Italian comic artist Anna Merli, known for W.I.T.C.H., dies at 51

Anna Merli, the Italian comic artist known for her work on the W.I.T.C.H. series, has died at the age of 51. Born in Cremona in 1974, she studied at the Istituto Europeo di Design and graduated from the Accademia Disney di Milano. She began collaborating with Walt Disney Italia, where she contributed to W.I.T.C.H., a comic created by Elisabetta Gnone, Alessandro Barbucci, and Barbara Canepa in 2001. The series sold 200,000 copies per month one year after its debut and over 20 million copies annually worldwide by 2004. Merli also worked with the Centro Fumetto Andrea Pazienza in Cremona, creating covers for the magazine Schizzo and comics such as La strega (based on Mario Lodi's story) and the Rose trilogy. In 2012, she illustrated the first volume of End, a project by Barbara Canepa published in France and later in Italy by BAO Publishing. In recent years, she produced erotic illustrations for her own channels and magazines like Blue. Her style, influenced by Disney drawings from her mother and her father's "gothic doodles," was noted for its delicate, fairy-tale quality. The Centro Fumetto Andrea Pazienza and BAO Publishing have paid tribute to her.