Dick Fulmine is the title character of an action comic book series. He was created in 1938 by the sports journalist (writer) and Carlo Cossio (artist).

Background

The character, an

Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

, is an undercover agent of the Chicago police, who often engages in fisticuffs. Fulmine was inspired by the boxer

Primo Carnera Primo Carnera (; 26 October 1906 – 29 June 1967) was an Italian professional boxer and wrestler who achieved international fame during the 1930s. He reigned as the boxing World Heavyweight Champion from 29 June 1933 to 14 June 1934. He won ...

.Franco Fossati, ''I grandi eroi del fumetto'', Gramese, 1990, pp. 90–91Claudio Carabba, ''Il fascismo a fumetti'', Editore Guaraldi, 1973, p. 54 Fulmine's jutting jaw was a reference to the popular and propagandistic physiognomic iconography of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

.Pietro Favari, ''Le nuvole parlanti: un secolo di fumetti tra arte e mass media'', 1996, p. 214 Dick Fulmine achieved a great popularity in the Fascist era, and in reason of its success the comic underwent several interventions by the MinCulPop (the Fascist Ministry of Popular Culture) in order to make his stories more nationalistic and moral. In 1942, MinCulPop even forced authors to change the facial traits of the title character in order to make him more handsome, an event that was justified in the comics telling that the character had been subjected to plastic surgery. With the outbreak of World War II, Dick Fulmine underwent an even more marked evolution to respond to changing political demands, turning from being a detective into a belligerent Italian soldier. Following the war, the character's success start to decline, and the series was interrupted in the second half of the 1940s. In 1955 it was terminated.

References

{{Reflist Italian comic strips Fulmine, Dick Fulmine, Dick 1938 comics debuts 1955 comics endings Crime comics Fulmine, Dick Fulmine, Dick Fulmine, Dick