Il Grande Blek
Blek | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | Editoriale Dardo |
First appearance | 1954 |
Created by | EsseGesse |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Yannick Leroc |
Partnerships | Roddy, Occultis |
Abilities | Strength, marksmanship |
Il Grande Blek is an Italian Western comic book, first published in Italy on October 3, 1954, by Editoriale Dardo. Blek was written and illustrated by Giovanni Sinchetto, Dario Guzzon and Pietro Sartoris, a trio also known as EsseGesse.[1]
Fictional character
Blek is the leader of a group of
Publication history
Italy
The
In addition to Italy, Blek was reprinted in other countries such as Greece (as ΜΠΛΕΚ), Turkey (as Teksas, Çelik Blek), France (as Blek le Roc), and former Yugoslavia (as Veliki Blek). The Slovenian national minority in Italy was introduced to Blek in Slovene in 1959 (as Silni Tom, meaning Tough Tom); Slovenian translation was changed to Veliki Blek in the 1990s. In Scandinavia, he was called Davy Crockett, although he has nothing to do with the historical figure.
France
Carlo Cedroni, Nicola Del Principe and many others continued the production for Éditions Lug, while the list of French authors included Jean-Yves Mitton[3] and André Amouriq.[4] The title peaked at 300,000 copies. Blek also received a revamped origin; writer Marcel Navarro revealed "Blek" means "Golden Hair" in the language of Native Americans, but that he was born Yannick Leroc in Saint-Malo, France on November 27, 1749.[5]
Yugoslavia
In former Yugoslavia, Blek was published in the Lunov magnus strip and Strip zabavnik series. The character reached the print run of 100,000, so in 1978 the local publisher (
Greece
In Greece, it was journalist and comic writer Stelios Anemodouras (1917 - 2000) who first published Il Grande Blek stories on a weekly basis for almost 25 years (1969 - 1994). He, then continued the Blek edition on a monthly basis, until 2011 when his publishing house titled "Periodikos Typos" (by his son, Giorgos Anemodouras) ended its operating. From 2014 Stelios Anemodouras' grandson, Leokratis Anemodouras has been publishing the new Blek magazine ("ΜΠΛΕΚ, τα Καλύτερα Κόμικς" by "Mikros Iros" Co[6]), today on a 2montly basis. During the 70s, Stelios Anemodouras along with illustrator Byron Aptosoglou (1923 - 1990) created 8 new Il Grande Blek stories, which were published, mainly in the Μεγάλος ΜΠΛΕΚ mag. New Greek stories by writers Nikos D. Nikolaidis and Giorgos Pol. Papadakis, illustrated by comic artist Kostas Fragiadakis, were published both in Greek and Italian editions, a few years ago.
Influence
The strip inspired Il Grande Blek, a 1987 film directed by Giuseppe Piccioni about a boy who loves comics.[7]
References
- ^ "EsseGesse". lambiek.net. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
- ^ "uBC". www.ubcfumetti.com. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- ^ "Jean-Yves Mitton". lambiek.net. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- ^ "André Amouriq". lambiek.net. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- ^ "Veliki Blek - Enciklopedija - www.stripovi.com - Prozor u svijet stripa". www.stripovi.com (in Croatian). Retrieved 2017-11-11.
- ^ "Mikros Iros" editions Retrieved on March 12th, 2021
- ^ Piccioni, Giuseppe, Il grande Blek, Roberto De Francesco, Sergio Rubini, Federica Mastroianni, retrieved 2017-11-07