Spaghetti Western Fumetti: Tex

While western comics went out of fashion in the late 1970s here in America, in Italy the genre is not only alive and healthy, but thriving. The top-selling western, and one of the most popular comics in Italy, is the long-running title, Tex. Ongoing since 1948, with current print runs in excess of 200,000 copies per issue, it lasted far longer than even the longest running American western titles, such as DC's Western Comics or Marvel's Kid Colt! At its peak it was selling 700,000 per month! There is actually nothing comparable to this giant in the western genre in the USA and I'm guessing anywhere else. Ironically, the characters in Tex present a far more accurate picture of the true diversity of the Wild West than American western comics ever did. We see Black, Mexican, American Indian, and white cowboys working together, as it was in the real history of the West, but not as most twentieth century media portrayed it. Moreover, these characters are presented respectfully, with some hint at the true depth and complexity of American Indian culture. Racism is not prominent in this Wild West, just as in the real West of America, when it was beyond the borders of the Union, and even up until Jim Crow began to bite, when Black people could start a new life relatively less encumbered by the oppression prevalent in the States.

And these are not small comics, in terms of pages. Not the more modern issues anyway. They're each as long as an American graphic novel! Tex was originally created by Giovanni Luigi Bonelli (writer) and Aurelio Galleppini (artist). I believe the editor, Sergio Bonelli, is quite a celebrity in Italy. Of the dozens of artists who have worked on the book during its 67 year history, only one appears to be American - the great Joe Kubert was the guest artist on Tex Special #15 (I'm getting my information from the Italian Wikipedia at this point!).

Tex Willer is a leader in the Navajo tribe, having married a Navajo woman, Lilyth. So Arizona of the 1880s is the main setting in the original comics, but over the years stories have taken place in surrounding areas such as New Mexico and Texas, and far further afield places like Alaska and Colombia.

Here's a couple of examples that I collected on recent trips to Venice. The first is one that I found in a second hand bookstore. It is a large, 240 page, Tex Annual #27 from 2012. Only the covers are in color, but the interior black and white art is exquisite. The cover and interior art of this one is by Fabio Civitelli, the story by Mauro Boselli. The title of the story literally seems to be "The Ride of the Dead," but it could be more like "The Trail of the Dead."

My Italian is practically non-existent, so I can only actually read the comic using Google Translate, a very slow and unsure process. Nevertheless, I've picked a couple of interesting looking pages (120 & 121) and tried to translate. Here goes:

Cowboy #1: Fire, hombres!

Tex: Vermin! They're shooting at us! On the ground, brother! Behind that rock!

Cowboy #1: We've got them!

Tiger Jack: There's six of them! We can't...

Tex: Those first shots were meant to kill, Tiger! Those could be Flores' cowboys!

Tiger Jack: Bah! In my opinion this is a waste of lead!

Cowboy #1: Lightning!

Tex: Stop! Or we'll start getting serious!

Cowboy #2: Madre de Dios!

Cowboy #1: They shoot like devils! What do we do, Ray?

Ray: There's not much we can do! We went in without thinking and now we're at their mercy! Let's hear what they have to say!

Tex: Are you the cowboys from "Agua Escondidas" ["Hidden Water"]?

Over the next few pages Tex and his blood brother, the Navajo Tiger Jack, appear to make friends with this group of initially hostile cowboys. I didn't try to translate these next example pages (144 & 145) but a lot can be inferred from the visuals:

That annual had magazine-size pages. The monthly issues of Tex, however, are Italian digest-size, a little bit larger than the American digest (e.g. the Archie digests). Here's an excerpt from Tex Monthly #639 from January, 2014. The title is "In the Slums of San Francisco." My translation here is probably worse than the one above, but hopefully gives some idea as to what is being said.

Some more of the main or support characters in the series are featured here. There's Tex's son, Kit Willer, and also Lefty Potrero, an ex-fighter who owns the Hercules Gymnasium in San Francisco (in the story).

Tiger Jack: For Manito! They're talking about a woman hostage! Who can she be? I have to go back to warn Kit and Donen! But not now! People are coming!

Strongman#1: Here's the place!

Lefty: A real den of rats!

Strongman#2: Don't wait to... [totally unsure what this means]

Lefty: Quiet boys! You have to use your brain here, not your muscles!

Strongman#2 Uh!

Lefty: If we're not careful, these particular rodents would scram under our noses... and I don't think in that case Tex would be very grateful.

Strongman#1 [Bingo]: But if we go in acting normal and look around?

Lefty: Mmm...

---------------------------------------------------------

Kit: That's Lefty Potrero and his strongmen from the Gym! What the hell are they doing? If they all go in there together they will arouse suspicion!

Donen: You can't tell them what to do, Kit. The success of the plan depends on whether you and I can always stay in the shadows!

Kit: And are your motives true, Donen? Thirst for adventure and desire for revenge? Or because you are ready to join the army of God?

Donen: Why did you agree to it if you doubt me so much, Kit?

Kit: My father trusts you... and then... you're not the only one who loves the thrill of the unexpected, amigo!

Lefty: Okay! You're right, Bingo! Enter in groups of two or three to avoid attracting too much attention... and keep your eyes peeled for those four in the description, guys!

Strongman#3: Okay, Lefty!

---------------------------------------------------------

Notice how the whispering on p.58 between Kit and Donen is indicated by word balloons with a hashed line!

Well, I hope you all found something interesting in this introduction to an Italian institution! For further introductory reading on Italian fumetti please check out the following Out Of This World blog posts:

On the Trail of Fumetti

Spaghetti Western Fumetti: Lanciostory A.5 #26 - "Come Coda di Volpe Divenne Bandito"

Out Of This World leaves you with a selection of Tex covers from the 1960s and 70s. Enjoy!

Tex #69

Tex #91

Tex #99

Tex #103

Tex #104

Tex #107

Tex #108

Tex #151

On the Trail of Fumetti

On a recent visit to Venice, one of the things I investigated was the availability of fumetti (comics). In the USA we can usually no longer find comics on newsstands, but that's not the case in Italy. There are actual newsstands dotted all over the place in Venice. They sell all sorts of stuff, some leaning more heavily towards trinkets and souvenirs than others, but quite a few (not all) carry a small selection of Italian comics.

At this one (above) on the Grand Canal, opposite the Ferrovia (railway station), comics weren't much in evidence, but there were a couple of Lanciostory and Skorpio issues tucked in among all the magazines - if you were wanting comics you would find them.

This newsstand (below) on a back street canal did have a little shelf full of comics, but it was round the side, where the steps over the bridge are in the picture.

The best place I found for new comics, though, was the newsagents at the railway station (Ferrovia). No shortage of sequential art here!

In among this wide assortment of fumetti you can see the March 2014 issue of Indistruttibile Hulk, along with more Italian fare, like Tex, the classic spaghetti western, as well as the latest issues of Lanciostory and Skorpio. The latter looked a good deal to me, packaged as it was with a free issue dedicated to the character Dago, all for less than 3 Euros. My only disappointment was that there just don't seem to be any romance titles. Back at the hotel I eagerly unpacked my Skorpio and savored the artwork - my Italian is too abysmal for me to actually read the comic without putting it all into Google Translate!

For back issues, I came across a second hand bookstore, located on the Calle dell'Olio, No 2423. You don't see anything but books and bric-a-brac when you arrive there, but just ask the owner (the guy in the striped sweater) and he'll produce a few piles of comics for you to sort through. I looked at Lanciostory, Skorpio, and Tex, and bought a couple of Tex for 1 Euro each and two Skorpio for 50 cents each. Not bad.

A closer look at the March 20th 2014 edition of Skorpio (it's weekly!!!) that I bought in the train station reveals that it contains no less than 118 pages not counting the covers, and most of those pages are comics (very few ads, and then only ads for comics). On top of this there's a 12 page Dago insert, plus the bonus 98-page black and white Dago comic! The pages of Skorpio are smooth, reasonably good quality paper. Part of the comic is in color, the rest black and white. There are 10 different ongoing series in the one comic, representing a wide variety of genres.

Inside, the first story is Amanda (featured on the cover above), written by Robin Wood and drawn by Alfredo Falugi. I learned elsewhere that this is an Argentinian comic, and that it has been going since 1995! Also from what I read elsewhere, the story is told from a female perspective. It's Good Girl Art (GGA), and reminds me a bit of Image's Danger Girl without so many guns.

There are a number of historical stories in this issue of Skorpio, with Dago by Robin Wood being one of those - looks like a 19th Century tale of love and war, with nice artwork reminiscent in places of the great Joe Kubert.

There's a police strip featuring football (soccer), a sci-fi, and one about Brooklyn firefighters. And there's a couple of good old Spaghetti Westerns! Il Grande Freddo is written by Andrea Mantelli and Paolo Ongaro, and drawn by Ongaro - very atmospheric:

Another Western, Blueberry, is one I saw complete books of at the train station. Nice color comic by Francois Corteggiani and Michel Blanc-Dumont:

These comics are in many ways very different from what we have in the USA. Multi-genre in one book. Mixture of b&w and color. Lots of pages. Cheap! Skorpio is definitely aimed at an adult audience. Clearly the Italians still like reading westerns whereas in the States that's a thing of the past. Italian comics seem to have more global content. If only I could read Italian!