Bonvi, pen name of Franco Bonvicini (31 March 1941 – 10 December 1995) was an Italian comic book artist, creator of the comic strips ''
Sturmtruppen
''Sturmtruppen'' is a successful Italian series of anti-war comic books written and drawn by Bonvi, the artistic pseudonym of Franco Bonvicini. It started as four-frame comic strips back in 1968 and evolved into fully sized collector books by t ...
'' and ''
Nick Carter
Nick or Nicholas Carter may refer to:
Athletes
* Nick Carter (athlete) (1902–1997), track and field athlete from United States, who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics
* Nick Carter (baseball) (1879–1961), Major League Baseball pitcher for t ...
''.
Biography
Bonvicini was born either in
Parma or
Modena
Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...
, in the
Emilia Romagna region of Northern Italy. The correct site is unknown, as his mother registered him in both places to obtain twice the amount of war-rationing
food stamps
In the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal program that provides food-purchasing assistance for low- and no-income people. It is a federal aid program, ad ...
. The author hinted at this fact in one of his ''Sturmtruppen'' comic books, where he usually hid autobiographical notes inside the dark humour of the books.
After a brief experience in advertising work, he made his debut in the
comics
a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...
world in 1968 for the newspaper ''Paese Sera'' with his most famous strip ''
Sturmtruppen
''Sturmtruppen'' is a successful Italian series of anti-war comic books written and drawn by Bonvi, the artistic pseudonym of Franco Bonvicini. It started as four-frame comic strips back in 1968 and evolved into fully sized collector books by t ...
''. ''Sturmtruppen'' was later translated in numerous countries outside Italy. While politically
left-aligned and a
pacifist
Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
, Bonvi was fascinated by war, and had served in the tank corps in postwar Italy. He also had an encyclopedic knowledge of the
Wehrmacht's uniforms,
weapons and equipment, which he faithfully recreated in his cartoonish universe. Each weapon and vehicle appearing in the strip is real; uniforms are also faithfully depicted apart from some simplifications. ''Sturmtruppen'', however, was not only a satire of military life and
Nazism, but also a true, endless wellspring of comical and surreal situations.
Bonvicini was one of the first Italian cartoonists to use the horizontal format typical of United States' strips.
''Sturmtruppen'' strips were published periodically until Bonvi's death, with the exception of a pause in the 1970s, in which he left Italy for a long trip to
Africa. In 1967 he played Derek Flit, a parody of
Derek Flint
Derek Flint is a fictional world adventurer and master spy featured in a series of movies and comic books. Flint, a parody of James Bond and Doc Savage, is an agent for Z.O.W.I.E. (Zonal Organization World Intelligence Espionage).
Films
In 1965, ...
in ''
Come rubammo la bomba atomica
''Come rubammo la bomba atomica'' or ''How We Stole the Atomic Bomb'' is a 1967 Italian-Egyptian international co-production Eurospy comedy based on the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash. Filmed in Italy and Egypt, it stars the Italian comic duo of Fran ...
'' an Italian spy comedy movie shot in Egypt.
Bonvicini was a friend of another famous
Bolognese
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nati ...
citizen, the writer and singer
Francesco Guccini. As a duo, they produced a
science fiction series called ''Storie dello spazio profondo'' (Stories from Deep Space) (1972), whose main protagonist has Bonvi's features.
In 1969 he also created
Cattivik
Cattivik is an Italian humoristic comic book character created by Bonvi (Franco Bonvicini).
The character first appeared in 1965. He later appeared in the magazine '' Tiramolla'' on 19 July 1970. Later, the development of the character was give ...
, another surreal strip parodying the anti-hero
Diabolik. The series was to be continued with success by his pupil
Guido Silvestri
Guido Silvestri (born 9 December 1952 in Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, Carpi[Nick Carter
Nick or Nicholas Carter may refer to:
Athletes
* Nick Carter (athlete) (1902–1997), track and field athlete from United States, who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics
* Nick Carter (baseball) (1879–1961), Major League Baseball pitcher for t ...]
, a refreshing humour series featuring a trio of detectives (series' namesake Nick Carter aided by massive and naive Patsy and proverb-quoting chinaman Ten) working in the New York of 1910s. Nick Carter appeared also in TV in the 1970s.
In this decade Bonvi created an adult science fiction series, ''Cronache del dopobomba'' ("After the Bomb Chronicles"), featuring a grotesque post-apocalyptic world, as well as the fictional detective ''Milo Marat'' (for the French market, with Mario Gomboli), and his most serious comic book, ''L'uomo di Tsushima'' ("The Man of
Tsushima"). For the latter's protagonist Bonvi used again his face as that of the US author
Jack London, one of his favourite writers. In 1973 Bonvicini was named Best European Cartoonist receiving the
Prix Saint-Michel.
Another famous work were the adventures of
Marzolino Tarantola
Marzolino Tarantola is the title character of an Italian comic series created by Bonvi.
The comics debuted in 1979, published in the magazines ''Il Corriere dei Piccoli'' and ''TV Sorrisi e Canzoni''; at the same time a series of animation short ...
, an eccentric millionaire engaged along with his butler and the hulking speech-impaired strongman "Henry the crew" in a car race across the world, from San Francisco to Paris; the threesome must constantly fend off the dastardly tricks of their nemesis, "Professor Moriarty" and his diminutive lackey, Perfidio. The story is loosely based on the Wacky Races cartoon and the movie
The Great Race with
Tony Curtis and
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered equally proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, Lemmon was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in dramedy pictures, leadin ...
but both inspirations merely served Bonvi as a pretext to let him draw wild capers across the globe in the early-1900s which were his preferred time period.
In the 1980s Bonvi became a member of
Bologna town hall council and founded a
publishing
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
house with Italian deejay and TV personality Red Ronnie. They published a monthly magazine featuring new ''Sturmtruppen'' strips and reprints of old Bonvi stories, as well as articles about music, teen culture and comics in general.
Bonvi's last work was ''Zona X'', in collaboration with
Giorgio Cavazzano. It was published posthumously by
Sergio Bonelli Editore in 1996 with the new title ''La città''.
Death
Bonvi was killed in a car accident in 1995. He was on his way to a TV station in
Bologna to appear on Red Ronnie's TV show to raise financial support for cartoonist
Magnus (
Roberto Raviola) who was ill and in dire straits. Bonvi was struck by a
Citroen Pallas while crossing a road right after having entered a bar asking for directions.
Works
*''Sturmtruppen'' (1968)
*''Cattivik'' (1968)
*''Capitan Posapiano'' (1969)
*''Storie dello spazio profondo'' (1969), with Francesco Guccini
*''Nick Carter'' (1972), with Guido De Maria
*''Cronache del dopobomba'' (1974)
*''L'Uomo di Tsushima'' (1978)
*''Marzolino Tarantola'' (1979)
*''Truppen Italien'' (1995), a Sturmtruppen version in collaboration with the Italian Army
*''Blob'' (1995, unpublished)
Cinema
Bonvi co-wrote the screenplay for the
1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...
''Sturmtruppen'' movie adaptation of Sturmtruppen, directed by
Salvatore Samperi. He also appeared briefly in the second film of the series, ''Sturmtruppen II'' (
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
), playing a German officer. He also starred in the
1967
Events
January
* January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair.
* January 5
** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
''Come rubammo la bomba atomica'', directed by
Lucio Fulci, and in the movie ''Cavalli si nasce'' (
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
), directed by the comic strip author
Sergio Staino.
External links
Official siteOfficial site devoted to Nick Carter*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonvicini, Franco
1941 births
1995 deaths
Artists from Bologna
Italian comics artists
Italian cartoonists
Italian comics writers
Italian parodists
Comic book publishers (people)
Italian publishers (people)
Road incident deaths in Italy