Archive for the ‘ books and comics ’ Category

Memento Mori comic

If you think that 1/6 action figures are expensive and that building a scenario for them is something impossible due to space issues, you don’t know the Memento Mori web comic. It is a Roman story made of photos of customised action figures, a lot of them. So you can call it photo story book instead of comic book. It is still in development, even if in the last times I think that new work lacks. However we are speaking of 223 pages at the present. With a cast of 95 figures and lots of extras. Think to the effort, economic and artistic to realise it. Epic!

Read the story of these people made of plastic but with human passions, free on the web on Memento Mori web site.

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Frank Cho and Milo Manara

Milo Manara is a great comic book artist that draws beautiful and sexy women. When Marvel commissioned a cover for Spider Woman comic, he drew the character as he is used to do. Then social justice warriors, who get offended by anything and everything, honked against this cover. In the name of political correctness they claimed that it is offensive for women. Someone claimed with a specious justification that the cover was to throw away because of incorrect anatomical pose, as if comic characters are like real people and not idealisation of them. Even Renaissance Italian artists took anatomic licenses to better represent people, situations or sentiments.

After this lobbist pressure, Marvel courageously dropped the cover. A sad day.

Some time ago we had conservative bigots, now we have radical left bigots. These modern heirs of Wertham want to impose their view only for personal power, taking vantage of social themes only to judge other people in the name of their imaginary moral purity and emotional sensitivity.

Frank Cho is another great comic book artist. In the struggle against the abuse of political correctness he drew some covers in the same way of Milo Manara’s Spider Woman cover. A razz to censorship.






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Captain Hydra

How to ruin your comic book author career: take an icon and write an outrageous plot twist. Please, execute this idiot by a firing squad for high treason of national values and culture.

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Romics spring 2016

So it is spring and time for another Romics, the comic fair of Rome.

Bigger every time but not so great and big as Lucca Comics & Games. However there were a lot of things to do and watch. 5 enormous pavilions to live. We started at the 10 in the morning and we left at 19 in the evening. And our feet were aching. As our wallets.

Here Andrea caught in the act as victim of a sinister comic seller. That people are terrible chaps…

Gadgets are sometimes more important than comics in comic fairs. Since a couple of years we are flooded by Funk vinyl toys. I watched hundred of them to find a Chrome Blue Flash for a friend of mine.

Romics is a place fulfilled with cosplayers. Sorry, I haven’t photos of young girls with costumes. Too busy with other things. But I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe…

Always in hormones topic, after mousepads with tits, smartphone covers with tits!

As usual, statuettes with big tits and asses. However this time I saw less art pieces as these around.

Another kind of statuette. On the right a Sturmtruppen, comic characters of some time ago by Bonvi.

Lego minifigs are huge numbers now. The collecting market take advantage of pieces from first series so some of them are now sold at 45€ each! But they are very cute.

Some lego bricks together.

This edition was dedicated to Go Nagai that was in Rome for a prize. In these days, in newspaper kiosks you can find new edition of statuettes, dvds and comics by Go Nagai.

Some original animation cells by Grendizer aka Goldrake Atlas Ufo Robot in Italy. This is like a religion for my generation.

Gadgets from 35 year ago. Among them, evaporators for heaters!

Other gadgets: sweets box and processed cheese. At that age I eat chupa chups and cream chocolate only to have gadgets with anime characters.

So, we have an interesting long weekend, an holiday at home. More Ganesha Games duties will be next. For another Romics we will wait Autumn.

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Cards and comics

A new game is in development from Ganesha Games. It is not the Ferrum et Gloria card game. It is not the Song of Blade and Heroes card game. It is Fortebraccio, a card game about battles during Medieval times with Condottieri. Out in the first part of 2016. English version after. Here you can see it in playtest form, obviously.

The same day we went to Antani, a comic shop in Terni. A meeting with Carmine De Domenico (he works for Marvel) and Giuseppe Palumbo (Diabolik and Martin Mystere). At the begin they worked together, so this was an opportunity to meet again, even if approximately 25 years are passed.

A lot of people were there for free sketches, but I paid (relatively) a lot of money to obtain an exclusive drawing through a commission by Palumbo.

I believe that Palumbo is currently one of the best drawers around, so I am proud to possess an example of his art. In the future on the walls of my new house.

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Before Christmas

Something about December, almost in time. Among markets.

Here we are at the annual appointment with Più Libri Più Liberi. It is a big book fair with small publishers inside a building from ’40-’50 years. Surprisingly I didn’t buy books for me. Just a couple of days before I found some books so interesting that I declined purchasing there. However this is a source of rare gems that you cannot find in bookshops.

Japanese market is always cute to visit, especially in Christmas times. Here in a tea break at the Japanese street food vendor.

This is the ideal place where to bring females and a lot of money. We are males so only bought 3 fridge magnets and a bath towel.

Still in Fiera di Roma for artisans market in two pavilions. Among other things you can found delicatessen from various parts of Italy. I bought Christmas gifts mostly here. Food mostly. Here in a pause with a classic Sicilian dessert with ricotta cheese. After for dinner, tiella (a pastry with octopus and olives) from Gaeta and arancino (a ball of fried rice with mozzarella and other things as pistachio nut) from Sicily. Weiss Beer provided by a German speaking country, instead.

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Lucca C&G 2015: walk around [part2]

Here we go with the 10 parts report! Back at the end of October and the begin of November. We were in Lucca for Lucca Comics & Games 2015. You can’t understand what is this mess if you weren’t there. More than 700 stands, more than 75000mq exposition space, more than 300000 people around during 4 days.

It is the bigger and greater event of the year. You must be here.

This time people didn’t prefer Saturday but all the days to visit the convention. These photos were taken in not so overcrowd moments. It was during my free time trips to visit the convention. However I didn’t reach all its parts scattered around the city and its walls.

Queues, as usual. When you spot one of them it means that an event is running. This is Panini/Marvel/Disney pavilion. However the queue could be only to buy something…

Queue at Bonelli pavilion. It is the most important comic publisher in Italy. Authors signed prints made for the event at the end of the queue.

Hello Kitty pavilion, a new thing for this year. Kwai.

An hot-air balloon to see things from above.

The Japan Town. Obviously where you could find all what is Japan related.

Overcrowd corridors in some shop places in Japan Town.

Temporary shops. During these days you cannot find normal shops, every shop changes in food shops or comics/gadgets shops. It is crazy. I spot an hairdresser shop with dismantled machines, transformed as a comic shop. Lucca is a different place the rest of the year.

Sketches by comic authors. I bought a present for Christmas, and they added an illustration on it.

Stan Sakai drawn this for me on Italian version of 47 Ronin comic.

Batcar parked in a place.

The water canal inside Lucca.

Churches around…



At night, around. This is an internal door of old Lucca walls. Walks after the day duties.

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Romics 2015 autumn edition

Back to the 1st of October. Romics is the comic convention of Rome. It is held twice every year in Rome fair. However the buildings are sinking in the ground. Moreover Rome fair is sinking in debts. But be happy: Romics is a money war machine and we will have a Roman comic convention continuously.

We are always present in the convention the first of the four days, from opening hour to end. It is the less crowed. So we can spend money freely and talk to people. And we did it abundantly. But not so many naked female cosplayers around the first day. Pity.

This time the convention was exploded in five pavilions. It is a very huge convention with lots of people around, but without cultural events and publishing companies presence. It is only shops and cosplay.

More boardgames this year. But it is not an easy situation where you can play: too many people around that don’t know games and don’t want to know them. In a matter of fact, as Ganesha Games we are not interested to be here.

However our friends of Reindeers club are here every edition. Praise them and their efforts to spread gaming culture. And this is the last Zerloon realisation: Mad Max flick was out in that time. And roads needed warriors.

Speaking about cars, an exhibition about Diabolik. And his cars.

This time there were two interesting exhibition: one about Bruno Bozzetto work, and this one about an Italian comic legend. He is the “king of murder”. A fictional one, obviously.

Some original drawings on the walls. The cover of one of the first numbers and its modifications. Look at the Diabolik’s eyes. And on Lady Kant the sign of a patch to change lineaments of the girls in following editions.

Another original draw and another version.

The original cover of a new series.

Comic convention are not more a matter of comics. They are more based on merchandise and gadgets nowadays.

And all what is from Japan is classified as something comic related. Thanks to anime, and later to manga.

Stuffed animals are cute and related to comic convention. Too much girls around nowadays as comic fans. But this is good. And I bought one of them for my love.

More cute things. Doraemon as a superhero.

Statues. Costly enough. And 1/6 action figures by Kaustic Plastik. I need some Roman to add to my collection.

To close some statuettes. Males like them more than stuffed animals. I don’t know why.


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