Alfredo Castelli

Alfredo Castelli (born 26 June 1947) is an Italian comic book artist and writer.

Biography

Born in Milan, Castelli began his comic book career at an early age, creating the strip '' Scheletrino'', a humor series for Italian comic book '' Diabolik'', when he was only 16 years old.

In 1966, with Paolo Sala, he created ''Comics Club 104'', the first Italian fanzine dedicated to comics. A year later Castelli started writing scripts for several Italian comic books, including ''Pedrito el Drito'' and ''Piccola Eva'' published by Universo, ''Cucciolo'' and '' Tiramolla'' for Edizioni Alpe, and ''Topolino'' for Mondadori.

Castelli then expanded into television, writing several advertisements as well as the series ''Cappuccetto a Pois'' with Maria Perego and the screenplay for the movie ''Il tunnel sotto il mondo''. In 1969 he contributed to the humor magazine ''Tilt''. A year later, together with Pier Carpi, Castelli created ''Horror'' magazine, in which he published his strip ''Zio Boris''. He then joined the staff of '' Il Corriere dei Ragazzi'' as editor/artist/writer. For this magazine he created ''L'Ombra'', a personal take on ''The Invisible Man'' drawn by Ferdinando Tacconi; ''Gli Aristocratici'', a group of gentlemen thieves, again with art by Tacconi; ''Otto Kruntz'', a mad scientist drawn by Daniele Faragazzi; and '' L'Omino Bufo'', an absurdist humor strip that Castelli drew himself.

In 1978 Castelli wrote for '' Supergulp'' magazine the adventures of Allan Quatermain, an explorer specializing in archaeological mysteries that foreshadowed Castelli's most famous creation.

In the same year Castelli began his cooperation with publisher Sergio Bonelli, writing stories for '' Zagor'' and ''Mister No''. Two years later, he submitted the idea for a new series to Bonelli based on a New York researcher who investigated scientific mysteries: after two years of gestation, in 1982 he created '' Martin Mystère''. The series, initially drawn by Giancarlo Alessandrini, marked a turning point in Italian popular comics history, introducing modern and sophisticated themes in a market dominated by traditional adventures aimed at a younger audience. ''Martin Mystère'' opened the door to many other ''new course'' characters, both from Bonelli and other publishers.

In 1983 Castelli and Guido "Silver" Silvestri resurrected '' Eureka'' magazine. However, it folded after only 12 issues. In 1992 Castelli launched the new series ''Zona X'', a spin-off of ''Martin Mystère'', that ran until 1999.

Castelli also wrote a book on the first 25 years of American newspaper comics (1895–1919), entitled ''Eccoci ancora qui''.

References

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Interview with Alfredo Castelli

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castelli, Alfredo
1947 births
Living people
Writers from Milan
Italian male writers
Italian comics writers