Sergio Vanello on Horror Comics and His New Lovecraft Adaptation

Sergio Vanello, born in Luni in 1968, is an Italian artist and cartoonist who moves between painting and comics. In an interview with Artribune Magazine, he discusses his fascination with the macabre and his creative process. His latest graphic novel, written with Piero Fissore, is a psychological investigation set in Victorian London's underworld, inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde." The story follows Billy Stone, forcibly subjected to the "Hyde" treatment by a secret team, leading to a cycle of violence and horror. Vanello emphasizes that classics withstand reinterpretation and prefers a contemporary aesthetic over period costumes. He has just released a new graphic novel with Edizioni NPE: "H.P. Lovecraft – Dagon e altri racconti brevi," for which he adapted Lovecraft's text into sequential comics. Vanello's artistic training includes a degree in Painting from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara, where teachers Umberto Buscioni and Adriano Bimbi influenced him. He cites early comic influences from Editoriale Corno (Spider-Man, Daredevil, Fantastic Four) and magazines like Linus, Corto Maltese, and Metal Hurlant. He sees no hierarchy between drawing, comics, illustration, and painting, considering comics and illustration the true heirs of Western artistic tradition. For Artribune, he created a comic about the fascination with evil and the eternal return.