European Western Comic Books – Buffalo Bill

 

Buffalo Bill

William Frederick Cody (1846-1917), was a buffalo hunter, and scout for the US Army in the wars against the Indians and (from 1883) the director of a circus with which he also performed in Europe, was known by this nickname. In comics, the publishers Street & Smith (1949) and Youthful (1950-51) dedicated a series of comic strips to him, but the most representative remains the series of daily strips created by Fred Meagher for the United Features Syndicate between 1950 and 1956.

In addition to the publications to which reference is made, in Italy Buffalo Bill was published in Gli Albi Di Panterino (Taurinia, 1938); in Albi Viaffi e Avventure #’s 96, 98 (Turin, 1947); in Le Grandi Avventure (Ed. Ilustrate Americane, 1950) and in the appendix to Il Grande Blek IL (1) (Dardo, 1954). Also worthy of note are Bufalo Bill (with a single f) conceived by Luigi Grecchi and illustrated by Carlo Cossio for L’Intrepido (Universo, 1951) and Buffalo Bill signed by the Englishman Ralph Birch published in the appendix to Gordon (4) (Serpente Volante, 1961) and in “Sfida infernale”, a volume published as a supplement to Rodeo (Corno, 1963). In more recent times a Buffalo Bill created by José Ortiz makes its appearance in no. 27 of Skorpio (Lancio, 1978) in the series “I grandi miti del West”. As for photo novel magazines, Buffalo Bill has the face of the actor Charlton Heston in “Pony Express” (1953) in the magazine Grandi Film D’Avventure (1957), which presents a comic strip reduction of the film’s images, and that of Joel McCrea in “Buffalo Bill”, a photo novel published by Edizioni Ponzoni in no. 7 of Texas.

The famous hero, finally, is the protagonist of a vast production of instalments containing illustrated stories created in America: “The Buffalo Bill Stories” (Street and Smith, 1901/1912). The first series, “Buffalo Bill. The Hero of the Wild West”, was published between 1908 and 1911 by the Casa Editrice Americana in Milan (#1/150 – 32 & 24 pages + cover - 21.5 x 28 cm - 25 cents  20 cents). The second series, entitled “Buffalo Bill”, was published in 1912 initially by the Casa Editrice Americana and, after the latter’s bankruptcy, by the Società Industrie Tecnografiche (#39 - 16 pages + cover - 21 x 29 cm - 10 cents). The third series was published in Milan by the Società Editoriale Milanese with the title “Buffalo Bill. “The Hero of the Wild West” (#s1/26 - 1913 - Weekly - 24 pages + cover - 26.5 x 20.5 cm - 20 cents). Between 9 February 1922 and 20 January 1924, the Nerbini Publisher of Florence reprinted the first one hundred issues of the first series (Weekly - 16 self-copy pages - 20.5 x 29 cm - 50 cents) with covers by Tancredi Scarpelli. The Florentine publisher continued with a partial reprint of the previous editions entitled “Buffalo Bill. The Hero of the Wild West”. These were 200 issues published between 1927 and 1931, identical in characteristics to those of 1922/24, which also present episodes written by Emilio Fancelli. This is followed by “Buffalo Bill”, a Nerbini reprint dated 1931/35 and “Buffalo Bill. The Italian Hero of the Prairie”, yet another Nerbini reprint which probably dates back to 1942/43 (#s1/76 - 16 self-copy pages - 20.5 x 29 cm - 60 > 70 cents), with texts rewritten to adapt it to the “autarchic” provisions and the change of name and nationality of the protagonist, who becomes Domenico Tombini. The last Nerbini reprint dates back to 1946/50, and consists of 196 issues which present the order of succession of the original series with partially rewritten texts and notable changes in the titles, covers by T. Scarpelli (16 self-copy pages - 20.5 x 29 cm - 15 > 20 > 25 lire). Subsequently, ninety of these instalments were put back on sale in six paperback volumes, 15 issues per volume, at a price of 400 lire each. Still on the subject of the production of short stories in installments with Buffalo Bill, we must remember “The Extraordinary Adventures of Buffalo Bill”, thirty instalments published in 1922 by Gloriosa (format 19.5 x 14 cm); “The Son of Buffalo Bill”, a series of twelve instalments signed by Luigi Motta and Calogero Ciancimino for the illustrated editions Le Grandi Avventure (1934 - 24 pages + cover - 15 x 22 cm pm - 50 cents) and followed the following year by a second series of 11 instalments, again by Ciancimino; “The Son of Buffalo Bill”, twelve instalments published by La Recentissima (25 x 17.5 cm); “Buffalo Bill’s Enemy”, twelve installments created by Luigi Motta and published by O.L.M. (cm 24.5 x 17) and “The New Buffalo Bill” written by Luciano Mac Gyrett and published in Turin by S.E.R.T. (12 self-copy pages - cm 13.5 x 19 pm - Cent. 30).

The original American production was enriched between 1956 and 1959 by a new series, unpublished for Italy, entitled Buffalo Bill Jr. These are 13 comic books published by Dell containing comics inspired by the television series of the same name broadcast in 1955. Texts by Gaylord DuBois and Paul S. Newman; drawings by Bob Correa and Mike Sekowsky.