Roberto Raviola

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Magnus.

Magnus, pseudonym of Roberto Raviola, (30 May 1939 - 5 February 1996) was an Italian comic book artist, regarded as one of the best cartoonist of all time in his country.

[edit] Biography

Born in Bologna in 1939, Raviola lived there for his whole life.

He started his career and his association with Max Bunker in 1964 with the series Kriminal. He uses the pseudonym Magnus, derived from the Latin saying Magnus Pictor Fecit. During the 1960s the duo became a mainstay of Italian comics creating successful series like Kriminal and Satanik (1964), Dennis Cobb, Gesebel (1966, only first six stories by Magnus) and Maxmagnus (1968).

In 1967 they started working on a new character: in May of 1969 Alan Ford came out. Magnus' use of black and white to create certain atmospheres launched a new comics genre called Black comics.

After leaving the T.N.T Group, Magnus began an association with Renzo Barbieri's publishing house. He devoted these 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 (a character whose lastname is Unknow, intentional misspelling of "Unknown") series, which is considered today one Magnus' finest creation. In 1977 The Company of the Gallows series appeared.

During 1980s he created two heroines: Milady 3000 (1980-1984) and Necron's Frieda Boher, written by Ilaria Volpe. Milady, translated also in France on Metal Hurlant, is a science fiction series where Chinese culture, Flash Gordon and Star Wars' influences, erotism and technology are well mixed. Necron instead was a pornographic series, though Magnus' skills and humour manage to make it interesting.

Subsequently, inspired by oriental literature, he created The 110 pills, Fiori di prugno in un vaso d'oro and The Wnchanted Women. In 1989 Magnus began his long adventure in the creation of his big story of the popular Italian western character Tex - 223 astonishingly detailed plates in 7 years of work. In August 1991 he moved to Castel del Rio, near Bologna, where he spent his last years.