MediaMente: Milo Manara

Milo Manara

Interview

"Comic strips - from paper to bits" (Bologna - FUTURSHOW, 04/04/98)

Biography

Maurilio Manara (milomana@milomanara.it) was born in Luson (Bolzano) in 1945. In 1969 he debuted as an author of cartoon strips in "Genius", an erotic-thriller series published by Furio Viano. In 1970 he drew two editions of "Terror" and from 1971 to 1973 "Jolanda de Almaviva", an erotic series.In 1974 he created "Telerompo", a satirical revue with Saverio Pisu, and began to contribute to "Il corriere dei ragazzi".

In 1976 "Lo Scimmiotto" was published in Alterlinus with a script by Pisu. From 1977 to 1979 he worked for Larousse ("La storia di Francia", "La scoperta del mondo" and "La Cina"). He also worked on three episodes of "Storia d'Italia" by Enzo Biagi, published by Mondadori. In 1978 the first episode in the series "HP e Giuseppe Bergman" was published in the French magazine "A Suivre" by Casterman. It was the first script written by Manara.

In 1979 "L'uomo delle nevi"(script by Alfredo Castelli) was published by Cepim. In the same period "Alessio, il borgheserivoluzionario", with a script by Pisu, was published. In 1980 the second stroy in the series "Giuseppe Bergman" came out in France and 1982 saw the western cartoon strip "Quattro dita (l'uomo di carta)". 1983 saw the publication of "Tutto ricominciò con un'estate indiana", written by Hugo Pratt, considered one of his greatest. He worked with Pratt again on "El Gaucho". 1983 also saw the publication of "Il Gioco", published in Italy by Playmen, which was a great success.

In 1986 he had another great success with "Il profumo dell'invisibile", and in 1988 "Candid Camera" was published. "Il gioco 2" came out in 1991. Manara worked with Federico Fellini on "Viaggio a Tulum" and "Il viaggio di G. Mastorna detto Fernet". Another important collaboration was that of Manara and Pedro Almodovar ("La feu aux entrailles", Paris 1993). In 1994 the volume "Seduzioni" came out in Italy, in 1995 "Storie Brevi" and in 1995 "Gulliveriana".

In February 1996 the Internet site http://www.milomanara.it was opened. It was an immediate success, with almost one million "hits" in two years. In 1996 the first CD-Rom based on a Milo Manara story, "Gulliveriana", was published, followed in 1997 by "Il gioco del Kamasutra", based on a story created specifically for CD-Rom.