Dino Battaglia

Dino Battaglia (Venice, 08.01.1923 – Milan, 10.04.1983) is one of the first great Masters of the Ninth Art in Italy and one of the most famous protagonists of “author’s comics” between the sixties and seventies. His art, after the first years in the world of popular publishing -with numerous adventures, westerns and war works- quickly landed in key magazines in post-war Italy, such as «Sgt.Kirk», «alteralter» (for which he creates his only serial character, Inspector Coke, of which he makes two stories – I delitti della fenice and La mummia – leaving the third unfinished) and then «Corto Maltese». Historical collaborator also of «Il Giornalino» (for which he will publish an adaptation of Gargantua and Pantagruel), and of «Messaggero dei Ragazzi», he produces an endless series of stories for «Il Corriere dei Piccoli» and «Corriere dei Ragazz» and «Linus», including the famous science fiction stories I cinque della Selena and I cinque su Marte.

A long-time friend, as well as an esteemed colleague, of Milanese Sergio Toppi, who has often cited him as one of his main sources of inspiration, and a recognized role model for famous contemporary designers such as the “Dylandoghians” Corrado Roi or Giovanni Freghieri, During his varied career, he dedicated himself with great passion, especially to comic adaptations of works of literature, including Moby Dick and some stories by Guy de Maupassant.

Over the years, its dark and funereal style and the grotesque and gothic atmospheres of its tables translate unforgettable sequences taken from the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft and Hoffmann.

His collaboration with Sergio Bonelli Editore, at that time Cepim, is also historic, within the series «Un uomo, un’avventura» with the stories L’Uomo della Legione e L’Uomo del New England. In 1975 he was the first Italian author to win an award at the Angoulême Festival, as “Best Foreign Designer”.

Giving body to indefinite and mysterious atmospheres, and evoking disturbing silences and dazzling lights with his punch – also thanks to the support of an unusual technique in comics such as the stamp – his creations continue to be modern and suggestive due to their elegant and disturbing expressive power.