Five Comics to Read This Summer: From Groening to Gerda Taro
A roundup of five comic book releases hitting Italian shelves in 2019. Matt Groening's 'Il grande libro dell’Inferno' (Coconino Press, €20) collects early strips featuring Binky, Sheba, Bongo, Akbar and Jeff, offering a self-help parody of life's anxieties. Jacques Lob and Georges Pichard's 'Ulysse' (Rizzoli Lizard, €20), originally from 1974, reimagines Homer's hero as a psychedelic sci-fi figure with a laser-eyed Polyphemus and a junkie Circe. Lorenzo Palloni's 'La Lupa' (saldaPress, €22) follows Ginger, a daytime mom and nighttime loan shark, in a crime story originally self-published in 2015, now remastered with new material by Luca Lenci. Sara Vivan's 'Gerda Taro' (Contrasto, €15) is a graphic biography of the pioneering photographer, whose work was rediscovered after the 2007 finding of the 'Mexican suitcase' containing 126 rolls of film. Piero Macola's 'Gli indesiderati' (Oblomov Edizioni, €19) traces the quiet friendship between Bruno, an insecure young man, and Anton, a Moldovan bricklayer dreaming of Sweden, set along the Po River.
Key facts
- Matt Groening's 'Il grande libro dell’Inferno' published by Coconino Press in 2019, 176 pages, €20.
- The book collects early strips with characters Binky, Sheba, Bongo, Akbar and Jeff.
- Jacques Lob and Georges Pichard's 'Ulysse' originally from 1974, republished by Rizzoli Lizard in 2019, 160 pages, €20.
- 'Ulysse' reimagines Homer's epic in a psychedelic sci-fi setting with a laser-eyed Polyphemus and a junkie Circe.
- Lorenzo Palloni's 'La Lupa' published by saldaPress in 2019, 192 pages, €22.
- Protagonist Ginger is a mother by day and a loan shark by night.
- The comic was originally self-published online in 2015 by the collective Mammaiuto.
- Sara Vivan's 'Gerda Taro' published by Contrasto in 2019, 96 pages, €15.
- Gerda Taro's work was rediscovered after the 2007 finding of the 'Mexican suitcase' with 126 rolls of film.
- Piero Macola's 'Gli indesiderati' published by Oblomov Edizioni in 2019, 128 pages, €19.
- The story follows Bruno and Anton, a Moldovan bricklayer, along the Po River.
Entities
Artists
- Matt Groening
- Jacques Lob
- Georges Pichard
- Lorenzo Palloni
- Sara Vivan
- Piero Macola
- Robert Capa
- Endre Friedmann
- Ernest Hemingway
- Luca Lenci
- Roberto La Forgia
Institutions
- Coconino Press
- Rizzoli Lizard
- saldaPress
- Contrasto
- Oblomov Edizioni
- Mammaiuto
- Fandango Editore
- Artribune
Locations
- Italy
- Bologna
- Milan
- Reggio Emilia
- Quartu Sant'Elena
- Po River
- Sweden
- Moldova