Quiz!

Hi all, two octopuses are fighting, but there's one arm too many. Can you tell which one?


(art by Carlo Peroni)

Cover artist: Carlo Jacono

I first saw a Giallo cover by C. Jacono at home, I guess... or was it at the railway station... or some newsstand near school? Can't remember where, but I grew up surrounded by his artwork, that's for sure -- it was everywhere!
Carlo Jacono (Milan, 1929-2000), one of the most famous artists of Italian illustration of the 20th century, worked for Mondadori (publisher of Gialli) for almost forty years,starting in 1950.

He was the one who started the red circle shape for cover illustrations, which became soon a well known brand of quality crime books.


Like most illustrators, his work spanned on quite the whole range of popular literature, such as SF ("Urania"), spy-stories ("Segretissimo"), magazines and advertisement.
Here are some Gialli from the 50's, 60's and 70's:





The 60's: Segretissimo's beautiful pin-ups:






Finally, fumetti came along, with series like Goldrake, Walalla, Jungla, Thrilling!, Wallestein, and many others.
The 70's and the crazy Goldrake fumetti covers:







Some more fumetti... Thrilling! covers resemble the Gialli ones:







This book, based on the exhibition held in Lucca on June 2008, has been a useful source of info.


Jacono's works were displayed along with the ones by two other talented artists: Ferenc Pinter and Karel Thole.

Italy's 150th Anniversary

A nice find

More Wicked Wanda! Not.

I just realized that the Wicked Wanda post is among the top three of the blog as far as foreign visitors are concerned.
Such popularity amazes me, considering the fact that in Italy it's a pretty unknown character.
Will I post more? Mmm, I know there's a stash of Penthouse mags somewhere... we'll see what future brings.
Until then, enjoy this brilliant cover from a 1993 issue.
(No Wanda strips inside...)

OMG, I can't believe I had to shell out 13,000 lire just for... the cover art!