Italian Publishers Offer Free Comics During Lockdown

During the COVID-19 quarantine, several Italian comic publishers launched free digital reading initiatives. Star Comics created the #StarACasa page, offering free first issues of manga and comics, including Valter Buio (free until May 7) and Capitan Tsubasa (Holly e Benji, free until April 20). SaldaPress responded with We Are Family, in collaboration with Skybound, Image Comics, and Aftershock, releasing free titles every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, such as The Walking Dead #1 by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore, Volt – Che vita di Mecha by Stefano 'TheSparker' Conte, and Rough Riders by Adam Glass and Patrick Olliffe. Comics&Science, a scientific comic series promoted by CNR Edizioni, made available a vast catalog of PDFs by Zerocalcare, Tuono Pettinato, Alice Milani, and Leo Ortolani, published between 2013 and 2020, all under 50 pages, downloadable free from the CNR website. Linus magazine, founded by Giovanni Gandini in 1965, offered free online twelve issues from May 2018 to April 2019—the first year under editor Igort—after user registration. The latest issue features Woody Allen on the cover drawn by Paolo Bacilieri. Rizzoli Lizard provided two free volumes: Dieci Sbagli by Franco Matticchio, a digital booklet on Issuu, and La nostra partita, an illustrated story by Marco Cattaneo explaining the pandemic through football for children aged 5-10, available on Google, Apple, Kobo, and Amazon.