Roberto Raviola
Encyclopedia
Magnus, pseudonym of Roberto Raviola, (May 30, 1939 - February 5, 1996) was an Italian
Italian comics
Italian comics are comics made in Italy. They are locally known as fumetto – plural form fumetti – although this latter term is often used in English to describe a specific comic genre . The most popular Italian comics have been translated into many languages...

 comic book artist
Comic Book Artist
Comic Book Artist was an American magazine founded by Jon B. Cooke devoted to anecdotal histories of American comic books, with emphasis on comics published since the 1960s...

, regarded as one of the foremost cartoonists of all time in his country.

Biography

Born in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

 in 1939, Raviola lived there for his whole life.

Having worked as an illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

, he started his comics career and his association with Max Bunker
Max Bunker
Max Bunker, pseudonym of Luciano Secchi is an Italian comic book author.Secchi was born in Milan. His career started with a western style comic book Maschera Nera , in 1962, and went on to enjoy success with Kriminal and Satanik in collaboration with Magnus...

 in 1964 with the series Kriminal
Kriminal
Kriminal is an Italian comics series featuring an eponymous fictional character, created in 1964 by Magnus and Max Bunker, the authors of Alan Ford, Maxmagnus and Satanik.-Characters:...

. He took the pseudonym Magnus, from the Latin phrase Magnus Pictor Fecit ("A Great Painter Did It"). During the 1960s the duo became a mainstay of Italian comics creating successful series such as Kriminal
Kriminal
Kriminal is an Italian comics series featuring an eponymous fictional character, created in 1964 by Magnus and Max Bunker, the authors of Alan Ford, Maxmagnus and Satanik.-Characters:...

and Satanik (1964), Dennis Cobb, Gesebel
Gesebel
Gesebel was an Italian science fiction comic book, created by writer Max Bunker and artist Magnus , who had created several other characters such as Alan Ford, Kriminal and Satanik. Gesebel was published monthly by Editoriale Corno, from February 1966 to October 1967, ending with issues 23...

(1966, only first six stories by Magnus) and Maxmagnus
Maxmagnus
Maxmagnus is a comics series featuring an eponymous character, created in 1968 by Italian comic book creator Max Bunker and comics artist Magnus, for the magazine Eureka.-Synopsis:...

(1968).

In 1967 they started working on a new series resulting in the May 1969 release of Alan Ford. Magnus' atmospheric use of black and white launched a new comics genre called fumetti neri (black comics/adult comics).

After leaving the T.N.T Group in 1975, Magnus began an association with Renzo Barbieri
Renzo Barbieri
Renzo Barbieri was an author and editor of Italian comics and the founder of the publishing house Edifumetto. He was born in Milan, Italy. He wrote "Manual for Playboys" in 1967, a manual that describes where European playboys live, where they have vacancies, the car they use, and other such...

's publishing house. He devoted several years to research and the result was a revolution in the erotic comics genre. In the 1970s works like Midnight of Fire, Ten Knights and a Wizard, Vendetta Macumba and The Living Skull came out. Magnus continued creating the long saga The Outlaws and in 1975 he started the Lo Sconosciuto
Lo Sconosciuto
Lo Sconosciuto is an Italian comics series created in 1975 by Roberto Raviola, better known his pseudonym Magnus. It has been translated into English as The Specialist....

(a character whose lastname is Unknow, intentional misspelling of "Unknown") series, today considered one of Magnus' finest creations. In 1977 The Company of the Gallows series appeared.

During 1980s he created two heroines: Milady 3000
Milady 3000
Milady 3000 is an Italian comic series featuring an eponymous character, created in 1980 by Magnus for the magazine Il Mago. The series continued until 1984 , and was later published in France , in the United States , in Belgium and Spain.-Synopsis:Milady is Paulina Zumo, a haughty Imperial...

 (1980–1984) and Necron's Frieda Boher, written by Ilaria Volpe. Milady, translated also in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 on Metal Hurlant
Métal Hurlant
Métal Hurlant is a French comics anthology of science fiction and horror comics stories, created in December 1974 by comics artists Jean Giraud and Philippe Druillet together with journalist-writer Jean-Pierre Dionnet and financial director Bernard Farkas.The four were collectively known as "Les...

, is a science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 series where Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 culture, Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...

 and Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

' influences, erotism and technology are well mixed. Necron instead was a pornographic series, though Magnus' skills and humour manage to make it interesting.

Magnus briefly returned to Alan Ford in 1986, to draw the 200th episode.

Subsequently, inspired by eastern literature, he created The 110 pills, Fiori di prugno in un vaso d'oro and The Enchanted Women. In 1989 Magnus began his last work, a long story featuring the popular Italian western character Tex
Tex Willer
Tex Willer is the main fictional character of the Italian comics series Tex, created by writer Gian Luigi Bonelli and illustrator Aurelio Galleppini, and first published in Italy on 30 September 1948. It is among the most popular characters of Italian comics, with translations to numerous ...

, written by Claudio Nizzi
Claudio Nizzi
Claudio Nizzi is an Italian comic author.He started his career as comic scriptwriter in 1963, writing for the "Vittorioso", a comic newspaper. During 1969 he started to work for Il Giornalino creating many characters...

: for it Magnus completed 223 exceedingly detailed plates in 7 years of work, for which he used original sources for any historical element, and studied from live any natural detail such as leaves, light and trees. In August 1991 Magnus had moved to Castel del Rio
Castel del Rio
Castel del Rio is a comune in the Province of Bologna in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 35 km southwest of Bologna....

, near Bologna, where he spent his last years and died of cancer just few days before completing his Tex story.

External links

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