Topolino (from the Italian name forMickey Mouse) is anItalian digest-sized comic series featuring Disney comics. The series has had a long running history, first appearing in1932. It is currently published byPanini Comics.
Topolino giornale (1932-1949)[]
In 1932 the editor Mario Nerbini decided to open a new weekly newspaper for kids, containing illustrated tales with Mickey Mouse. The first number ofTopolino was published on December 31, 1932: it contained Mickey's first Italian story drawn by Giove Toppi. In this story Mickey Mouse was chased by an elephant. However Nerbini hadn't bought correctly the publication rights, so when Emmanuel (Disney's representative in Italy) protested, Nerbini changed the title of the comic book intoTopo Lino (Mouse Lino), replacing Mickey Mouse withTopo Lino, another mouse. When Nerbini bought the publication rights from Disney and KFS (King Featured Syndacate), he changed again the title intoTopolino.Floyd Gottfredson's stories made their debut intoTopolino #7 with a Sunday page featuring Mickey, Minnie and Morty and Ferdie.Topolino published mainly Mickey Mouse Sunday pages; the daily strips were published on the supplement to the newspaper.
Topolino had eight pages and published also non-Disney stories such asTim Tyler's Luck (Cino e Franco). In 1935Topolino publishedBobo the Elephant,Mickey Mouse and the sacred jewel andMickey Mouse and Pluto the racer. In the same year the publishing houseMondadori bought the newspaper; the first issue published by Mondadori was #137.
In 1937Topolino andI tre porcellini, Mondadori's newspapers for kids, merged intoTopolino - Grandi avventure (Mickey Mouse - Great Adventures). The number of the pages of the weekly increased from eight to sixteen. The first page published a story in instalments by Floyd Gottfredson starring Mickey Mouse and his friends; the other pages published American stories such asTim Tyler's luck as well as Italian stories such asSaturno contro la Terra, a story by Federico Pedrocchi where Rebo (the dictator of Saturn, he later appeared as Donald Duck's enemy in four Italian stories drawn by Luciano Bottaro) made his debut.
In 1938 the fascism forbade the publishing of American stories except Disney stories (Benito Mussolini's children did like Mickey Mouse).Topolino continued to publish Mickey Mouse stories until February 3, 1942 (#477, containing the last episode ofMickey Mouse in love trouble) when they were forced by fascism to stop publishing Mickey's stories.Mickey Mouse was replaced by Tuffolino, a human character very similar to Mickey. Tuffolino made his debut inTuffolino agente di pubblicità, a remake (starring non-Disney characters) of American storyMickey Mouse, super salesman (1941). Tuffolino and his friends (Milli, Clara) resembled very much Mickey and friends (Minnie, Clarabelle). Tuffolino's stories were written by Pedrocchi and drawn by Pierlorenzo De Vita. The newspaper had to cease all publications in December 1943 (#564).
In December 1945, Mondadori resumed publication ofTopolino. Because of the fall of fascism in Italy, Mondadori could publish again Mickey Mouse stories by Floyd Gottfredson.Topolino began also the publishing of Donald Duck stories byCarl Barks. InTopolino #713 the first episode ofTopolino e il cobra bianco was published; this was the first long Italian story to be published in the newspaper; it was written by Guido Martina and drawn by Angelo Bioletto. In 1949, Mario Gentilini,Topolino 's director, decided to convert the newspaper into a pocket comic book containing only Disney stories. The last issue ofTopolino (giornale) was #738; on April 10, 1949 the first issue ofTopolino digest (libretto) format was released.
Topolino libretto[]
Topolino #1 was released on April 10, 1949. It had 100 pages and its price was 60 lire. The first issue contained the final ofTopolino e il cobra bianco, the first episode of one of Barks long stories, Gottfredson'sMickey Mouse and the man of Tomorrow (the story where Eega Beeva makes its debut), and many stories about minor characters like Brer Rabbit, the Li'l Bad Wolf etc.Topolino was a monthly comic book.
Mickey's Inferno (L'inferno di Topolino) was the second Italian story to be published onTopolino (#7-12): it was the first Italian Great Parody and the first Disney story featuring credits (under the title of the story it is written "verseggiatura di Guido Martina", "verses by Guido Martina"). The third Italian story to be published wasTopolino e i grilli atomici (literallyMickey Mouse and the atomic crickets, #13-16). HoweverTopolino published mainly American stories by Carl Barks, Floyd Gottfredson, Paul Murry and others and in 1951 the comic book published only American stories.
In 1952, the comic book became a twice monthly, and Italian stories increased. Italian stories were written mainly by Guido Martina, who wrote the first great parodies of the classics of literature: in 1956 he wrotePaperino Don Chisciotte (a parody of Don Quixote) and in 1957 he wrotePaperin di Tarascona (parody of Tartarin di Tarascona),Paperino e il conte di Montecristo (parody ofThe Count of Monte Cristo) andPaperino e i tre moschettieri (parody ofThe Three Musketeers); these story were drawn by skillful artists such as Pierlorenzo De Vita and Luciano Bottaro. These parodies were successful among the readers, so many other writers such as Carlo Chendi, Dalmasso, Missaglia, and Scarpa began to wrote parodies. Theduo Chendi (writer)-Bottaro (artist) wrote many great parodies such asDr. Paperus (parody ofDr. Faustus),Paperino il paladino,Paperin Furioso (parody ofOrlando Furioso by Ariosto), andPaperino e il tesoro di Papero Magno. One of these parodies,Paperin Meschino (Martina/De Vita, 1958), revealed why Donald is persecuted by bad luck (Paperin meschino, one of his ancestors (he lived in the 15th century), was cursed by a witch: "You and all your descendants will be persecuted by bad luck for 1000 years!").
Romano Scarpa wrote and drew many masterpieces such asPaperino e i gamberi in salmì,Topolino e l'unghia di Kali (English: "Kali's Nail"),Topolino e la dimensione delta ("Mickey Mouse in the Delta Dimension"),Topolino e la collana chirikawa,Topolino imperatore della calidornia,Paperino e le lenticchie di Babilonia ("The Lentils from Babylon"),Paperin Hood. He also created many new characters such as Atomo Bleep-Bleep (Atomino Bip Bip), Trudy Van Tubb (Peg Leg Pete's girlfriend), andBrigitta MacBridge, a female duck enamoured of Scrooge (though Scrooge doesn't love her back). Rodolfo Cimino was initially Scarpa's inker; later he became a skillful writer. He wrote many stories about Scrooge's treasure hunts. He also createdReginella, an alien female duck enamoured of Donald Duck; unfortunately their love is impossible.
In 1960,Topolino became a weekly. In 1969, Guido Martina createdPaperinik (Duck Avenger), the superheroic alter ego of Donald Duck.Paperinik was originally the diabolic avenger of Donald Duck, and he originally committed criminal acts, i.e., stealing Uncle Scrooge's money (only a sack), in order to avenge Donald (Scrooge said to Donald "you aren't able to steal not even a nut from a squirrel"). Later he became a superhero.
Giorgio Pezzin was another skillful Italian writer. He wrote many sagas, i.e.I signori della galassia (The Lords of Galaxy, a sort of parody ofStar Wars),C'era una volta in America (Once Upon a time in America, a far west saga that tells the story of the USA through the lives of Mickey's ancestors) and The Time machine saga. In the time machine saga Mickey Mouse and Goofy are sent back in time through a time machine by Professor Zapotec and Professor Marlin of Mousetown's museum in order to resolve the great mysteries of history (i.e. "Why did Napoleon put always his hand in his pocket?").
Massimo De Vita was the son of Pierlorenzo De Vita. He drew many stories. He wrote also some stories, such as theIce Sword Saga starring Mickey and Goofy in a fantasy word threatened by the "Lord of the Mists". Another skillful artist wasGiovan Battista Carpi, who drew masterpieces such asPaperino missione Bob Fingher (Donald Duck mission Moldfinger) andPaperinik il diabolico vendicatore. He also wrote and drew some stories, such as the great parodiesGuerra e pace (War and Peace) andZio Paperone e il mistero dei Candelabri (parody ofLes Miserables by Victor Hugo).
Casty is another skillful writer and artist. Two of his stories featuring Mickey Mouse have been published in the USA in Walt Disney Comics and Stories.
External Links[]
 | This page uses content from the EnglishWikipedia pageTopolino. The list of authors can be seen in thepage history. Text from Wikipedia is available under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. |
