Giovanni Truppi's 'Cinque' merges songs with comic strips

Italian singer-songwriter Giovanni Truppi has released 'Cinque', a book-and-CD project pairing five of his songs with comic interpretations by five contemporary Italian cartoonists. The EP features duets with Calcutta, La rappresentante di lista, Niccolò Fabi, and Brunori, plus a solo track. The comic artists include Fulvio Risuleo and Antonio Pronostico, Cristina Portolano, Pietro Scarnera, Mara Cerri, and ZUZU (Giulia Spagnulo). Published by Coconino Press Fandango in Rome, the 288-page volume includes a CD. Truppi conceived the idea as a provocation after a concert in Milan last summer, contacting artists he had collaborated with or recently met. Each illustrator approached the task differently: Risuleo and Pronostico replicated the refined mood of their graphic novel 'Sniff'; Portolano used wordless drawings; Cerri illustrated each verse; Scarnera offered a lucid, analytical style; and ZUZU created a loose narrative in black and white. The project blends music and comics into a unified experience.