Venerdì 12 ("Friday the 12th", a spoof of ''

Friday the 13th Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar falls on a Friday, which happens at least once every year but can occur up to three times in the same year. ...

'') is a

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

series created by

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 ...

author

Leo Ortolani Leonardo Ortolani (born 14 January 1967), better known as Leo, is an Italian comics author, creator of the comic book series '' Rat-Man''. Early life He was born in Pisa. In 1968 Ortolani moved to Parma, where he still lives with his wife Cater ...

first published in 1996 as a series of the comic magazine '' L'isola che non c'è'' and continued on the '' Rat-Man Collection'', where it was also completed.
It tells the story of Aldo, a man who becomes an hideous monster after being dumped by his girlfriend Bedelia, and his evil servant .

Plot

Everything starts at school where Aldo meets and falls in love with Bedelia, a schoolmate of his who has had an affair with almost every boy at school, but him. He tries many approaches, failing miserably, til Bedelia accepts his court in order to win a bet. So Aldo, full of joy, decides to buy her, as a present for her birthday, a

music box A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc to pluck the tuned teeth (or ''lamellae'') ...

. The salesman offers him, for free, a

curse A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...

d music box with a dancing puppet warning him: if he will give it to a woman who doesn't love him he will turn into a monster; the curse will be broken only if he will find a woman who really loves him or if he will sacrifice a

virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

. Aldo ignores the curse and, on the titular Friday,

October 12 Events Pre-1600 * 539 BC – The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon, ending the Babylonian empire. (Julian calendar) * 633 – Battle of Hatfield Chase: King Edwin of Northumbria is defeated and killed by an alliance u ...

, gives the music box to Bedelia who, shortly after, breaks up with him and throws the music box out of the window of her car, breaking the statuette on it. Aldo, left alone in the middle of the street, painfully turns into a monster. It's here that he meets Giuda, an extravagant runt who is searching for a master and accepts to become Aldo's evil servant. From that moment, Aldo first tries to take back Bedelia; then, helped but more often hindered by Giuda, tries to find, despite his appearance only partially hidden by a mask, someone who really loves him to break the curse, as it is easier than finding a virgin. In his misadventures will meet various strange women like Ciurga and Isolda and finally meets Dulcistella, his neighbour, who finally breaks the curse, on Saturday the 13th, making Aldo to fall in love with her. Moreover, in that moment it's also revealed that Giuda is in reality the music box's statuette, so he turns back into the music box, ready to serve the next

unrequited love Unrequited love or one-sided love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such by the beloved. The beloved may not be aware of the admirer's deep and pure affection, or may consciously reject it. The Merriam Webster Online Dic ...

r who will be cursed. Italian comic strips 1996 comics debuts Fiction about monsters Romance comics Horror comics {{Comic-strip-stub