Italian history of DC Comics

[Klar Ken T5477]

Telle, that Flash Gordon being written by Fellini may be a myth invented by the Maestro himself who was fond of such embellishments.

Fellini did write and draw a strip "Il Bimbo Atomico" - the Atomic Kid was was more cartoony than 'realistic".

Ill check my Rizzoli Fellini ed to double check anyway..........

Too bad he dident get to do the Dino D Flash Gordon film or his dream project Mandrake with Marcello M which was hinted at in "Intervista" that Fellini also did for Euro-Vogue as a fumetti.

[TELLE]

Klar, I need to know!

[Genis Vell]

In 1993, after 5 years, Rizzoli left the rights for Superman in Italy. At last, Play Press could publish a new DC title! They began with the Italian edition of the DEATH OF SUPERMAN TPB and, a few days later, a new Superman regular series arrived in the newsstands after almost 10 years. The biweekly SUPERMAN by Play Press was one of the greatest success in the super heroes history here, at least for an year. Soon new series arrived, while GREEN ARROW, JUSTICE LEAGUE and all the rest were cancelled months before. The new series were LOBO, SUPERMAN CLASSIC and FLASH. LOBO was another greatest hit, SC was the chronological and complete edition of the post-Crisis Superman, FLASH started with the Waid/Wieringo run and GL as a backup (with the Hal's madness saga).

That was a very good period for DC, because there were good comics in a good edition. Superman became really popilar, so there were several projects about him: GLI ARCHIVI DI SUPERMAN (Eng: "SUPERMAN ARCHIVES"), an 8 issue miniseries containing the first 4 SUPERMAN ARCHIVES in lowpriced softcover; SUPERMAN: LE PIU' GRANDI STORIE MAI NARRATE (Eng: "SUPERMAN: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD"), a 3 issue miniseries presenting the stories reprinted in the US in the old tpb; special issues in new series like DC COLLECTION and DC PRESTIGE, which presented miniseries and specials.

In 1995 BATMAN Glenat was cancelled, so Play Press had the rights for Bruce Wayne, too. BATMAN was another popular book, and the publisher relased a lot of Bat special and miniseries. BATMAN SAGA published the Knightrilogy and LE AVVENTURE DI BATMAN (Eng: "BATMAN ADVENTURES") was the comic book version of the animated series (arrived before the main title).

PLAY MAGAZINE was the flagship title, with comics and articles about DC. The mosaic was completed by WONDER WOMAN/CATWOMAN, a flip book started with the "Wonder Artemis" saga and the new Selina series by Grant and Balent.

This was probably the best period for DC in Italy. But it couldn't endure.

In 1997 a great crisis hit the Italian market: just like in the US, there were too many comics, often low quality ones, and nobody could buy everything. Several Image and Dark Horse were cancelled, so various Marvel reprints. And what about DC? Play Press cancelled several series, so only SUPERMAN, BATMAN, LOBO NUOVA SERIE, PLAY MAGAZINE and the new JLA title were left. In 1998/99 the situation became more tragic, because SUPERMAN and BATMAN became monthly books. In summer, 1999, SUPERMAN was cancelled with issue #124/125 and BATMAN with #81/82 (note: in july PP made "double issues" because in august they didn't release any comic). In fall they tried again with SUPERMAN NUOVA SERIE and BATMAN NUOVA SERIE. They contained the Berganza relaunch and the "No man's land" saga, and were very good. Cancelled JLA and LOBO NS, they were the only DC books left. In early 2001, respectively with issue #15 and #20, these series said goodbye to Italian readers...

- To be concluded!

[Genis Vell]

The 2001 crisis caused several troubles to Italian readers, and of course DC titles were the most important victims. But Play Press didn't fail! In fact, the publisher cancelled the newsstands titles, but began their publication for comics shops only. A situation similar to yours.

So, in 2001 started the quarterly SUPERMAN TRADE PAPERBACK and BATMAN TRADE PAPERBACK, which continued the run of the previous monthly series. Well, readers weren't so glad to read Superman and Batman in that more expensive form, but it was better than to see they nevermore.

Plus, in the comics shops arrived new collections of the most recent titles, like GREEN ARROW (the Smith series), WONDER WOMAN (from the Jimenez run on) and JSA (but only tpb 1 was released). These series were added to JLA TPB, which started in 1999 after the conclusion of the monthly series. These editions aren't so bad, except for certain defects like "flying pages" (luckily, this isn't anymore).

Meanwhile, in 2000/01, Panini Comics, another Italian publisher, bought the rights of DC for Germany. Several readers hoped to see the Panini Logo on Italian DC books, too, but it never happened, so Play Press still owns the rights for Superman and the rest of the gang.

In 2003, a good news: at last, a monthly series again (but for comics shops only): DC UNIVERSE. It's a low priced book containing 3 stories (it costs 5 €, i.e. $6, 70 circa...), chosen among the most popular DC comics released in the US. It presented stories like "Hush", BIRTHRIGHT, FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE JUSTICE LEAGUE... Not bad.

Now there is a good quantity of DC publications here: SUPERMAN TP, BATMAN TP, GREEN ARROW, OUTSIDERS, WONDER WOMAN, DCU and some special tpb like IDENTITY CRISIS.

The big change arrived in march: at last, 4 years after the cancellation of SUPERMAN NS and BATMAN NS, Play Press released a new newsstands title: BATMAN MAGAZINE. And, in summer, another series: SUPERMAN MAGAZINE. It was about time: in the past years Marvel, Wildstorm and Vertigo, too, were in newsstands expositors... But not the DC Universe. And, who knows, things could be better!

Our problem is that we haven't a "DC culture", here. We hadn't DC Comics in important periods like the mid '70s and the late '80s, when Marvel was alone and, so, the most popular. But DC has several fans, here... Who want to read DC superheroes in every way, for example purchasing the American editions (me, too). I hope that the return in newsstands can really better the situation: DC has great character, and they deserve a larger audience.

I hope you enjoyed with all this... Because we arrived to

                                                -THE END-

[davidelliott]

This was a great read... it's weird to think that there are parts of the world that don't have regular DC Comics publishing....