European Western Comic Books - Pecos Bill

[1962 Pecos Bill il leggendario eroe del Texas (Pecos Bill the Legendary Hero of Texas)

Author: Guido Martina]

Long before the advent of Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns there was a form of Western literature found in Italian westerns comics.

At the end of 1949 appeared on Italian newsstands a comic book dedicated to a western hero who answered to the 'epic name of "Pecos Bill", created by Guido Martina and Raffaele Paparella along with a team of young designers. Pecos Bill was a cowboy raised by coyotes in the desert, straightening any wrong using only his fists and his lasso, never with guns. The interesting supporting characters, the inventiveness of the stories, especially the careful documentation (readers were convinced that the pages had been drawn in America), made ​​the comic books of Pecos Bill a tremendous success, which lasted until March 31, 1955. The entire series was revived, reprinted and redistributed to the newsstands a few years later.

The comic adventures of the legendary hero of Texas and his companions, amazing characters including Davy Crockett, Little Sue, Calamity Jane, El Jaleo, Du Tisné and many other characters were real and imaginary. The series was published between December 3, 1949 and March 31, 1955.

The following pages, are only a taste, a small part of the Amazing Adventures of Pecos Bill.

Today you can purchase the Adventures of Pecos Bill in book form.

Guido Martina was born in Carmagnola, Italy on February 9, 1906. In 1949 he invented the cartoon cowboy Pecos Bill, one of the most popular heroes of Italian western comics, Bill hated guns and captured the outlaw with his fists and lasso. Pecos Bill was published in 165 books, without firing a shot, until 1955. It was initially designed by Raffaele Paparella, who was then joined by Pier Lorenzo De Vita , Rinaldo D'Ami and Gino D'Antonio . The success of Pecos Bill created, for the first time in Italy, a vast phenomenon of merchandising, with the sale of objects and toys related to the loyal and courageous cowboy (including an improbable gun) and slowed down for a few years after the takeoff Tex Willer. Another western character of Martina, Oklahoma, was less successful. Martina died in Rome, Italy on May 6, 1991.