European Western Comic Books ~ Belle Avventure (Il Dominatore del West)

Belle Avventure

(Beautiful Adventures)

BEAUTIFUL ADVENTURES (Gey Carioca> Okey Jim> The King's Tambourine> Red Shirt> The Dominatrix of the West> The Small Corporal of the 7th Cavalry> Davy Crockett)

This was a seven volume series with each series devoted to a specific character and their adventures. Some were western characters which I will concentrate on.

Belle Avventure was first published by ALP in Milan, Italy on November 18, 1948 and continued until February 20, 1957. A total of 154 issues were issued in seven series. Non-progressive numbering for Series I and II; progressive numbering for Series III / V and Series VI / VII.

Series I n. 1 (18 November 1948) n. 12 (30 May 1949)

Series II n. 1 (11 August 1949) n. 48 (20 July 1950)

Series III n. 1 (9 June 1951) n. 33 (19 Jan. 1952)

Series IV n. 34 (2 Feb. 1952) n. 45 (19 April 1952)

Series V n. 46 (1952) n. 54 (1952)

Series VI n. 1 (July 5, 1955) n. 16 (20 Feb. 1956)

Series VII n. 17 (5th March 1956) n. 40 (20 Feb. 1957)

Series V was the beginning of the Western series and started with Il Dominatore del West (The Dominator of the West). It was devoted to western adventures with comics and captions designed by Nicolino Del Principe came out with 9 issues in strip format. The texts were written by text by Cesare Sovini and were issued bimonthly. 

Series V IL DOMINATORE DEL WEST Series V n. 46 (1952) n. 54 (1952)

01 [46] (00.00.52) - “Il biondino del cantiere” (The Blond of the Yard)

02 [47] (00.00.52) - “Sfida al pericolo” (Challenge of Danger

03 [48] (00.00.52) - “L’atroce beffa” (The Atrocious Hoax)

04 [49] (00.00.52) - “Agente segreto” (Secret Agent)

05 [50] (00.00.52) - “Lotta a oltranza” (Fight to the Bitter End)

06 [51] (00.00.52) - “L’indiano di Red Creek” (The Indian of Red Creek)

07 [52] (00.00.52) - “Laccio al collo” (Necklace)

08 [53] (00.00.52) - “La diligenza di Salt Lake” (The Salt Lake Diligence)

09 [54] (00.00.52) - “L’ultima cartuccia” (The Last Cartridge)

Nicola Del Principe was born in Pescasseroli, L'Aquila, Italy on April 5, 1927. He was a versatile comics artist, who worked in various genres. He illustrated countless humorous and realistic comics for the publishing houses Alpe and Bianconi, but he also drew erotic comics. He was introduced to the comic book world through the fiancé of his wife's sister, Enzo Chiomenti, a comic artist himself. At that time, Del Principe drew posters for the Christian Democratic Party, but he eventually settled in Milan to commence his career in comics.

He started out with the realistic 'Il Dominatore del West' at the publishing house Alpe in 1952 (text by Cesare Sovini). He then began a longtime collaboration with the publisher Renato Bianconi. For 40 years, he illustrated such series as 'Nonna Abelarda', 'Soldino', 'Trottolino', 'Papy', 'Birillo', 'Fiordipesco' and 'Luponario', but also Hanna-Barbera's 'Tom & Jerry' and 'Pinocchio'. In the late 1960s, he began drawing erotic comics, such as 'Angelica' and 'Il Camionista'. Del Principe was also present on the French and German markets, with such series as 'Erik il Vikingo', 'Tico Tigre', and 'Nicotina'. He died in Italy on March 28, 2002.