Marzolino Tarantola is the title character of an Italian comic series created by

Bonvi Bonvi, pen name of Franco Bonvicini (31 March 1941 – 10 December 1995) was an Italian comic book artist, creator of the comic strips '' Sturmtruppen'' and '' Nick Carter''. Biography Bonvicini was born either in Parma or Modena, in the Emilia R ...

. The comics debuted in 1979, published in the magazines ''

Il Corriere dei Piccoli The ''Corriere dei Piccoli'' (Italian for "Courier of the Little Ones"), later nicknamed ''Corrierino'' ("Little Courier"), was a weekly magazine for children published in Italy from 1908 to 1995. It was the first Italian periodical to make a re ...

'' and ''

TV Sorrisi e Canzoni ''TV Sorrisi e Canzoni'' (''TV Smiles and Songs'') is an Italian weekly listings magazine published in Segrate, Italy. History and profile ''TV Sorrisi e Canzoni'' was established in 1952. Based in Segrate, Milan, the magazine is published by ...

''; at the same time a series of animation shorts was produced for the

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terr ...

TV-series ''Supergulp!''. The stories were later collected in two books published by editor Rizzoli Junior. The comic consists in a zany parody of

Albert Robida Albert Robida (14 May 1848 – 11 October 1926) was a French illustrator, etcher, lithographer, caricaturist, and novelist. He edited and published '' La Caricature'' magazine for 12 years. Through the 1880s, he wrote an acclaimed trilogy of fut ...

's '' Saturnin Farandoul'' mixed with elements of the film ''

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'' starring

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 ...

and

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

. It tells of Marzolino Tarantola, an adventurous, snob nobleman of British origins who takes part to the San Francisco-Paris car rally accompanied by the faithful butler Alfred and by Enrico l'Equipaggio (Henry the crew), a hulking speech-impaired man that solves any kind of problem.''Panorama'', Issues 702-708. Mondadori, 1979.

References

Italian comics characters Comics characters introduced in 1979 1979 comics debuts Italian comic strips Italian comics titles Humor comics Parody comics Parodies of comics Fictional nobility Fictional British people {{Italy-comics-stub