''Pecos Bill'' is an Italian comic book series created by

Guido Martina Guido Martina (9 February 1906 – 6 May 1991) was an Italian comic writer, documentarist and author. Martina is well known for his Disney comics stories, including the first of the "" story "L'inferno di Topolino", and the creation of Paperinik ...

and Raffaele Paparella. The name is a reference to American folklore character

Pecos Bill Pecos Bill is a fictional cowboy and folk hero in stories set during American westward expansion into the Southwest of Texas, New Mexico, Southern California, and Arizona. These narratives were invented as short stories in a book by Tex O'Reill ...

Background

In 1949 the publisher

Mondadori Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 1 ...

commissioned Guido Martina and Raffaele Paparella the creation of a new realistic comic series, inspired by the legendary hero of the West, to alternate with the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

stories in the series ''Albi D'Oro'' ("''Golden Albums''"). Despite the market of western comics was quite inflated (''

Tex Tex may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tex (nickname), a list of people and fictional characters with the nickname * Joe Tex (1933–1982), stage name of American soul singer Joseph Arrington Jr. Entertainment * ''Tex'', the Italian ...

'', '' Piccolo sceriffo'', '' Captain Miki'', ''

Kinowa ''Kinowa'' is an Italian comic book series created by Andrea Lavezzolo and EsseGesse. Background The Western comic series debuted in May 1950, with text by Andrea Lavezzolo (who signed the comics with the pen name A. Lawson) and artwork by the t ...

'') the ''Pecos Bill'' comics were quite successful. The comic version of Pecos Bill distinguished by the total rejection of the use of firearms (he was instead very skilled with the

lasso A lasso ( or ), also called lariat, riata, or reata (all from Castilian, la reata 're-tied rope'), is a loop of rope designed as a restraint to be thrown around a target and tightened when pulled. It is a well-known tool of the Spanish an ...

) and by the characteristic of never killing his enemies. The series was published between 3 December 1949 and 31 March 1955.Franco Fossati, ''I grandi eroi del fumetto'', Gramese, 1990, pp. 178–179

References

Pecos Bill 1949 comics debuts 1955 comics endings Comics characters introduced in 1949 Italian comics characters Italian comics titles Western (genre) comics {{Italy-comics-stub