Dino Battaglia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dino Battaglia (August 1, 1923 - October 4, 1983) was an Italian comic artist.
[edit] Biography
Born in Venice, Battaglia first entered the comic book profession in 1946 working for the Italian magazine Asso di Picche, where he drew some pages of the Junglemen series. Here he met other Venetian artists, among them Hugo Pratt and Alberto Ongaro.
When Asso di Picche folded in 1948, the Venetian Group (as they became known) moved to Argentina to work for Italian publisher Cesar Civita. Battaglia remained in Italy, but he drew the pirate strip Capitan Caribe, written by Ongaro and published in Hector Oesterheld's Frontera, and other strips such as Cowboy Kid for Salgari magazine.
In 1950 Battaglia moved to Milan, where he worked for Mondadori's Pecos Bill and for Il Vittorioso. Between 1952 and 1953 he created Mark Fury, a pugilistic strip set in Edwardian England for L'Intrepido.
In 1959 he started a collaboration with English publisher Fleetway through Milan-based Roy D'Ami studio, producing several short stories for Top Spot, Knockout Comic, Thriller Picture Library and Look and Learn.
Starting in 1960 Battaglia produced a series of adaptations of fairy tales and classic novels for Il Corriere dei Piccoli and Il Corriere dei Ragazzi. In 1965 he drew I Cinque della Selena, a science fiction series written by Mino Milani.
In 1967 Sgt. Kirk magazine published the adaptation of Moby Dick, a work that marked Battaglia's artistic maturity: his drawings achieved the unique, distinctive style that will characterize all his later productions. From now on, Battaglia focused on adaptations rather than on original series: he was particularly interested in classic novelists like Poe, Lovecraft, Stevenson, Maupassant and Hoffmann. He illustrated several of these writers' gothic short stories for Linus magazine, earning the title of Master of Darkness.
During the 1970s Battaglia produced a series of religious works for Il Messaggero dei Ragazzi and Il Giornalino, including the biographies of Antonio da Padova and Frate Francesco, as well as adaptation of classic satires like Till Eulenspiegel (1975) and Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel (1979)
In late 1970s he began working for publisher Bonelli, producing L’Uomo della Legione and L'Uomo del New England for the series Un uomo un'avventura.
In 1982 he created his only original character: Inspector Coke of Scotland Yard, who faces strange cases in stories set at the beginning of the century. The adventures were interrupted by Battaglia's unexpected death in 1983.
Since 1950, Battaglia's wife Laura De Vescovi cooperated with him writing the scenarios and coloring his stories. Several comic book critics have written books a thesis on Battaglia, and his original artworks have been the subject of many expositions. Because of his preference for adaptations, Battaglia has never reached the notoriety of some of his contemporaries, but the dedication and professionality of Dino have earned him the greatest admiration and respect of comic book connoisseurs.
