''Satanik'' is an Italian

crime comics Crime comics is a genre of American comic book, American comic books and format of crime fiction. The genre was originally popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s and is marked by a moralistic editorial tone and graphic depictions of violence a ...

series created in December 1964 by Max Bunker (writer) and

Magnus Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...

(artist), also the authors of the popular series '' Kriminal'' and '' Alan Ford''.

Synopsis

Satanik is Marny Bannister, a skilled female

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

whose face is marked by an unpleasant angioma. One day, following a theory of a mad

alchemist Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

, she develops a drug which transforms her into a charming and fascinating red-haired (occasionally blonde) woman: but, as in Stevenson's '' The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'', the drug has an unexpected side effect, making her a murderous criminal mastermind. Satanik was innovative in that she took advantage of her sex appeal to conduct her crimes, with some proto-erotic scenes appearing in the series. It showed also a broad range of horror and supernatural themes like vampires, evil ghosts, and monsters. The series had several problems with censorship and some of the books were confiscated by authorities (like "Murder in the correction house"). The main antagonist of ''Satanik'' is the policeman Lt. Trent, whose companion Satanik had killed. After a ménage with the jewel trader Max Lincoln (#38-100), in the last numbers she gets engaged to Kriss Hunter, a black private detective. One of the villains of the series, the vampire Baron Wurdalak, later also appeared in the comedic-oriented series ''Alan Ford''.

Publication history

The

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

, in

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

digest format, was published for ten years. Magnus left after Issue 160. Other artists who worked on the series include Giovanni Romanini and Franco Verola. The last Satanik comic book was Issue 231 of October 1974, in which Satanik and her boyfriend seem to drown. Satanik was named ''Demoniak'' in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, in order to avoid confusion with '' Killing'', which had been translated in French as ''Satanik''. In

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

''Satanik'' was adapted into a

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

directed by

Piero Vivarelli Piero Vivarelli (26 February 1927 – 7 September 2010) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and lyricist. Vivarelli was born in Siena. After his father's death in 1942 at the hands of Yugoslav Partisans, Vivarelli joined the Republic ...

, starring Magda Konopka in the main role.

External links

Max Bunker Press

Fumetto nero

Complete list of ''Satanik'' stories at Comicvine

* Italian comics titles Italian comics Italian comics characters Crime comics Erotic comics Horror comics Comics characters introduced in 1964 Fictional murderers Magazines established in 1964 Magazines disestablished in 1974 1964 comics debuts Comic book digests Italian comics adapted into films Defunct magazines published in Italy Magazines about comics Italian-language magazines 1964 establishments in Italy 1974 disestablishments in Italy Comics about women Fictional chemists {{Italy-comics-stub