Il Selvaggio West (The Story of the West) is an Italian
comic book series created by Gino D'Antonio and Renzo Calegari, in June 1967
and published by Editions Herald (later Sergio Bonelli Editore ), within the
162 numbers of the Rodeo Series to a total of 73 books edited (the series was
later expanded, until reaching the number of 75). Among the designers who took turns at the realization
of the comic book were, besides the creators D'Antonio and Calegari, Sergio
Tarquinio and Giorgio Trevisan. The
original covers are all done by Gino D'Antonio.
Unlike other comic
book series, the West History does not have a main character, but a number of
figures who alternate in the title role.
In any case they center around the adventures of the epic of the
families of MacDonald and Adams, which run from the early nineteenth century,
with the arrival in 1804 of the founder Brett MacDonald in the new world, until
the eighteen-eighties.
Many of the protagonists in the episodes are historical
figures, including Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill, Calamity Jane, General
Custer, and Wyatt Earp. Even some famous
Indian Chiefs are featured in the books, among them Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse,
Geronimo, Cochise and Chief Joseph.
Originally a total of 73 volumes were published between
1967 and1980. Two more editions were added and the last of the revised stories
were produced in 2013.
Luigi ‘Gino’ D'Antonio was born in Milan, Italy on March
16, 1927 and was an Italian cartoonist.
D'Antonio made his debut in 1947 with the character of
Jess Dakota, and he produced stories and drawings for the publisher Mario
Oriali. His second professional experience began in 1948 with The Victorious, a
prestigious weekly comic strip series.
In 1951 he joined the staff of the Pecos Bill designers,
one of the most famous group of personalities of the time. After two years,
however, he decided to return to The Victorious, for which he drew, among other
things, the King Arthur's History with texts by Mario Leone. In this period he
also took his first, embryonic, experience as screenwriter: without notifying
the editor he rewrites part of the story on The fort sull'Huron written by
Sandro D'Antonio Cassone and of which he was hired to to sketch the designs.
Also he worked occasionally with Edizioni Audace creating
stories for El Kid (1954) and The Three Bills (1955) both with texts by Gian
Luigi Bonelli.
His professional turning point came in 1956 when he began
working for the prestigious studio D'Ami, creating stories for the British
publisher Fleetway drawing for it many war stories and comic adaptations of
great works of fiction, such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Moby
Dick. This collaboration lasted until the 1960s.
In 1967 he began working, for Cepim (today Bonelli), and
it remains his most famous work: Il Selvaggio West. The main feature of this
epic comic is the rigorous work of documentation written by D'Antonio to
represent realistically the Far West. D'Antonio, in addition to the texts, he also
created some of the designs, taking turns with other designers such as Renzo
Calegari and Renato Polese.
Since 1971, D'Antonio began a long association with The
Newspaper, which he is especially remembered for the soldier Cascella, written
and drawn by him, and Uomini senza gloria (World War II), with the designs of
Ferdinando Tacconi. But that does not interrupt his relations with Bonelli, for
which he made both the texts that the designs of some volumes of the series Un
uomo un'avventura: numero 2 entitled L'uomo dello Zululand after both the texts and
the drawings, for numero 5 entitled L'uomo del Deserto, the texts, the number 8
entitled L'uomo dei Pechino the texts, the number 16 entitled the man L'uomo di Iwo Jima after that both the texts
and the drawings, for numero 26 titled L'uomo del Bengala, the story for numero
30 titled L'uomo del Ragoon. He still continues to write Beautiful and Bronco,
another western which was less successful, and Mac the Stranger for the
magazine Orient Express.
In the last years of his career he relegated his activity
to draftsman, he considered it more challenging than that of screenwriter. Of
particular interest are his subject relief and screenplay for several episodes
of Nick Raider and a History of Julia - The adventures of a criminologist.
He died on December 24 of 2006 in Milan.
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