), Mandrake became... Mandrake, pronounced in Italian (IPA: /Man.dra'.kε/), for instance. The Italian version is shown in (5):

(5)


A particularly interesting case is that of Dysney comics. Topolino ('little mouse') was the Italian version of Disney's ”Mickey Mouse”.

In 1933, Disney's first publisher, Nerbini editore, handed the rights to Mondadori, one of Italy's leading publishing houses. Mondadori saw this as an occasion to enter a new and thriving literary market (Favari, 1996: ch.4).


Mondadori created the magazine Topolino, which began its long editorial story by featuring Italian artists on original stories (as in (7)), along classics such as Carl Barks' works (in (6)):

(6) (7)


Italian Dysney authors became extremely influential.

From the '70s onwards, the ”Italian school” became the main source of Dysney comics world-wide, as it produced roughly 50% of Dysney's global output (Raffaelli, 1997).


In recent times, were also experiments with adult-themed versions of Paperino ('little duck', i.e. Donald Duck) and Topolino: Paperinik New Adventures (in (8)), and Mickey Mouse Mistery Magazine (in (9)):

(8) (9)


PNAK is based on Paperinik, a super-hero alter-ego for Paperino, which was created in the '60s as a parody of superheroes (Raffaelli, 1997: ch.4).

MMMM was instead a modern version of Mickey Mouse's gritty, pulp-fiction stories of the '30s (the Gottfredson period: Raffaelli, 1997: ch.4).


Both were designed as fumetti that touched more mature themes than their ”standard” counterparts, and placed a greater emphasis on narration.

Importantly, this choice was based on other fumetti having developed a long tradition of narrative quality and thematics, since the '40s.


Starting from the aftermath of WWII, three main genres emerged over the 20th century (Barbieri, ch.3-4).

The first are adult-themed “action” comics, mostly by Bonelli Editore ('40s).

The second are fumetti d'autore, 'author-based comics', mostly centered on the graphic novel format ('60s).

The third included politically-themed satyrical strips and underground fumetti, often combined into one blend ('70s-'80s, '00s for fumetti web).


We briefly touch each style, before diving into Corto Maltese and zerocalcare.

Sergio Bonelli editore is a company that created several different types of adventure comics with a more “adult” tone. Three examples are Tex Willer, Martyn Mystére, and Nathan Never, respectively shown in (10)-(12):

(10) (11) (12)


Tex Willer is a character created in the early '50s, before the raise of Spaghetti Western. He was texas ranger who always sided with the weak (e.g. native americans, the poor) and against the corrupt (e.g. rail tycoons).

Martin Mystére (1981) is a CUNY professor in archaeology, who investigates mysteries such as Atlantis, Mu, aliens, while fighting the Men In Black.

Nathan Never (1992) is a melancholic private detective in a dystopian, cyber-punk megalopolis, Mega City Alpha.


Other Bonelli fumetti have been published, and enjoyed various degrees of success (e.g. Dylan Dog, Legs Weaver, Mr. No).

Their main feature is a blend of adult-oriented thematics, a culturally rich background as well as strong focus on characterization.


For instance, Martin Mystere's stories often use real historical events (e.g. the French revolution) to narrate complex tales of secret conspiracies.

Nathan Never includes themes such as the relation between man and machine, space colonization and excessive corporate power (cf. Ghost in the Shell, Gundam and Gibson's novels such as Neuromancer).

Both Martin and Nathan are characters in their mid-thirties, with a rich education and complex personalities.


As we will focus more in detail on Corto Maltese, we also briefly mention Valentina by Guido Crepax, and Max Fridman by Vittorio Giardino.

Both are fumetti d'autore, since they have two key features.

First, for each volume the authors cure every single aspect of the final work, including colouring for Giardino.

Second, each volume follows the graphic novel format, broadly defined.


Valentina involves the eponymous Valentia, a female photographer who often ends up in oniric, surreal and erotic situations (e.g. (13)):

Max Fridman involves another eponymous character, who is a swiss tobacco merchant, often involved as an ”active spectator” in historical events (14)):

(13) (14)


The third style of fumetti includes both satyrical and underground works, very often based on the fumetto d'autore principle.

We will discuss zerocalcare, so we briefly mention two classic authors: Bonvi (Franco Augusto Bonvicini) and Andrea Pazienza.


Bonvi created Sturmtruppen, a harsh satyre of war-mongering culture. Sturmtruppen was commissioned as a strip, by the newspaper Paese Sera.

The main characters were Wermacht troops during WWII (see (15)), who were often involved in completely absurd situations, and spoke in a ”hollywood nazi german”:

(15) (lit. ”blind und absoluten obiedence!”)


Sturmtruppen often took inspiration from classics of anti-militaristic literature (e.g. Wozieck, Catch 22, all quiet on the western front, if this is a man).

The strip also offered an often harsh commentary of modern society, as the insanity of military structure often was a mirror of the insanity of modern life (e.g. incompetent officers/managers, workers as cannon fodder).

On the lighter side, it inspired the design of the arcade video game Metal Slug (SNK, 1996).


Our other feature author is Andrea Pazienza. Andrea often produced strips and single-page comics, as political commentaries. One ongoing series of single-page featured the then president Sandro Pertini. Some examples are:

(16)


The story behind this strip was peculiar, to say the least. Sandro Pertini was an ex-partisan who fought against the nazi-fascists, and who became president in an incredibly difficult period for the republic (...as always).

A free spirit and a “pure” figure in Italian politics, all parodies involving him were quite gentle in nature. One example is (18):

(17)


The president regularly read political comics. He called Il male ('the evil'), the magazine that published Andrea's panels.

He wanted to congratulate Andrea and the staff for their free spirit and sense of constructive criticism.


The president invited all the artists for dinner but, alas, Pazienza was sick.

Nevertheless, the president indirectly ”blessed” the birth of Pertini, the adventures of Pazienza & Pertini as partisans in the war of liberation against the nazis and fascists. These fumetti often included actual comments from the president himself, usually taken from his speeches:

(18) (quote: ”per tutti viene il momento di lottare per la libertà!...” 'for everyone comes the moment to fight for freedom!...”)


At this point, though, we move to our works under analsysis: Corto Maltese and zerocalcare.


Corto Maltese is a character created by Hugo Pratt, a fumetti author who created several other “adventure” fumetti from the '60s to te 90s. The eponymous character, Corto Maltese, is a sailor turned pirate:

(20) (21)


Corto Maltese is, to an extent, an alter ego of the author. Corto is of british father and spanish gypsy mother, born in Malta and educated into sephardite culture.

He lives his adventures in the period 1910-1938, across all continents (including the legendary Mu), and meeting several historical figures, such as Stalin, Joseph Conrad, Jack London and several others.


In the first story, Una ballata del mare salato ('A ballad of the salted sea') Corto meets his ”nemesis”, Rasputin, who resembles the historical monk.

Rasputin (in (22)) turns out to be a collaborator and deuteragonist, rather than antagonist of Corto:

(22)


Both Corto and Rasputin are pirates with dubious moral guides, and both work for ”the monk”, a mysterious figure.

However, both show emotive bonds that develop over the series, which involved semi-regular volumes (quarterly frequency until 1977), between 1967 and 1988.


As it befits to a pirate, Corto Maltese often seems to act as a unscrupolous individual, with little moral concern for his actions.

However, he always sides with the weak and the oppressed, punctually revealing a gentle and honorable side, in the moments of need.


Also as it befits to a pirate, Corto Maltese's stories are set in fairly exotic locations, often in periods of tumultuous historical changes.

Una ballata del mare salato is set in Papua New Guinea, and involves a plot in which Corto and Rasputin try to steal coal from a Dutch ship, and sell it to the German troops involved in the region.


Furthermore, Hugo Pratt created Corto Maltese as a form of letteratura illlustrata ('illustrated literature') since its very first volume, una ballata del mare salato.

At times considered the first graphic novel ever, this work introduced in fumetti three features that connect “comics” to ”classical” literature (Brunoro, 1984).


First, each story is narrated against a fairly rich historical background.

Second, characters receive a rich, intricated psychological presentation.

Third, the narrative style is itself choral: Corto is often the main ”spectator” of the story, and even minor characters can play important roles.


We discuss these three elements by analyzing the first few pages of A ballad of the salted sea, the English translation of Corto's first adventure.


As we have seen, each of the three elements permeates the story.

First, the plot is firmly part of a wider, and very precise historical reconstruction of the period, which is amply illustrated too (e.g. the sulus).

Second, a few panels of dialogue and we already know that Corto and Rasputin are cynic, money-seeking pirates with a complex relation.

Third, all the characters appear with a certain “pace”, and Corto is only introduced by page 7. Nothing tells us that he is the main character, too.


The remainder of the novel builds on these elements, in a rich and elaborated narration.

We do not discuss the rest of the novel here, as we focus on zerocalcare, as an example of satyre in fumetti.


Zerocalcare is the nickname of Michele Rech, who was a relatively well-known illustrator and political/satyrical commentator.

In 2011, he launched his blog, zerocalcare.it, as a way to advertise his work on other projects.

He publishes, on average, one comic (8 pages) per fortnight. Some of his broke the 100k hits within the first two weeks of publication.


Although the first italian webcomic was by “Makkox”, zerocalcare introduces some standard aspects of webcomics in the fumetti world.

First, zerocalcare has a teaser page, and the user must open the rest of the fumetto via a link.

Second, zerocalcare is for the most part, autobiographic in nature, much like e.g. the korean Penguin loves Mev.


The main character, zerocalcare, is a somewhat caricatural version of Michele, always around with an imaginary armadillo (see (23)-(24)):

(23) (24)


Zerocalcare is not, however, a simple biographic comic.

First, the armadillo represents one of Calcare's personas: his introvert, very wary nature. It acts as a self-deprecating pun on the “hedgehog” complex that Michele/Calcare seems to have.

This persona coexists with several other personas, e.g. the “Margaret Tatcher” persona's, calcare stern working ethic. Calcare is a highly schizophrenic character.


Second, most of the stories involve a deeply post-modern “search of lost time”, as in Proust's classic.

The author often uses characters from anime, comics, cartoons, historical events as supporting characters in his narration, which often is reminisces about times past (really, the '80s and the Super Nintendo).


Important, in this regard, is his use of the roman dialect even to represent the dialogues of imaginary characters.

This is in line with a very long tradition of dialectal literature in Italy, that goes from the 19th century to Nobel Prize Dario Fo.


Third, calcare's musings often contrast the happy days of the hedonic, vapid days of the '80s, with the grim reality of modern Italy.

In this aspect, Michele/Calcare proposes his own vitriolic political commentary as a criticism again the world he must face, and attempts to avoid by drawing comics instead.


We look more in detail at calcare's adventures directly online:

http://www.zerocalcare.it/2013/01/21/la-fascia-oraria-delle-bermuda/#more-583

http://www.zerocalcare.it/2012/03/12/perch-non-possiamo-dirci-trentenni/#more-262

After discussing calcare, we sum up.

http://www.zerocalcare.it/2013/01/21/la-fascia-oraria-delle-bermuda/#more-583

http://www.zerocalcare.it/2012/03/12/perch-non-possiamo-dirci-trentenni/#more-262


SUMMARY

Fumetti were born in 1908, as more literary-oriented translations of US comics. Original fumetti were for children, and had a pedagogical aim.

By the '20s-'30s, US action comics for adults, and Dysney comics, found a market in Italy.


SUMMARY

The post-war period saw the birth of the three main “styles” in fumetti: adventure fumetti (Tex, Martin Mystere); fumetto d'autore (Corto Maltese, Valentina); political/underground comics (Strumtruppen, Pertini).

In modern times, the web fumetti phenomenon has become popular, with zerocalcare.


SUMMARY

Fumetti often take a literary stance. Plots often involve historically accurate backgrounds, detailed characters' psychologies and a choral narration.

Hugo Pratt's goal of creating letteratura illustrata is always a factor

Much more could be said (e.g. the influence of Manga on fumetti, and vice-versa), but that is another topic.

A bonus: http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail.nhn?titleId=169080

Language and Comics.A primer on Fumetto... and beyond.

A bonus: http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail.nhn?titleId=169080

This is a link to Penguin loves Mev, a korean web comic. Enjoy!

http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail.nhn?titleId=169080


REFERENCES

Barbieri, Daniele. (2009). Breve storia della letteratura a fumetti. Roma, Carocci.

Brunoro Gianni. (1984). Corto come un romanzo: illazioni su Corto Maltese, ultimo eroe romantico. Milano, Edizioni Dedalo.

Raffaelli Luigi. (1997). Il fumetto. Milano, Il Saggiatore.

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