•
Rating: About forty years ago, specifically in 1972, Mondadori came up with the idea to create one of the most beautiful magazines ever to appear among the shelves daily filled in Italian newsstands: "Il Mago - The Magazine of Comics and Humor". Mario Spagnol, the first editor, gathered, for monthly publication, strips, cartoons, stories, and adventures that best illustrated the international comics scene. He divided them by author and printed them on a large newspaper (slightly larger than school notebooks) well-packaged, which would seriously challenge the then-exclusive dominance of Linus and Eureka.
After a few issues sold with significant public success, the "magical" magazine welcomed the famous tandem Fruttero&Lucentini (azz'). It would be the turning point that would give the wonderful collection its deserved prestige. Needless to say, the authors included in every issue were and are of indisputable caliber. Unfortunately, some have undeservedly fallen into oblivion, and some have been scarcely celebrated by posterity. There is always hope for a reevaluation that somehow grants them the aura they rightfully deserve.
In the "strips" section, the charming silent and non-silent cartoons of Quino, with a special regard for the famous Mafalda, the surreal adventures of Giuseppe or Giorgio Giorgio detto Giorgio by Jacovitti, the silent images of Ziggy, the naive puppet with the big spherical head by Tom Wilson, and those oscillating between the grotesque and the sadistic by Joachim Kupke, circulated. The giraffes of Mordillo without neglecting the sporty ones and those of the magician Wiz or B.C. the cheerful troglodytes of Parker & Hart. Does anyone remember the mischievous Bibì and Bibò by Harold Knerr? And Momma by Mell Lazarus? And the pharaoh Nilus by the good Franco Origone?
In the "stories" section, instead, many excellences that were strangely sidelined were gloriously brought back, just as many other unknown authors had the unrepeatable opportunity to timidly appear on those big pages and later be among the most valid comic artists globally. Consider our Vittorio Giardino with Sam Pezzo, the American detective with fully Italian settings, Daniele Panebarco with Big Sleeping and Massimo Cavezzali with the hilarious Soviet spy Ivan Timbrovic. The first adventures of Popeye and the forgotten Sappo drawn by Segar will be brushed up, the bizarre situations of Don Quixote and Pippo, Pertica and Palla by the great Jacovitti, Mio Mao by Pat Sullivan and the beautiful adaptations of the Myth of Cthulhu, or the transfiguration of Lovecraft's horror stories through the pencil of Alberto Breccia and Norberto Buscaglia. Then Asterix, Lucky Luke, and Crepax's Anita.
As always in Italy, beautiful things don't last long. After eight years of brilliant career, "Il Mago" is forced to pack up for an unworthy retirement. Production costs are high, and it becomes challenging to keep up with expenses for new publications. Thus dies a legendary collection of international comics, now practically unfindable. Personally, I owe it to my father for discovering this beautiful work. Fortunately, he keeps several copies that I have worn out from reading.
A nice dive into an almost-near past?
Loading comments slowly
