Dylan Dog

Dylan Dog is an Italian comic series created by Tiziano Sclavi for Sergio Bonelli Editore. It was the first from this editorial dedicated to the horror and fantasy genre that, although in a very different way, recreated the Fumetto Nero genre. Soon, its protagonist became the second most popular and sold Bonelli character behind Tex.

It first appeared in Italy in October 1986, with the episode entitled L'alba dei morti viventi, with a plot and dialogue by Tiziano Sclavi and illustrated by Angelo Stano. After many years as a screenwriter, Sclavi has left the task of carrying out the continuity of the character to other authors.

Subsequently, it has been translated into many languages and published in several countries. Dark Horse Comics has published the English version of Dylan Dog in the United States. The series is also published in Croatia by Ludens, in Serbia by Veseli Četvrtak and Expik Publications, in Denmark by Shadow Zone Media, in the Netherlands by Silvester, in Poland by Egmont Polska, in Spain by Aleta Ediciones, and in Turkey by Rodeo y Hoz Comics.

The comics have been adapted into the American film Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (2010), starring Brandon Routh.

Plot

The stories deal with ghosts, witches, spirits, which actually reflect the concerns and fears of human beings. Many are reflections of well-known myths or works (Jack the Ripper, The Invisible Man, etc.) others are original stories; but without forgetting that, despite the supernatural that usually surrounds the plot, in the stories the true monsters are not fictional entities, but human beings driven by their fear or hatred to commit impious acts. But they are not the only topics that it deals with: love, hate, loneliness..., but also the lack of love and understanding. Despite this, the characters are not presented as mere stereotypes, Sclavi delves into his characters to give a vision of his personality, exposes the facts so that it is the reader himself who reflects.

Characters

Luca Maresca drawing with Dylan Dog, Groucho and his Volkswagen Escarabajo, exhibition "Dylan Dog e motori, gioie e orrori" (Rome, 2013).

• The protagonist is a researcher of the occult, whose name comes from the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas: it is the name that Tiziano Sclavi gives to all his characters before choosing their definitive names, only this time he did not make the change. The graphic characterization (made by Claudio Villa), is inspired by the actor Rupert Everett at Sclavi's request. Dylan Dog's dressing mode is one of its main features. Always dress the same way: blue jeans, black jacket, red shirt and Clarks shoes.
• Groucho is the assistant and comical replica of Dylan Dog, a cartoon of Groucho Marx.
• Inspector Bloch Scotland Yard, who often collaborates with Dylan Dog, putting the rationality that this one lacks. His appearance was inspired by the English actor Robert Morley.
• Jenkins He's Bloch's assistant.

Scenario

Most of the stories are set in the city of London, where Dylan Dog lives at 7 Craven Road, where he also receives his clients. The name of the street was chosen in honor of Wes Craven, screenwriter and producer.

The iconography of the world in which comics take place is full of references to the world of cinema, painting, music,... Some of these references refer to painters such as Picasso, Dalí, Magritte,... It is common for both the script and the drawings of some numbers to be related to these painters.

It also has numerous references to Heavy Metal or Jazz bands.

Crossovers

Dylan Dog has been the protagonist of several crossovers with other characters from Editorial Bonelli: Martin Mystère, Ken Parker, Mister No, Nathan Never, Dampyr, Napoleone and Morgan Lost.

In 2019, as part of a collaboration between Bonelli and DC Comics, a crossover with Batman was published.

Authors

Screenwriters

Tiziano Sclavi, the creator of Dylan Dog.

Tiziano Sclavi, Fabrizio Accatino, Carlo Ambrosini, Dario Argento, Andrea Artusi, Cristina Astori, Magda Bálsamo, Barbara or Bárbara Baraldi, Paola Barbato, Giovanni Barbieri, Lorenzo Bartoli, Davide Barzi, Marco Belli, Giovanni Barbieri, Giacomo Keison Bevilacqua, Alessandro Bilotta, Mauro Boselli, Diego Cajelli, Dennis Casale, Matteo Casali, Alfredo Castelli, Andrea Cavaletto, Claudio Chiaverotti, Francesco Ciampi (Ausonia), Gabriella Contu, Giuseppe De Nardo, Francesco D'Erminio (Ratigher), Fabrizio De Tommaso, Gabriele Di Benedetto (AkaB), Giovanni Di Gregorio, Giovanni Eccher, Bruno Enna, Tito Faraci, Giuseppe Ferrandino, Gianluigi Gonano (G. Anon), Giovanni Gualdoni, Giulio Antonio Gualtieri, Michelangelo La Neve, Ivo Lombardo, Carlo Lucarelli, Gianfranco Manfredi, Maurizio Mantero, Mauro Marcheselli, Giovanni Masi, Stefano Marsiglia, Giancarlo Marzano, Michele Masiero, Michele Medda, Silvia Mericone, Luigi Mignacco, Michele Monteleone, Cristina Neri, Pippo Neri, Alberto Os tini, Emiliano Pagani, Stefano Piani, Rita Porretto, Gianluigi Puccioni, Roberto Recchioni, Enea Riboldi, Renato Riccio, Davide Rigamonti, Mariano Rose, Federico Rossi Edrighi, Pasquale Ruju, Stefano Santarelli, Riccardo Secchi, Antonio Serra, Gigi Simeoni, Francesco Tedeschi, Veronica Tinnirello, Marcello Toninelli, Mauro Uzzeo, Cesare Valeri, Luca Vanzella, Bepi Vigna, Vanna Vinci, Robin Wood.

Cartoonists

Claudio Villa, the graphic creator of the character.

Angelo Stano, Gianluca Acciarino, Lola Airaghi, Giancarlo Alessandrini, Sergio Algozzino, Carlo Ambrosini, Mirka Andolfo, Flaviano Armentaro, Paolo Armitano, Ausonia, Paolo Bacilieri, Alessandro Baggi, Marco Bianchini, Daniele Bigliardo, Alessandro Bignamini, Enrique Breccia, Bruno Brindisi, Riccardo Burchielli, Chiara Caccivio, Ivan Calcaterra, Daniele Caluri, Giulio Camagni, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Fernando Caretta, Massimo Carnevale, Francesco Cattani, Luca Casalanguida, Giampiero Casertano, Claudio Castellini, Onofrio Catacchio, Giorgio Cavazzano, Luigi (Gigi) Cavenago, Fabio Celoni, Raul and Gianluca Cestaro, Andrea Chella, Francesco Ciampi (Ausonia), Fabio Civitelli, Gianluigi Coppola, Silvia Corbetta, Alessandro Crippa, Ugolino Cossu, Pietro Dall'Agnol, Roberto De Angelis, Lorenzo De Felici, Werther Dell'Edera, Luca Dell'Uomo, Simona Denna, Fabrizio Des Dorides, Fabrizio De Tommasso, Gabriele Di Benedetto (AkaB), Aldo Di Gennaro, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Maurizio Di Vincenzo, Patri zio Evangelisti, Lito Fernandez, Alfonso Font, Davide Furnò, Giovanni Freghieri, Pasquale Frisenda, Marco Galli, Luca Genovese, Sergio Gerasi, Davide Gianfelice, Alessandro Giordano, Ernesto Grassani, Stefano Landini, Massimiliano Leonardo (Leomacs), Claudio Lopresti, Emiliano Mammucari, Nives Manara, Domingo Mandrafina, Nicola Mari, Paolo Martinello, Alessia Martusciello, Giulia Francesca Massaglia, Corrado Mastantuono, Isabella Mazzanti, Attilo Micheluzzi, Giuseppe Montanari, Cristina Mormile, Paolo Mottura, Federico Nardo, Marco Nizzoli, Gabriele Ornigotti, José Ortiz, Alberto Pagliaro, Nicolò Pellizzon, Gabriele Pennacchioli, Fabio Piccatto, Luigi Piccatto, Valerio Piccioni, Alessandro Poli, Sergio Ponchione, Christopher Possenti, Giorgio Pontrelli, Stefano Raffaele, Luca Raimondo, Renato Riccio, Giovanni Rigano, Roberto Rinaldi, Giulio Rincione, Francesco Ripoli, Silvia Robustelli, Corrado Roi, Valentina Romeo, Luca Rossi, Federico Rossi Edrighi, Fabrizio Russo, Matteo Santaniello, Stefano Santoro, Giorgio Santucci, Franco Saudelli, Eugenio Sicomoro, Gigi Simeoni, Luigi Siniscalchi, Marco Soldi, Giorgio Sommacal, Claudio Stassi, Ferdinando Tacconi, Emiliano Tanzillo, Riccardo Torti, Gustavo Trigo, Cesare Valeri, Claudio Villa, Andrea Venturi, Daniela Vetro, Vanna Vinci, Stefano Voltolini, Francesca Zamborlini, Alberto Zanon.

Awards

• 2000: Name for "comic favorite" Eagle Award
• 2008: Nominee for "Comic Favorito Europea" Eagle Award