European Western Comic Books ~ Carabine Slim

Carabine Slim was a character who roamed the Wild West and fought for justice and defended the downtrodden and weak against corrupt businessmen, outlaws and savage Indians who were a constant threat. His favorite weapon was a carbine rifle and he was tall and slender of form, therefore the moniker Carbine Slim

The character was created by Onofrio Bramante in 1967 for Madame Bernadette Ratier's French "Aventures & Voyages" publishing house. For the French market, Bramante drew 31 stories and 41 covers. The series was republished in Italy in 1969 with 19 pocket size editions and in 1970 seven numbers in a giant format. I’ve found 140 issues from 1967 – 1987

Onofrio Bramante was born in Milan, Italy in on August 3, 1926. Bramante who often signed his work as Brahms, was educated as a classical painter. Since 1949, he has done a great variety of comic strip work, in both the humorous as the realistic genre. He made his debut with the adventure series 'King Prater' with text by Gian Giacomo Dalmasso. This was followed by 'Falcon Wild' and 'Silver Pitt' for the Albo Scugnizzo series for the publishing house Tomasina. His production increased with 'Piccolo Crockett' (1959) for Gabriele Gioggi, 'Falco Bianco' (1961-62) and 'Jean Lafitte' (1963) for Dardo, as well as 'Dixy Scott' (1964) for Casarotti and 'Carabina Slim', 'Kwa Sind' and 'Sharaz' for La Terza di Milano. He did war stories for Hurrà and western stories for Manila and Il Santo.

He also had a large output of humorous comics during the 1950s and 1960s. Among his creations are the Indian 'Argentovivo', 'Lupettino', 'Babeo', 'Giuletta', 'Bombolo', 'Top Mix', 'Robin Het', 'Tico Tico', and 'Richetto'. He created several characters for Edizioni Gempelli, such as 'Professor Fantax', Mgù', 'Zizì, Bao e Menemao', 'Il Commissario Barbison' and a new incarnation of 'Argentovivo'. His artwork was also present in the pocket publications of the French publisher Lug with 'Neptune' (in Pampa) and 'Blek le Roc'. Brahms also did some Italian Disney stories for Topolino in the early 1960s.

Bramante died in Italy on June 26, 2000 in Monopoli, Puglia, Italy.