Diabolik


Diabolik is an Italian comics series created by sisters Angela and Luciana Giussani.
One of the most popular series in the history of Italian comics, Diabolik was created in 1962 and consists of more than 800 volumes, leading to the birth of the fumetti neri comics subgenre. The series is named after its protagonist, an anti-heroic thief, inspired by several previous pulp fiction characters from Italy and other countries. Its stories consist of monthly black-and-white, digest-sized volumes.
The series takes place in the fictional town Clerville and stars the titular Diabolik, initially represented as a ruthless and cruel thief who does not hesitate to murder anyone in order to accomplish his deeds, aided by his partner and lover Eva Kant. Over the time, the character evolved his personality, developing healthy roots and ethical principles such as honor, the sense of friendship and gratitude, and respect for noble souls, robbing and killing other criminals. Throughout his adventures, he is pursued mainly by the Inspector Ginko.
The series sold more than 150 million copies, becoming one of the best-known and best-selling comics series from Europe. Its success had also inspired a, a radio show, an animated television series, video games, novels, and countless parodies.

Creation and development

The idea for the character of Diabolik was born from seeing commuters every day. Co-creator Angela Giussani, who lived near Milano Cadorna railway station, thought of making comics in a format designed for travelling and carrying in one's pocket. To better understand the tastes of her potential readers, Angela made a survey of the market, from which she concluded that many commuters read mystery novels. Another version of the story claims that the very idea came from her finding a Fantomas novel abandoned in a train. Thus was born the "Diabolik format", which proved popular with other publications in the same genre. The pocketbook format contributed, in fact, to the success of the character.

Plot

Diabolik is a ruthless master thief. He typically steals from criminals, and has a set of lifelike masks which he uses to fool his opponents, assuming every identity at will. He seems to have a deep knowledge in many scientific fields, including chemistry, mechanics, and computers. In his first appearances, Diabolik was a more straightforward villain who did not hesitate to murder anyone in order to accomplish his deeds. He was later given a more "Robin Hood"-like persona and was shown stealing essentially from criminals, in order to soften the series’ violence and amorality.
He was raised as an orphan on a secret island hideout of a criminal combiné, where he learned all his criminal skills, including developing his special masks, before killing the head of the combine. Diabolik's true name had never been revealed in the series, and he does not know it himself. Diabolik took his name from a dangerous black panther that the head of the combine killed on the secret island. From issue #3 of the series, Diabolik is aided by his "moll", Eva Kant, who has gained an increasing role as his partner and lover.
Diabolik always drives a black 1961 Jaguar E-type. Graphically inspired by the actor Robert Taylor, he usually wears a skintight black body suit that leaves only his eyes and eyebrows exposed when going "into action". Diabolik does not use firearms: his main weapons are the daggers he throws with uncanny ability, as well as a small dart gun with knockout darts. Eva drives a white Jaguar, and unusually goes into action wearing a heavy sweater and pants, no mask and no revealing clothing. The stories are set in a fictional town, Clerville, loosely inspired by Geneva, Switzerland.
Diabolik's main opponent is Inspector Ginko, known only by his surname, a fierce and incorruptible police officer who is almost always thwarted by astute tricks devised by Diabolik. The only other recurring character is the noblewoman Altea, Ginko's fiancée.

Characters

Principal characters
Secondary characters
Many of the Diabolik stories are set in the fictional city of Clerville, which is located in a state also named Clerville. However, in the first issues of the series, Diabolik carried out his heists in Marseilles, but the authors decided to invent a new city, so as to avoid having to do continual documentation on the city.
It is clear that Clerville is in Europe, since in 2002, it adopted the Euro as its currency; the city's previous currency had never been named, but had the same value as the Italian lira.
The state of Clerville also includes other cities, such as Ghenf, the second most important city in the state, which is situated on the sea.

Equipment

Diabolik uses a variety of gadgets and equipment which he uses as an aid in his robberies, to wiretap conversations and variety of weaponry.

Suit

The trademark of Diabolik is his black suit, which completely covers his body except for his eyes, eyebrows, and black running shoes. He uses it as an aid in his burglaries or robberies and to protect his identity. He has variety of gadgets and weapons stashed under it. His outfit can be used as a diving suit since it can keep him warm while underwater, and it's also fireproof. However, it cannot protect him from lethal harm, but he relies on his fighting skills to cover that up.

Drugs

Diabolik and Eva Kant use a variety of drugs to stun, kill, or force their enemies into submission. They mostly use Pentothal as a truth serum to force the victims into obeying and aiding the two in their burglaries or robberies. They also use scopolamine to cause amnesia and a variety of sedatives to stun their enemies. They also use cyanide to kill their enemies during a quick getaway, but mostly for their targets.

Weapons and gadgets

Diabolik uses a variety of weaponry and gadgets to stun or kill his enemies. He never uses firearms or owns one, and prefers stealth. He mostly uses stun gas if necessary, but avoids it when he can. He also uses daggers to kill his enemies in seconds. He has a variety of gadgets for quick usage, some of them momentarily as an aid in his robbery. Also, Diabolik carries various radio-controlled equipment, that trigger specific objects into helping him, placed over Clerville. He even once inserted a device in Ginko's car to activate his airbag during a police pursuit. He also has a variety of weapons inside his Jaguar to aid him, such as Gatling guns or heat-seeking missiles. He uses wiretap bugs and mini cameras to spy on others, and he communicates with Eva via a walkie-talkie hidden in his watch.

Masks

Another of Diabolik's trademarks is his photorealistic masks of a specially designed plastic that he uses to impersonate his victims or enemies, and he has used a multitude of them to help him. Diabolik uses the masks in almost every burglary he attempts, and Eva sometimes uses them while directly acting with him. He has used the masks to impersonate people that are of great use to him, and sometimes only to hide his looks. Diabolik and Eva also use them while going somewhere out in public to avoid being recognized.

Publication

Diabolik was published as a succession of series, most of them one year long. The Giussani sisters wrote many of the stories until the 1980s, passing them gradually to Patricia Martinelli’s - and others' - hands. The main bulk of the artwork is executed by Sergio Zaniboni, who has been drawing Diabolik since 1969 until his death. Other artists working on the series include Brenno Fiumali, Franco Paludetti, Enzo Facciolo and Lino Jeva.

Comic series

; Prima Serie, 1962-1964. Issues #1-24.
; Seconda Serie, 1965. Issues #25-50.
; Anno V, 1966. Issues #51-76.
;Anno XII-XVI, 1973-1977. Issues #233-351
;Anno XVII-XIX, 1978-1980.
;Anno XX-XXV, 1981-1986.
;Anno XXVI-XXVII, 1987-1988.
;Anno XXVIII-XXXII, 1989-1993.
;Anno XXXIII, 1994. Issues #566-574
;Anno XXXIV-XLII, 1995-2013

Reprints and digests

United States

In 1986, Pacific Comics Club published 2 digest-size issues.
Since 1997 a series of annual books with more complex stories has been released.
In 2000, Scorpion started to publish digests, reaching 6 issues before stopping.
Some American reprints have appeared.

Diabolik in India

Diabolik was translated in Tamil Language and introduced to India in Dec 1987 by Prakash Publishers under their imprint . His very first adventure was aptly titled Danger Diabolik. Though the story and the character got tremendous response, for various reasons, this was the only story that got published until 2013.
In June 2013, Diabolik made his comeback via the same publisher, however this effort had more impact. It was launched in the Comic Con 2013 in Bengaluru with the storyline titled Kutra Thiru Vizha. Based on the positive response for the story arc and the style, in December 2013, Diabolik made his third appearance in Operation Tornado.
Lion Comics publishes these books in high standard digest format and they are priced at INR 40.

Other countries

Diabolik was translated in Croatian language on several occasions. First appearance was in Superstrip biblioteka #43 published by Vjesnik - 25 episodes were published. New episodes were published by Art Print - 1 episode in 1999, Slobodna Dalmacija - 18 episodes and Ludens - 4 annuals, 4 episodes
A Serbian translation was launched by Maverick Kraljevo in 2002, with 2 episodes being published.
In Dutch 56 stories were published.

Adaptations

Films

Italian filmmaker Mario Bava adapted the story for a 1968 feature film, , produced by Dino De Laurentiis and starring John Phillip Law as Diabolik, Marisa Mell as Eva, and Michel Piccoli as Ginko. The film was used in the final episode of the 10th season of the long-running television series, Mystery Science Theater 3000. In 2008, it was chosen by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.
A new adaptation of Diabolik by Manetti Bros. was announced in 2019.

Animated series

On 1 January 2000, an animated series, animated by Ashi Productions and produced by Saban International Paris, premiered in Europe on Fox Kids, and lasted for 40 episodes before ending on 1 January 2001. The series featured Diabolik and his companion Eva, as they fought and gradually exposed the Brotherhood and Dane, while evading Inspector Ginko. It was directed by Jean Luc Ayach with Paul Diamond and Larry Brody as head writers.
No.EpisodeOriginal airdate

Live-action TV series

In 2012, Sky TV in conjunction with Sky France and Sky Italy, started work on a TV version of Diabolik. A teaser trailer was made for the production, but by 2015 the production had not been released and there was no further information released by the studio.

Video games

A total of 12 Diabolik games were developed and released in 1993 by Simulmondo for the Commodore 64 and Commodore Amiga line of computers. The games were in Italian and were made specifically for the Italian domestic market, seeing only limited distribution elsewhere.
is a 2009 video game developed by Artematica and published by Black Bean Games for Wii, PlayStation Portable, PC, Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 systems.

Influence

The popularity of Diabolik spurred a long series of characters directly or indirectly inspired to him, generally noticeable by the "criminalizing K" in their name; some of them are a kind of satire.
In real life, Matteo Messina Denaro, a prominent figure in the Sicilian Mafia considered to be a candidate to become the next capo di tutti capi, is nicknamed "Diabolik", after the comic book character.