- One day in 1980 I mentioned to my agent and
publisher that I would like to make a full-colour comic strip
in oils, the same technique I used with the book covers. Despite
I had never made comics before (apart from some cartoons destined
to my own enjoyment), my agent gave me carte blanche.
My idea was to experiment with a short story, that would cover
the colour section in the Cimoc magazine for a couple of issues.
The story had to be very graphic, with little texts and some
wit at the end: maybe a World War II aerial battle, replacing
planes with dragons, could be interesting. I didn't want a
name for the main character, and finally called him by his
job, "The Mercenary", because it described well
his features. The settings had to justify the presence of
flying dragons and so I imagined a remote valley, isolated
by a layer of perennial clouds. My intention was to achieve
a certain logic, with the readers' complicity, of course.
I made that way a seven page sample that my agent showed at
the Bologna Book Fair. His return was so enthusiastic that
I was forced to redo the script and link a forty-seven page
story. 
I pour in The Mercenary comic books the opinion I have on
comics. For me, and this is my particular opinion, they are
printed movies. Comic books have scripts as films have, and
are based in the same concepts as cinema: shots, close-ups,
ellipsis, travellings, etc. Many directors even plan their
films in comic strip form, so it is not wild to think of comic
books as printed movies. On the other
hand, I personally don't feel comfortable with complicated
page compositions that make reading difficult, nor with heavy
or semi philosophical texts. I like the fluency and realistic
ambience that let me "come in" the stories.
I don't attempt to make complicated plots, with thick texts.
First, I don't think I am prepared to do so. But specially
because my comics are in essence made to be watched and to
enjoy the images. I would like that readers could identify
themselves with The Mercenary, that they could came into the
story. Sometimes, when I am working on the albums, I feel
that the music and special effects are missing. I would have
loved making the readers hear the whisper of the air or a
musical crackle when The Mercenary discovers a new world below
the clouds. When I was painting the story, I heard it that
way.
|
|
