Dylan Dog at 40: Tiziano Sclavi's Nightmare Detective Still Haunts Italian Comics

Dylan Dog, created by Tiziano Sclavi, first appeared in 1986 and has become a defining Italian comic. The series' early golden age, from L'Alba dei morti viventi (1986) to Il lungo addio (November 1992), shifted from cinematic horror to psychological nightmare, exploring memory, solitude, and the loss of affection. The 1992 story Il lungo addio, based on a subject by Mauro Marcheselli and scripted by Sclavi, has been linked to Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu for its use of a word ('niente') and a name ('Marina') to trigger memory. Sclavi's imaginary London, inspired by books, cinema, and pop culture, evokes Freud's Unheimlich. The comic paralleled Anglo-American innovations by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Frank Miller, and Neil Gaiman. Horror cinema influences include Wes Craven, John Landis, George A. Romero, and Stanley Kubrick. Groucho provides comic relief. After Sclavi reduced his writing in the 1990s, curatorship passed to Mauro Marcheselli (1993–2009), Giovanni Gualdoni, and Roberto Recchioni (2013–2023). Recchioni introduced experiments like the Old Boy line (2014), Color Fest, and a 2019 DC Comics crossover with Batman. Since 2023, Barbara Baraldi has edited the series, with Sclavi still supervising. In September 2026, Baraldi confirmed constant contact with Sclavi, who reads all submissions.