Drawn and Dangerous

Contents

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pp. v-

Preface

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pp. vii-viii

My first encounter with the comics discussed in this book occurred many years ago. It was 1978, I was ten years old. I walked past a newsstand, Among the dizzying mass of publications on display—newspapers, political weeklies, fashion and sports magazines, paperbacks, and even encyclopedias...

Introduction

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pp. 3-9

In October 1977 the magazine Alter, at that time the most prestigious publication of adult comics in Italy, featured a fourteen-page story by Filippo Scòzzari titled “Un buon impiego” (A Good Position). Set in a not-too-distant future in and around the Italian city of Bologna, “Un buon impiego” told the story...

1. Italian Adult Comics Before '77

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pp. 11-38

The Italian comics of the late ’70s and ’80s belong to a particular niche of the medium of sequential art we identify here as “adult comics.” The term “adult,” rather than referring exclusively to content (although content represents an important discriminating factor) or to an aesthetic and arbitrary cultural evaluation, is employed here simply in reference to the ...

2. The Emergence of the Second Generation of Adult Comics in Its Political Context

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pp. 39-77

The radical rewriting of codes the new adult comics were to enact on their medium—the intense dialogue between the high and low end of the cultural spectrum, their tendency towards intertextuality as well as cultural horizontality—are all tightly linked to the climate of social...

3.The Authors

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pp. 87-132

Pazienza is without doubt the most renowned among the authors of the new Italian comics. Barely in his 20s, Pazienza had already been published in the era’s most important comic magazines including Cannibale, Il Male,Frigidaire, Linus, Alter, Corto Maltese, and Comic Art. Unfortunately, as is often the case with artists, Pazienza’s widest audience...

Conclusions

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pp. 133-136

As the ’80s drew to a close, so did the Italian adult comics movement. This change was paralleled throughout the industry, particularly in France, but to a lesser degree in the American market. In addition to the premature departure of two of its leading figures, Tamburini and Pazienza, one contributing factor to the Italian...

Notes

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pp. 137-143

Bibliography

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pp. 145-147

Index

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pp. 149-150