PKNA
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| PKNA - Paperinik New Adventures | |
 PKNA #0: Evroniani Art by Marco Ghiglione |
|
| Publisher | Disney Italia |
|---|---|
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Ongoing |
| Publication date | March 1996 - January 2001 |
| Number of issues | 52 |
| Main character(s) | Paperinik |
| Creative team | |
| Creator(s) | Alessandro Sisti |
PKNA - Paperinik New Adventures is a Disney comic, published in Italy from 14 March 1996 to 20 December 2000, about the new adventures of Paperinik, the superhero created in 1969 by Guido Martina and Giovan Battista Carpi, which served as Donald Duck's secret identity.
The first issue of the series was called Evroniani, and featured Paperinik's new alien enemies, the Evroniani (Evronians, or Evrons). Introduced in the same issue were Paperinik's two new allies, the A.I. Uno, who resides in the skyscraper Ducklair Tower, and Lyla Lay, a journalist and robot utilized by a time police organization based in the 23rd century.
The series was extremely well-received at the beginning of its run, and saluted as an unexpectedly innovative project for Disney, but this success was rather short-lived.
Contents |
[edit] Main characters
[edit] Minor Characters
[edit] Villains
[edit] Evroniani
The Evroniani are aliens, travelling in space aboard a giant planet-turned-spaceship named Evron. The species originated with the first Evron emperor a long time ago, and is organized similar to that of bee-hives, with each Evroniano having a predetermined caste and role since birth.
[edit] Other main villains
[edit] Themes, Arcs & Short Stories
[edit] Themes
The PKNA writers developed more adult themes than the classical Disney stories published in the Italian magazine Topolino. Throughout the series' run, they used themes such as: the relationship between man and robot; the struggle between what is right and what is logical; the essence of true love; the difference between mankind and other alien races; the essence of being a superhero; the relationship between knowledge and power; the importance of History and past historical events.
Among the writers of the Pk Team, were many talented and generally young authors: Francesco Artibani, Davide Catenacci, Gianfranco Cordara, Bruno Enna, Tito Faraci, Augusto Macchetto, Alessandro Sisti, Ezio Sisto. The PK project was seen as a testbed for a generation of new authors, who were given ample freedom to innovate, leaving behind many of the typical storytelling conventions of the company and creating a blend of the "classical" Disney comics and the American superhero comic books, which were a primary and acknowledged source of inspiration. Despite this, both the company and the public were deeply used to Disney characters being used for kid-friendly stories, so that a slow transition towards edgier storytelling and graphic depictions was required.
Especially in the first issues, there is a contrast between the harsh themes hinted at or explicitly introduced by the narrative and the depicted events. It is made clear since the beginning that the Evron empire has depopulated a number of worlds, killing or enslaving billions of intelligent aliens, and a main character clearly announces to have sworn to destroy the entire Evronian race in revenge: but the fights with the Evronians mostly feature the usual Disney slapstick violence, with no graphic depictions of any hero killing or realistically wounding an enemy (while entire starships could be destroyed in the background). Despite this, the Italian readers didn't decry the restraint but were content with scenes they deemed already audacious for a conservative comics company like Disney.
The character of Paperinik was firmly based in the established Topolino continuity as the superheroic secret identity that Donald Duck had already assumed long before the start of the series: but connections with the "classic" Paperinik stories was cut short since the first number, giving Donald completely new allies, weaponry and occupations. The appearances of the other Disney Club characters was reduced to a minimum, and many of them (like Gyro Gearloose and Huey, Dewey & Louie) were written off the story even if they were featured prominently in the previous Paperinik adventures. This reinforced the notion that PK was meant to be a "real superhero", existing in its own world, related to but fundamentally different from the mostly parodic and humorous Paperinik.
[edit] Arcs
[edit] Short stories
PKNA is also famous for its short side-stories that follow the main story in most issues. All of those short stories are more artistic than the regular main story.
The first series of short 8-page stories are Angus Tales and the main character is Angus Fangus. This series consist of 7 stories. All of those stories where mostly colored with yellow, orange, brown, gray and black ink, giving it a little "vanishing" atmosphere. The plot of those stories is usually about how Angus gets into trouble (there is usually a gangster or more involved), and how he gets out of it. All of the stories is drawn by Silvia Ziche.
The second series of the short 8-page stories are about Trip, Razziatore's son. This is the first of two series about Trip. The plot of this series is to introduce Trip.
The third series is of 8-page short stories is "Starring the great Burton La Valle". Burton La Valle is an actor from the 23rd century, and those stories is about Burton and what he does at work. This series is also experimenting with different styles of art. This series is one of the more artistic/experimental of all the short story series.
The fourth series (each story is still 8 pages) is about Evronians, and it's named "Evron - Extracts from the infoguide". There is not really a story or plot in this series, but the series gives information about the Evronian empire in an illustrated way.
The fifth series of the 8 page stories is about the Class 5Y Droid; Lyla Lay. Some of the stories are about some of her minor problems, and the rest of them is about her normal life.
The sixth series of short stories somewhat differ from the other series (except the third one) with the fact that there is no black outlines between different colored objects. Those short stories are about short happenings in Xhadooms life.
The seventh series of short stories is about "Behind the screens" at Chanel 00.
The eighth series of short stories is the second series about Trip. This series is introduced by the short story of issue #34, what is a side story of the main story in I PKNA #34. In this series, Trip has to draw it's own super-hero comic, and he ends up with a character named "Time-Boy". Time-Boy is Trips Alter-Ego.
The ninth series is the last series of 8 page stories. This series is about Everett Ducklair's normal life at a monastery in Siberia.
[edit] The Art of PKNA
- PKNA represented a change from the classic Disney comics style, such as Italian Topolino. The format of each PKNA issue was bigger and similar to that of American comics. The size and the order of the panels break the traditional six panels order, alternating splash pages, longer or flattered panels. Strong colorization, with monochromatic panel, is used to mark emotional moments or action. Inspiration also comes from Japanese manga and American comics, with the use of kinetic lines, eyes representation, and muscular characters drawn in an oblique way in the panels.
- The comic was a showcase for the talent of so many young, at the time, comic artists: Graziano Barbaro, Alessandro Barbucci, Fabio Celoni, Andrea Ferraris, Andrea Freccero, Francesco Guerrini, Ettore Gula, Stefano Intini, Alberto Lavoradori, Corrado Mastantuono, Paolo Mottura, Lorenzo Pastrovicchio, Manuela Razzi, Claudio Sciarrone, Stefano Turconi, Silvia Ziche and many others. They were almost all scholars of the great Giovan Battista Carpi.
- PKNA, with its revolutionary style, set the basis for other great Disney comics, such as MM Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine, W.I.T.C.H., Monster Allergy and many others.
[edit] Fanbase: the Pkers
- "Pker" is the name that identify a fan of PKNA. The term originated in the mail corner of the series and became very popular among the readers. To become a real pker, with the Pkard, readers were called upon to answer some questions about characters in some of the issues.
- One of the best moments for readers is the mail corner. Each issues is full of messages, most of them dealing with jokes and silly questions about PKNA, among which: the errors in the series, the Pk Team members, the creators of PKNA. Pk Team always answers in the same funny and silly way, often making jokes on the names of the fans. Due to the silliness of many questions it was believed by many pkers that Pk Team invented most of the letters, but they were indeed all true. The one responsible for answering fan questions was Fausto Vitaliano.
- Pkers were called to face four trials to gain the ultimate title of "Pk Action Hero". Among the trials were: having a shower in a telephone cab; skiing on the beach, in winter dress; walking on water; taking a photo with their own twin; meeting an alien. Not all the results were approved.
- Pkers of Sbonk Forum made a long term poll about the best issue of all the Pk series. The winner was PKNA #22 Frammenti d'Autunno. The second place was for PKNA #10 Trauma and the third for PKNA #20 Mekkano.
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- The drawings of PKNA #0/3 Xadhoom were credited to the infamous Paul Ackerman. Paul Ackerman is the pseudonym of Stefano Intini. He used that name because his drawings were heavily edited, due to criticism from Disney in America, because they didn't fit the traditional Disney style, especially in the representation of the duck bills.
- Claudio Sciarrone and Lorenzo Pastrovicchio were the most prolific artists in the PKNA issues.
- Patemi (Anxieties in English) is a fictional soap opera aired by the in-universe Channel 00, before the evening news. It reached an incredible audience in the series and Uno was one of its fans.
- Baldo l'allegro Castoro (Baldo the Happy Beaver) was named after Baldo, a character created by Luciano Bottaro, one of the greatest Disney authors.
- The name for the character "Odin Eidolon" is derived from both Russian and Greek. "Odin" is a Russian word meaning "one" in English or "uno" in Italian and it is also the name of the greatest of the Viking gods; Eidolon is an old Greek word: it means "Ghost" or "Simulacrum" or "Shadow".
- PRDQP: this acronym was created by the Pk Team due to the increasing number of letters sent to notify mistakes in the issues. In Italian it means "Poche Ragazze Da Quelle Parti" and in English "Few Girls Out There".
[edit] End of PKNA
Due to a decrease in sales, together with a lack of fresh ideas and many continuity errors, the authors believed that it was better to end the series. After issue #30, some short arcs were created, focusing on Xadhoom, Razziatore, Lila Lay, Due and other characters to finish their stories. The last issue is a double issue, in which Everett Ducklair appears, in the Dhasam Bull monastery, with a Book of Destiny. He changes past events to create a new timeline, and thus a new series, PK2, which got a mixed response from fans.
[edit] List of PKNA issues
Main article: List of PKNA issues
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Sbonk Forum in Italian.
| PKNA | |
| Media | | PKNA issues |
|---|---|
| PKNA Arcs | | Evroniani Arc | Xadhoom Arc | Lyla Lay Arc | Angus Fangus Arc | Razziatore Arc | Uno Arc | Due Arc | PBI Arc | Time Police Arc | Urk Arc | Belgravia Arc | Stand-alone Issues | Short stories |
| Characters | |
| Main: | Paperinik | Uno | Lyla Lay | Xadhoom | Razziatore | Angus Fangus | Everett Ducklair |
| Evroniani: | Evron | Gorthan | Grrodon | Trauma | Zondag | Zoster | Zotnam |
| Other Enemies: | Due | Belgravia Republic | Fenimore Cook | Geena | Organizzazione | Morgan Fairfax |
| Minor Characters: | Abraham L. Wisecube | Camera 9 | Colonel Neopard | Eugene Photomas | Leonard Vertighel | Mary Ann Flagstarr | Mike M. Morrighan | Odin Eidolon | Rangi Fangus | Stefan Vladuck | Trip | Urk | Clint E. Westcock | Ziggy Flagstarr |
