Gianni De Luca (27 January 1927 – 6 June 1991) was an

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 ...

comic book artist, illustrator, painter and etcher.

Biography

De Luca was born at

Gagliato Gagliato ( Calabrian: ) is a village and ''comune'' in the province of Catanzaro, in the Calabria region of southern Italy. In recognition of the unique role that the town has come to play as an international magnet for global leaders in nanotechno ...

and moved to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

to study architecture; however, he soon moved to comics and started his career as comics artists in 1946 for the magazine '' Il Vittorioso'' with Anac the Destroyer series, followed in 1947 by the Da Vinci Wizard, and then The Empire of the Sun and the Last Days of the Earth. In the late 1950s he started to collaborate with the Edizioni Paoline, a Catholic publisher, and with their weekly magazine ''

Il Giornalino ''Il Giornalino'' is an Italian comics magazine published in Italy. History and profile ''Il Giornalino'' was founded by the Catholic publisher Edizioni San Paolo of Alba in 1924. During its history, the magazine has published the Italian tran ...

''. In 1957–1959 he worked at ''La più grande storia mai raccontata'' ("The Greatest Story Ever Told"), a series of tales based on the Bible, and ''I dodici in cammino'' (a history of the Christian Church). In 1969 he drew a western, Bob Jason, and started his most famous creation, Commissario Spada, a series featuring a commissioner of the criminal police of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, characterized by an unusual (for Italian comics) attention to realistic details, written by Gianluigi Gonano. For the series De Luca introduced a number of graphical innovations, which he later used also for the comics version of three

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's masterworks, ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'', '' The Tempest'' and '' Romeo and Juliet'', written by Raoul Traverso. De Luca won a

Yellow Kid Award The Yellow Kid (Mickey Dugan) is an American comic strip character that appeared from 1895 to 1898 in Joseph Pulitzer's ''New York World'', and later William Randolph Hearst's ''New York Journal''. Created and drawn by Richard F. Outcault in t ...

for Commissario Spada in 1971. After the end of the Commissario Spada series in 1982, De Luca continued to work for ''Il Giornalino'' with the comics version of '' Il giornalino di Gian Burrasca'', adapted by

Claudio Nizzi Claudio Nizzi (born 9 September 1938 in Sétif, Algeria) is an Italian comic author. He started his career as comic scriptwriter in 1963, writing for the comics magazine '' Il Vittorioso''. During 1969 he started working for ''Il Giornalino'' ...

, then to the ''Adventure on the Orinoco'', written by Roberto Del Prà, and comics biographies of

Totò Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi de Curtis di Bisanzio (15 February 1898 – 15 April 1967), best known by his stage name Totò (), or simply as Antonio de Curtis, and nicknamed ''il Principe della risata ...

and

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

. These were followed by the science fiction series Paulus, with stories by Tommaso Mastandrea, depicting a historian living in a future dictatorship who, using a time machine, reproduces the life of

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

. In 1988 he worked to the adaptation of a historical novel, ''La freccia nera'', followed by ''I giorni dell'impero'' ("The Days of the Empire"), set in

Imperial Rome The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

and left unfinished after De Luca's death at Rome in 1991.

External links

Biography at Lambiek.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Luca, Gianni 1927 births 1991 deaths People from the Province of Catanzaro Italian etchers Italian comics artists