Sample file - DriveThruComics.com

le
mp
Sa
file
le
mp
Sa
file
Last night,
Boss, I’d like
a young woman who died
to take a look
of an overdose was
at Claudia’s
found
in atoskip
just like
It’s with great pleasure that I welcome you
the pages
of our European Comic
Journal, an informative
office.
this
magazine for graphic novel readers in the
UK one...
and Europe. Let me first take this opportunity to thank the
Dear reader,
Sa
mp
le
file
team who created this interesting and intriguing magazine, Giuseppe, Denise, Matthew and Nigel.
They have been fantastic through the ups and downs and it’s so amazing to see the response of our new
readership.
So please,
back and have a drink on me!
Her computer,
andgive yourself a well deserved pat on theBut...
No buts! Claudia
files… maybe I can figure
died
of overdose,
andhorror,
The
European
Comic
Journal
covers
a
wide
range
of
topics
within
the
fantasy,
science fiction,
Out
of
out what she had been
if interviews
it’s not the
it will
working
on and…
crime
and mystery
realms of graphic novels.the
Everyquestion!
issue also boasts
withcase
authors
and
be
the
police
who
I
know
what
illustrators, drawing masterclasses and much more. This first issue will open with a series of interviews
find and
out.illustrator of Orcs:
searches
with renowned European authors such as your
Stan Nicholls
and Joe Flood, author
are
like.
Forged for War, Giuseppe Di Bernardo author of both Desdemona and Adam 2.0 (our newest titles
presented at LSCC), Marco Guadalupi author of the heavy-metal horror Dark Rock Chronicles. Nigel Borg
and Giuseppe Pennestri’ write about their experience with translating/adapting Desdemona and Adam
2.0 to English. Last but not least is Umberto’s workshop describing the drawing technique of our beautiful
cover, dedicated to Orcs and barbarian fantasy.
With your knack
So it is with greatest pleasure
I give you
theoffice
first issue of the European Comic Journal. I hope you
for that
disorder
that
enjoy our magazine.
You think of your
will be unusable for who
own programme, The Sleepless.
knows how long. Where
You’re just a deejay, Desdemona,
would I send D.J. Fasso to
Thank you,
don’t get it in your head to play
do his press review then?
detective again.
Marcella Pennestri’
It’s time… should
I send
Editor-in-Chef
out the programme’s
song?
Now get ready…
it’s almost midnight,
and you need to go
on the air.
3
Asshole!
No, open the mic first.
I’d like to say something
before the jingle.
N.1 - MARCH 2015
COMICS PUBLISHING
CREDITS
mp
le
file
Editor-in-Chief: Marcella Pennestrì
Publisher: Giuseppe Pennestrì
Cover: Umberto Giampà
Graphic Designer: Denise Di Prima
Contributors: Nigel Borg, Mathew Perryman, Giuseppe Di Bernardo
Sa
Any statements made, expressed or implied in European Comic Journal
are solely those of columnists or persons begin interviewed and
do not represent the editorial position of the publisher, who does not accept
responsability for such statements.
European Comics Journal © DieGo Comics Publishing Ltd 2015. All Rights Reserved.
All contents in this magazine copyright © DieGo Comics Publishing Ltd 2015 All Rights Reserved
DIEGO COMICS PUBLISHING LTD
77 GRANSDEN HOUSE,
SE8 3QL LONDON
UNITED KINGDOM
www.diegopublishing.co.uk
OUR DIGITAL TITLES
www.drivethrucomics.com
4
[ARTICLES]
EUROPEAN
Comics
JOURNAL
The Monster of Florence
Written by Giuseppe Di Bernardo
English adaptation by Giuseppe Pennestri & Matthew Perryman
F
Sa
mp
le
file
lorence is not only the city of the Renaissance, the beauty of Michelangelo’s David and Botticelli’s
Venus or the glittering shops of high fashion. Florence is also a city that hides a dark soul, every bit
as morbid as the news stories that have, for decades, bloodied its rolling, green hills.
The monstrous story that I’m about to tell you, one that has deeply influenced my life, occurred on the
night of September 14, 1974 in Borgo San Lorenzo, a small village a few kilometres from Florence. It is
a Saturday, on that fateful night, when Pasquale Gentilcore, 19 years old, and Stefania Pettini, 18, park
in a secluded clearing in their Fiat 127. The young couple are looking for intimacy, but instead of finding
caresses, find death. Around midnight, a gunshot shatters the car window. More shots follow - five .22
caliber bullets kill Pasquale. Stefania is also reached by the shots - three of them - but she is only wounded.
Somebody then grabs her and drags her out of the car, stabbing her three times in the chest.
The murderer then leaves the lifeless body of the girl, goes back to the car and sneaks up on the man’s
body with a knife. Back then to Stefania, stabbing her ninety-six more times and finishing the assault by
inserting a vine in the vagina of the victim.
The horrific crime was attributed to an unknown sex maniac and it all ended there, forgotten for seven long
years, until June 6, 1981. This time we are in Scandicci, a suburb of Florence. A Fiat Ritmo is parked in a
country lane. In the car is Giovanni Foggi, 30, and Carmela De Nuccio, 21. The next morning an off-duty
cop, taking a walk with his ten year old son, sees the car with the left window smashed. Inside is Giovanni,
lying in the driving seat, half-naked and dead. Out of the car, in a ditch, is the supine body of Carmela.
When the police arrive they find her dressed up but with a cut that opened the jeans from the leg up to the
waist. Through the hole in the jeans, someone has completely removed the pubis with only three incisions.
The ballistics expert who examines the shell casings finds that they have come from the same gun, a
Beretta .22. Four months later, in the parking lot of a mall in the country of the town of Calenzano, still in
the Florence district, there is a black Volkswagen Golf with the left window smashed. There are, similarly,
two people outside of the car. Stefano Baldi, 26, on the left in a ravine, shot four times then finished off
with four stab wounds. Susanna Cambi, 24, in a gutter drain, shot five times and stabbed twice, once in
the left breast. Someone has removed the pubis with three incisions, very deep, rawer than those inflicted
on poor Carmela De Nuccio. Seven .22 Long Rifle Winchester shells are found at the scene of the crime.
Detectives now begin to see a pattern. The method is the same, and for the first time in Italy it comes to
serial killers. June 19, 1982, seven months later. The shadow of the Monster of Florence stretches down
the main road of Montespertoli Baccaiano, twenty-five kilometres south of Florence. Paolo and Antonella
have just stopped with their Seat 147, or perhaps they are leaving, when they are hit. A shot for Paolo,
who is bent over the steering wheel to start, and a shot for Antonella. Paolo, wounded yet somehow coherent, starts the engine. Unfortunately, he ends up with the rear wheels in a ditch on the opposite side of
the road. The boy was unable to save his partner from death, but spared her from the shaming ritual that
5
N.1 - MARCH 2015
Sa
mp
le
file
is now emblematic of the
​​ Monster of Florence. Paolo is still alive when the police arrive, but he will die in
hospital before regaining consciousness, before he is able to provide investigators with any information.
Antonella is dead. This time he didn’t prevail on Antonella, perhaps because the car was in the middle of
the road, perhaps because it was all too visible. But the nine shells found on site are still .22s. While the
terror of the ogre who kills couples spreads through the cities of Dante and Carlo Lorenzini, the police
investigation focuses on the murder weapon. It is discovered that it has already fired in the summer of
1968, in circumstances too similar to be coincidence.
A man who lives near Signa is awakened by a loud ring. When he looks out, he faces a scene that makes
him suspect he is still dreaming. At the front door there is a six year old child, who tells him that his mother
and uncle have died in their car. The car is a Alfa Romeo Giulietta, hidden in a clearing on the bank of the
Vignone creek. Inside are a man and a woman, killed by four shots each, .22s. They were making love in
the reclined passenger seat. On the back seat was the child, Natalino, six years and eight months. He was
sleeping, woken by the shots. A man took him in his arms and led him up in front of that house.
For this crime there is a murderer, and he is in jail. His name is Stefano Mele, husband of the woman killed.
He tells the detectives that he threw away the gun. He is sentenced to sixteen-years and, at the time of the
crimes of the Monster, is still in jail. The Monster cannot be him, because he strikes yet again.
September 9, 1983. Giogoli, near Scandicci, a van is parked in the middle of a clearing. It’s Friday night
and inside are two German boys, Horts and Uwe, both 24 years old, lying on a mattress that covers the
floor of the van. Someone comes up and shoots seven shots through the side windows, hitting the two
German boys with extreme precision. When the shooter opens the van doors, he realizes that, instead of
a couple, they are two boys, one with long blond hair. Then he goes, no doubt disappointed, leaving only
the same Long Rifle Winchester shells. “The Monster made a mistake,” says the newspaper headlines.
Perhaps this feeds the Monster’s ferocity. The psychosis of the serial killer goes amok. The walls of Florence and nearby towns are covered by disturbing posters with a reptilian eye. The notice reads: “WATCH
OUT, KIDS! YOU COULD BE ATTACKED. “ July 30, 1984, nine months after the murder of the German
boys: Claudio Stefanacci and Pia Rontini are in a Fiat Panda, parked at the bottom of a lane in Boschetto
di Vicchio, thirty-five miles north of Florence. They are making love on the back seat when one of the
windows breaks. Pia gets up instinctively and is shot in the face. There are then two stab wounds to Pia
and ten to Claudio. Pia is pulled out of the car and mutilated with three stabs to the pubis, but this does not
seem to be enough for the beast killing in the Florentine countryside, so he also removes her left breast.
Since 1984, the investigation of the Monster of Florence has become less thorough. An Anti-Monster
task-force known as the SAM (Squadra Anti Mostro) was set up, formed by qualified police officers and
Carabinieri (e.n. the Italian national military police). At the head of this task-force is Dr. Ruggero Perugini,
a detective expert in criminology, graduated from the FBI Academy in Quantico where there is a unit specialising in the study of serial killer behavior.
September 8, 1985 provided the stage for the final act of this bloody nightmare. San Casciano, twenty kilometres south of Florence. Along via degli Scopeti, in a clearing in a grove, a French couple have pitched
a tent a few steps from their Volkswagen. They are Nadine and Jean-Michel, making love when someone
rips through their tent with a knife and then shoots them. Nadine dies immediately following three shots in
the head. Jean-Michel, wounded, escapes into the woods but does not make it. Someone stabs him in the
back and his throat is cut. Nadine is dragged out of the tent, mutilated through removal of the pubis and
left breast. Then she is returned to the tent and, for the first time, hidden.
An act of mercy? No, a diabolical plan. An envelope is sent from San Piero a Sieve, a small village forty
kilometres out of Florence, to deputy attorney Silvia Della Monica, the only woman who takes care of the
6
Sa
mp
le
file
Monster’s crimes. Inside the envelope is a piece of Nadine’s left breast.
It just so happens, perhaps due to the well-known slowness of the Italian
postal service, that the bodies of the French couple are found before the
deputy attorney receives the letter. The intent of the Monster is clear: to
challenge the investigators who are after him. Make them aware that
there was a crime, but without them knowing where and the identity of
the victims. With this savage murder of 1985 closes the phase of murders
attributed to the “Monster of Florence”, and so begins the phase of detective work, suspicions and convictions. Pietro Pacciani, a farmer from San
Casciano, becomes the focus of the investigation. A violent man who raped his daughters, a murderer, who is found in possession of some items
deemed to belong to the pair of young Germans. Pacciani’s premises are
searched and a 22-caliber bullet is found in his garden. Pacciani is convicted for the murders, but things seem a little too convenient. Something,
as it usually is, is amiss. More people are involved, known to the public as
“i compagni di merende” (the snacks fellowship). Pacciani is discharged
after the appeals trial, while his alleged associates are sentenced. Shortly
before the third phase of the case, Pietro Pacciani dies in unclear circumstances - apparently, he took the wrong drugs. But could an illiterate
peasant keep the police at bay for so many years? Then many witnesses
start to die, all killed with techniques typical of the secret services. The
prosecutors do not see clearly and begin to consider the possibility of a
second level of highly placed personages ready to commission the crimes
to put their hands on the Monster’s fetishes. And so rises the esoteric
hypothesis that implicates a diverted branch of Masonry that would cover
the instigators, including a well-known doctor from Perugia, found dead in
the waters of Trasimeno Lake. During the investigation ‘houses of horror’
are found, secret societies and Satanic covens, turning the story of the
Monster of Florence from crime to something much darker. There are those who connect the murders with the ‘strategia della tensione’ (strategy
of tension) and ‘gli anni di piombo’ (Years of Lead); there are also those
accusing one of the detectives who led the investigation, those accusing
writers and journalists and those who continue to point the finger at an isolated victim to the demons that dwell in his mind. The identity of the Monster of Florence is not at all clear, even today, but its cumbersome presence was prime in drafting the adventures of Desdemona. The graphic novel
is filled with adventures that combine stories of crime with a reality that is
unthinkable for some, unbelievable for most. Occult textures bind the city
of Florence. Wires are invisible to the distracted eyes of tourists, which
focus only on the artistic beauty of the place. But like a golden casket set
with precious stones, they jealously guard the bloody fetishes of humans
no different to the great artists.
7
N.1 - MARCH 2015
Stan Nicholls
Interviewer Giuseppe Pennestri
How did your collaboration with Joe Flood on the Orcs graphic novel come about?
Sa
mp
le
file
My Orcs books were spotted by artist and film-maker Joann Sfar, who’s a leading figure in the new wave
of French comic book creators. Joann kindly recommended them to Mark Siegel, Editorial Director of New
York graphic novel publisher First Second Books, and Mark was keen on a graphics version. I loved the
idea of seeing my characters move into a different medium, and Mark suggested that I might like to come
up with a new story instead of adapting the existing novels. While I set about working that out, Mark began
auditioning artists, and eventually picked Joe Flood, best known for his Hellcity strip.
This was going to be my first real graphic novel. By which I mean the first one that was entirely based on
my own work. I’d worked on two graphic novels before, in the 1990s, when I adapted my late friend David
Gemmell’s books Legend and Wolf in Shadow into graphic novel form, which were illustrated by Chris
Baker under the pen name Fangorn. My only other experience of the form was writing a handful of short
strips for comic books. But this wasn’t an adaptation like the Gemmell books; it was an original story, and
consequently a different kind of challenge.
It seemed to me that novel readers and graphic novel readers aren’t necessarily the same audience,
although there is some crossover. So I assumed that at least a portion of the graphic novel’s readership
would be coming to my Orcs universe for the first time. Because of that I felt I needed to introduce new
readers to the set-up. I also had to convey to Joe and Mark the feeling I wanted to put over – the essence
of the concept, you might call it. What I did on those earlier graphic novels and strips was write scripts in
the traditional way. In others words I described what the panels should show and what would go in the
dialogue balloons and captions. But what I decided to do in this case was write the thing as a short story,
a fully rendered piece of fiction, exactly as I would if it was intended to be published in an anthology or
magazine. It ended up running to over 20,000 words, and I called it Fit for Purpose. Later, the title was
changed to Orcs: Forged For War, and with some changes became the basis of the graphic novel. That
story’s never been published anywhere in its original form, but it’s going to be included in a collection of my
short stories due out in October 2013.
How did you like working with Joe Flood?
Very much. It was a good, creative experience. When I finished writing the story on which the graphic
novel was going to be based, my plan was that once our editor had approved it, and Joe was happy with
it, I’d move on to converting it into a script. But Joe thought the story was descriptive enough that he could
work directly from it, and basically adapted it himself. He did a great job.
8
[INTERVIEW]
EUROPEAN
Comics
JOURNAL
I try to write my books on two levels, and did my best to carry this over into the graphic novel.
The surface level’s intended to be pure entertainment. If readers get no more out of the narrative, that’s
fine. But dig deeper and you’ll find a little more. The fantasy genre’s mature enough now that it can carry
observations about concerns in the real world, in the here and now. In the Orcs novels and the graphic
novel those concerns include how outsiders are treated, environmental issues and the nature of violence
and of faith. Not that I’d like to give the impression that my books are polemics. I’m not trying to lecture
people. Conveying this sort of topics in prose novels, as a kind of undercurrent or subtext, is one thing. In
a graphic novel it’s more difficult, given you have less room for exposition and by necessity you’re not going
to overload it with words. It’s to Joe’s credit that he understood what I was trying to do, and that meant we
worked well in harness.
Did you have a say in the creation of the graphics? Could you give directions and advice?
Sa
mp
le
file
Yes I could, and where necessary I did. Before we started we had detailed conversations about the characters, the settings and what you might call the general flavour of the project. Once we were underway I
was always available if Joe needed any explaining or clarifying. Having said that, I’m a strong believer in
letting experts get on with their job. I’m a writer, not an artist, and I wouldn’t dream of telling someone like
Joe how to go about his business any more than he’d tell me how to put the words together. To quote the
old expression, “What’s the point in owning dogs and barking yourself?” Not that I’m saying Joe’s a dog! I
got to see pages as they were pencilled, and providing everything was going well I left Joe to work in peace.
Incidentally, the whole thing was put together via email and the occasional phone conversation; Joe and
I have yet to meet in the flesh. It’s the sort of collaboration that would have been very difficult before the
advent of modern technology. We were helped enormously by the fact that First Second gave us an almost
entirely free hand. They believe in the integrity of the creators and let us get on with it. It was a demonstration of trust we both really appreciated.
How does a visual work of art, like a comic or graphic novel, differ from a written piece?
What issues has an artist to consider? What are the aims?
In many ways the two forms, and the aims of both, don’t differ very much. Whether a novel or a graphic
novel the hope is that the reader will find the content accessible, consistent and satisfying. Not to mention
readable! In the case of graphic novels, of course, there’s the additional requirement that the artwork’s
pleasing. There’s a certain method involved in novel-writing, whereby plot, structure, pace, characterisation, dialogue and all the other elements combine to form a coherent whole. Naturally there’s a mechanism
in the creation of graphic novels as well, and much of it’s the same as in a prose novel, though there are
important differences. Perhaps the most obvious is achieving the correct balance between pictures and
words, with an emphasis on the former because this is a predominantly visual medium. You learn that
captions, if you have to have them at all, are redundant unless they tell you something the pictures don’t.
You see the wisdom in not overloading dialogue balloons, and how narrative sequences flow better when
unburdened by verbose explanations. You also come to appreciate the power of colour; not to mention
how, sometimes, an absence of colour can have an impact.
The most important thing for the artist to consider is how to harmonise their approach and style with the
writer’s intentions. Which isn’t to say that they should simply act as a cipher – it’s vital that they should
follow their instincts and be open to ideas that occur while they’re in the process of creation. In exactly the
same way that an author needs to be receptive to ideas that strike when writing and not stick rigidly to an
outline. Flexibility’s vital to both disciplines.
9
N.1 - MARCH 2015
Joe Flood Interview
Interviewer Marcella Pennestri
Q. How did your collaboration with Stan Nicholls on the Orcs graphic novel come about?
A. I was contacted by Mark Siegel at First Second Books about doing some sketches based on Stan’s Orcs
series. Another artist brought the concept of an Orcs graphic novel to Mark but after seeing my
interpretation of Stan’s work, Mark decided I would be the best for the job. It wasn’t until I read Stan’s
short story “Fit for Purpose.” (the work I would directly adapt into the Orcs; Forged for War graphic novel.)
that I was in direct contact with Stan, who I corresponded with
mostly via email.
Q. It has been your first approach to a graphic novel, what
does this experience meant from the point of view of your
artwork?
Sa
mp
le
file
A. It’s a common misconception that this is my first graphic
novel. Image comics published Hellcity, written by Macon
Blair, in 2009. They’re an indie publisher, so Orcs is my first
graphic novel with a major publisher, so it’s the first book most
people are aware of. Doing a book for First Second was a
world of difference compared to Image (I had finished drawing
Hellcity a year before Image even became involved.). I had
an editor and was responsible for adapting the writing of a
well established author with an enormous fan base. I thought
about these new circumstances often but never let it
negatively effect my artwork or keep me from illustrating the
book the way I wanted to.
Both Mark and Stan completely supported me in my vision of what this world would look like.
Q. The setting seems at times brutal with the presence of powerful and violent characters, how have you
been able to manage the chaos in the various plates due to the presence of so many characters?
A. I subscribe to the belief that less is more. A story filed with so much blood, mayhem and epic battles,
I tried to show just enough to excite the reader without overwhelming them. To be fair, the graphic novel
is brutal, but some of the more graphic violence is implied as compared to Stan’s novel’s which are very
explicit. I attempted to do the same with the details, if you try to show too much detail in a large crowd or
battle you will loose focus on what is vital to the storytelling.
Q. The impression that one has in a first observation of your orcs is that they have been “humanized”, did
you make a study with reference to characters or events carried from other fantasy world?
A. I tried to avoid directly referencing any well know fantasy world. I don’t consider myself a fantasy
10