Virtual Fools

Fumetti are Italian comic books.  They are laid out similarly to American comic books and to French bande dessinée.

As with the differences between Japanese anime and American superhero comics, fumetti are ostensibly understand-able to most audiences, but the cultural traditions of Italy tend to change how they are received and enjoyed.

Today I was lucky enough to stumble across a reprint edition of one of my favorite fumetti characters–indeed, one of the only fumetti characters I know about–Diabolik.  As longer term VF readers will glean, I am not the biggest comic reader, though you may have noticed my increased interest over the last two or so years.  I didn’t exactly grow up on comics, could never afford to collect them in any serious way, and was irrationally interested in too many other things to invest too much of my time in them.

This particular Diabolik fumetti, spine number 62, appears to embroil Diabolik in a pretty elaborate diamond heist.  I say “appears” because I don’t speak Italian.  Though these stories are easy enough to follow on their own, I miss the nuance because of my inability to speak Italian.

I should backtrack a bit.  Diabolik is a master thief (he “liberates” valuable goods from the over-rich, but isn’t quite up to Robin Hood’s nascent communism).  He looks like a badass ninja, but operates in a cultural context without ninjas.  The character was especially popular in the 1960s, which leads to why I know about him at all.

During the golden age of the international co-production, Mario Bava made a brilliant film of Diabolik, called Danger: Diabolik (1968) in the states.  Starring American John Phillip Law–who found extra popularity though his role in Roger Vadim’s Barbarella, which also adapted a comic book character who was popular in the 1960s and was similarly positioned as an internationalist film with an American star–Danger: Diabolik heightens just about every aspect of the written/drawn stories.  A quitessential comic film, it falls just as easily into the eurospy/lounge cycle of the time (i.e. Bond but weirder) as it does to our current understanding of what constitutes comic book adaptation.

Bava is the main reason for the film’s success.  His innovations and hand in the films successful transposition of comic aesthetics to screen can be seen, with loving detail, in Tim Lucas’ book Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark, widely regarded as one of the best film biographies ever.

Sadly, the DVD is now out of print, but can be purchased for reasonable sums (wait too long and it will become a “collector’s” item.

If you already own the disc, you’ll know that the real gem is the short documentary From Fumetti to Film, which explains the cultural background of fumetti and argues for why the film is one of the best comic adaptations (that, sadly, few peopel seem to know about).  You can watch the thing–it is about 20 minutes total–at this site, which also could be a good place to go to polish up on your Italian!

While you are at it, check out other stuff featuring Steve R. Bissette, the main commentator in the doc.  Bissette worked in the comic industry for years but now lectures to aspiring artists, writes film criticism, and publishes a staggering array of books.  His blog is no slouch, either, and his political commentary is always spot-on.

I’m sure that there are some American translations of Diabolik fumetti circulating out there.  As the reprint I just bought attests, it remains popular in Italy.  Hell, you can even buy a swanky t-shirt to impress your friends.

But wait, that’s not all.  Beastie Boys fans should be able to recognize Diabolik from the video to “Body Movin’”:

In fact, elements of Danger: Diabolik have cropped up in Roman Coppola’s CQ (2000) and last year’s Speed Racer. I will leave you with the film’s trailer, housed at Trailers from Hell: