''RanXerox'' is an Italian

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

series by

Stefano Tamburini Stefano Tamburini (18 August 1955 – April 1986) was an Italian graphic artist, comics author and magazine publisher. Tamburini is primarily known as co-creator of the comic book character RanXerox, with Tanino Liberatore. Along with Andrea Paz ...

and

Tanino Liberatore Gaetano Liberatore (born 12 April 1953), better known as Tanino Liberatore, is an Italian comics author and illustrator. His best known fictional character is RanXerox. Life and work Born in Quadri (province of Chieti), Liberatore went to high ...

, two

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

artists who had worked on such magazines as ''Cannibale'' and ''Frigidaire''. Conceived as a bizarre

antihero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions ...

, RanXerox was a mechanical creature made from

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...

photocopier parts. At first (1978, in Italian, in ''Cannibale'') the name was "

Rank Xerox Rank is the relative position, value, worth, complexity, power, importance, authority, level, etc. of a person or object within a ranking, such as: Level or position in a hierarchical organization * Academic rank * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy * ...

", identical to that of a joint venture between the Xerox Corporation of the U.S. and the

Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribu ...

of the U.K., the latter of which manufactures and markets Xerox equipment in Europe. Due to a threatened lawsuit by Rank Xerox for using their

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

ed name, Tamburini changed it to "RanXerox" (1980, also in Italian, in ''Frigidaire''). The name "Ranx" has also been used in some cases. The first time RanXerox was published in English was in the July 1983 issue of '' Heavy Metal''. Many more issues of ''Heavy Metal'', as well as novels followed, featuring RanXerox (such as "RanXerox in America"). The artist uses

Pantone Pantone LLC (stylized as PANTONE) is a limited liability company headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, notably graphic ...

pens to create his unique style of art.

Richard Corben Richard Corben (October 1, 1940December 2, 2020) was an American illustrator and comic book artist best known for his comics featured in '' Heavy Metal'' magazine, especially the ''Den'' series which was featured in the magazine's first film ad ...

said about the character: Tanino Liberatore also created the artwork for the

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

album ''

The Man from Utopia ''The Man from Utopia'' is an album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in March 1983 by Barking Pumpkin Records. The album is named after a 1950s song, written by Donald and Doris Woods, which Zappa covers as part of "The Man from Utop ...

''; the image of Zappa on the cover bears a strong resemblance to RanXerox. ''Ranx: The Video Game'' was developed by

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...

in 1990 for

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

, and

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

References

External links

Comic Vine
Italian comics titles 1978 comics debuts Science fiction comics Cyberpunk comics Science fiction graphic novels Fictional robots Erotic comics Heavy Metal (magazine) titles Italian comics characters Comics characters introduced in 1978 Comics adapted into video games {{Italy-comics-stub