LSD's History Told Through a Comic Book by Martoz and Marco Rocchi

The book 'Viaggio Acido' (Acid Trip) by illustrator Martoz and writer Marco Rocchi, published by Hoppípolla Edizioni in 2019, traces the history of LSD from its 1938 discovery by Swiss scientist Albert Hoffman to its 1943 first trip (the 'bicycle day') and subsequent spread. The volume combines two comic stories with an essay by historian Manfredi Scanagatta. The first comic, illustrated by Martoz in a hallucinogenic style, follows Hoffman's journey from scientific rigor to spiritual experience. Scanagatta's essay connects LSD's diffusion to the 1960s counterculture and notes that its widespread use, not danger, led to its 1967 illegality. The second comic goes further back to the myth of Demeter and Persephone and the Eleusinian Mysteries. The book also includes illustrations by Antonio Pronostico and Jacopo Starace. Artists who used LSD include Aldous Huxley, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Federico Fellini, and Jean-Paul Sartre.