The name’s Ford, Alan Ford: how an Italian comic book spy became a Yugoslav hero | Hacker News Reader

The name’s Ford, Alan Ford: how an Italian comic book spy became a Yugoslav hero

calvertjournal.com

122 pointsriffraff38 comments

Read them as a kid; did not enjoy illustrations at the time because everything was so... trashy, crappy, make-shift -- which as an adult I realize was exactly the point :)

It also caused UNTOLD confusion to my childhood mind. It was translated into our language, but they left the honorific "Sir" untranslated, as-is.

"Sir" means "Cheese" in my language... :O

As far as I was concerned for several years, whenever the characters in the comic spoke to anybody of authority, they would speak like:

"Cheese Bob, please Cheese, don't beat us up Cheese!" "Cheese YES Cheese!" "I'm terribly sorry Cheese. It will not happen again Cheese!"

... honestly, I missed that dose of surrealism when I put 2 and 2 together eventually :-D

Ha! My dad, to this day, makes Alan Ford references on a regular basis. I'm pretty sure he even used to make those same references when talking to his native British colleagues, using them to describe life in the former Yugoslavia & assuming they'd read the same comics as kids.

What's funny is that at one point, I realised I reference random episodes of South Park in conversation in exactly the same way (to people who mostly have no idea what I'm talking about). Those comics must have been pretty on point.

> I'm pretty sure he even used to make those same references when talking to his native British colleagues, using them to describe life in the former Yugoslavia & assuming they'd read the same comics as kids.

Reminds me of the claim – possibly apocryphal – that some undercover Soviet spies in the UK were outed because, when the conversation turned to Blue Peter (which supposedly every real Brit knew from childhood) they had no idea what that was.

The messages from the comics still very much apply to places like Croatia (ex-Yugoslavia) today.

> In a society that mixed internationalist idealism with bureaucratic dysfunction, Alan Ford was an ideal form of social satire

It is Croatian to emigrate, and Croatia does do a lot for the diaspora abroad.

> We make no promises and aim to carry them out to the letter

Croatian laws often have a lot of room for subjective interpretation. Often when you deal with the bureaucracy you have to make clarifications several times, and whatever the government servant needs from you, whether others needed it or not, you better give them.

But, in this case, everyone knows that it is nearly 100% about the government servant trying to CYA, whether reasonable or not.

I'm ~30 and italian and I only know of this comic book because my uncle used to read that and gave me his collection.

And I love it: the first 100 issues are the best of the series, and among the best italian comic books ever written. Also the artist that did the drawings for the first (I think) 75 issues, Magnus, was incredible.

I still think that it's criminally undervalued.

Italian here too. I had the luck to be have our holidays in a place that had near to no attraction for a 10 yo and had a ridiculously small bookshop that had one or more comics total. One of those was Alan Ford, and I fell in love with it. It’s a forgotten gem of Italian culture imho

You can still see some "legendary" quotes from it around Serbia such as

- "If you want to win, you must not lose"

- "It is better to live 100 years as a millionaire, than 7 days in misery"

- "Never give up, unless you have to"

...

- "What? We're surrounded? Surrender, immediately!"

Oh man, it warms my heart to see this here. I grew up reading Alan Ford and had a collection of over 200 comics.

These comics were so massively influential in old Yugoslavia that it's common to hear people quote them all the time. Something about the dark, cynical humor just made them perfect for the Balkans mentality.

I moved to the US around 10 years ago. Seeing this just made me feel so incredibly nostalgic.

I grew up with Alan Ford (in Zagreb, early nineties) and I have always preferred the later episodes (Pifarrerio not Magnus), which is a blasphemy among hardcore Alan Ford fans. Other than that, Alan Ford was definitely a phenomenon in Yugoslavia for a period of over 20 years.

You're right.. and You're strange :))

I have to add that many of us were lucky to "inherit" the collections from our parents in the late 90s, early 2000s and the comic was and is still very relevant. The later versions which were coming out when I was a kid in the 2000s never clicked with me. I personally prefered the first 600 episodes the most having reread the most of them. I possibly liked even more the Maxmagnus comic which had a bit more bizarre vibe to a yound me. I wonder where the youger kids are supposed to learn the cinism and criticism in such levels. Is there a modern medium for the zoomers with the same tone?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Only_Fools_and_Horses is another phenomenon that was extremely popular in former Yugoslavia (and it still is). I'm not surprised when I find out that my USA friends don't know about it, but I am a bit surprised by the fact that none of my UK friends know about it.

Only Fools and Horses is legendary still in the UK. There is a classic scene where Del leans casually on a bar which is opened a few seconds earlier and falls through it. Unless your friends are toddlers, it is very unlikely that they have not seen it - even if they don't know what it is. Another classic scene is when Del and Rodney ... search:"del rodney chandelier".

Also you should be able to out any Brit over the age of say 40 (possibly younger) simply by saying "four candles" and look to see who starts giggling.

True, these guys from UK are younger and probably missed it somehow.

Isn’t there literally an episode towards end of YU where they make a joke about business being worse than Yugoslavian tour operators at the moment. I always wondered whether that was a shout-out

Is Alan Ford the one that had a story that claimed the moon landings were faked? An Italian friend was talking my ear off about the idea, then on my way through the airport in Italy I picked up a secret agent comic book that looked intriguing, and it had that story in it.

I had to wonder if this comic book had raised the idea to his awareness, but couldn't be sure...

Not in the first edition, as I remember... [edit: this was other comic with "fake" moon landing - Martin Mystere, nothing to do with Alan Ford]

Martin Mystère! Basically X-Files before X-Files even existed. Incredibly well-researched series, always walking a tight rope between truth and fiction. The writer Alfredo Castelli is a living encyclopaedia of “strange tales” and esoteric lore. I’m not a fan of the comics (the actual stories are often too descriptive and verbose), but the topics it touches are fascinating.

Both Alan Ford and Martin Mysteré shaped me up. Alan Ford is extremely useful in business settings. They've described it all, business world operates on its principles. Martin Mysteré sparked a sense of wonder in me that never left. Italian comics were (are) the best!

You are right, it was Martin Mystere...as soon as I read the name I knew that was the one. Thanks.

It intrigues me that an Italian writer would choose to make his main character American. Particularly given that a Belgian writer, Edgar Jacobs, chose to make his at least equally famous characters Blake and Mortimer British. Is there a pattern of continental writers creating Anglophone characters for adventure stories? Or is it just these two cases?

The German author Karl May wrote Westerns – which ended up being among the world’s most bestselling – without ever having visited the West. Also, while the Lemmy Caution character was created by an actual Anglophone, he is far more better known from the films that the French made about him.

Other Italian comics from 70' were also all american characters. Comandante Mark, Zagor, Blek... Americans and Brits are interesting characters for comics :) And what about legendary spaghetti western movies?

Martin Misterija, Blek Stena, heh legends. "Sto mu gromova!"

Edit: also Dylan Dog.

Where does "sto mu gromova!" come from? Google Translate is not helping me, is it something like "thousand devils!" ( per mille diavoli! ), which I think was a typical Zagor or Tex exclamation?

I think it's a Serbian exclamation, possibly archaic, literally it's "hundred thunderbolts!" but in American slang I think "You don't say!" or "What the heck!" are the closest in meaning for me. The Serbian translation of Marty Mystere used it liberally to the point that if you used it in speech people would get you were making a comicbook reference.

Ah, for Martin Mystère it would have likely been his trademark Diavoli dell'inferno! in Italian ("hell's devils!").

Most characters created in Italy by Sergio Bonelli Editore (Mystère, Dylan Dog, Tex, etc) have a typical exclamation like that. I'm gonna start using that serbian version for fun with Italian friends =D

In Italy it's basically expected to use foreign heroes in pop culture, ever since fascism (and its farcical fall) effectively corrupted any sense of national pride. We went from a situation where "Superman" was considered too anglo-sounding under Mussolini (so he was renamed "Nembo Kid") to a postwar expectation that Italian-sounding heroes are just not credible. This was compounded by the Hollywood influence, which in Italy was stronger than average (Cinecittà studios in Rome produced quite a bit of US movies in the '50s/'60s, think "Roman Holiday" etc).

All the most popular comic book characters written and designed by Italians are not Italian: Tex Willer (US), Zagor (US), Dylan Dog (UK), Martin Mystère (US), Nathan Never (US), Diabolik (acting largely in UK)... Italian characters are typically relegated to parody strips, or stories strictly linked to local issues. Occasionally you have stuff like Ranxerox, which takes place in Italy but with people carrying anglo names.

One of the most Italian characters in comicdom, Dago (a Renaissance renegade adventurer, banished from its native Venice), was actually created by Argentinian authors Robin Wood and Alberto Salinas. The Argentinian school really knew no thematic boundaries whatsoever, and produced a number of great series in the '70s/'80s.

Somewhat ironically, the comic-books of the most traditionally-American characters ever, Disney's Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, have been largely created in Italy in modern times. Local demand for "Topolino" and "Paperino" (their Italian names) grew so large over the '70s, that the company started training their own authors in Italy. In the late '80s Disney even set up an academy in Milan to mass-produce artists and stories; it lasted 25 years, creating stories that were then published all over the world, including the US. This also means that the Disney character roster is significantly larger in Italy than pretty much anywhere else - only some of the new characters have been introduced into US canon.

Italian comics lover here. I’ve never been an Alan Ford fan, but it was a hit for my parents’ generation in the ‘70s. Beyond the merits of Alan Ford stories themselves, the series is a cornerstone of Italian comicdom for other reasons: writer Luciano Secchi (“Max Bunker”) was responsible for the arrival of Marvel comics in Italy, and artist Roberto Raviola (“Magnus”) was one of the best talents the art ever produced, an absolute world-class master who went on to write and draw several masterpieces.

Secchi’s historic publishing house (Editoriale Corno) also published tons of excellent Italian series like Franco “Bonvi” Bonvicini’s Sturmtruppen and controversial dark/pulp series like Kriminal and Satanik, effectively marking a golden age of Italian comics. Reportedly Secchi grew somewhat grumpy and disenchanted with age, becoming a bit of a right-winger, isolating himself from the world of Italian comics and only working on Alan Ford.

Raviola went on to create several masterpieces (Lo Sconosciuto, Femmine Incantate, Le 110 Pillole, Milady nel 3000, La compagnia della forca, and a famous Tex Willer special episode) before sadly dying of cancer way too early (56). He was a reference for generations of Italian comic artists, and a character in his own right with his remarkable moustaches and his jovial attitude.

I wish more of classic Italian comics could be translated properly for the English-speaking market, there is a lot of excellent material and spectacular artists like Magnus and Andrea Pazienza.

Forgot the obligatory pic of Secchi with Stan "The Man" Lee: https://www.maxbunker.it/e-morto-a-los-angeles-stan-lee/

I owned the first 10 issues. In Italy there was even a cartoon adaption aired in the afternoon with great theme song. Ling live Alan, the world idea little bit worse without you.

Grew up reading those in the former Yugoslavia. I think this comic shaped my sense of humor more than anything else.

Wow this is fascinating. Are the books available in English?

Calvert journal seems to be a very interesting journal as well.

Sadly Alan Ford was never translated for UK and US. Maybe Secchi thought it could have been perceived as offensive, or that they didn't stand a chance against the anglo powerhouses (bigger Italian comic publishers tried and failed to crack those markets over the years). Considering Secchi's personality towards fandom (he was grumpy at 50, I can only imagine how he is at 82), I don't think there will be any real push to expand publications anytime soon. Their web presence is a basic shopify store. It seems silly in the age of the web, but this business in Italy is very "artisanal".

I lived in Yugoslavia until Bosnia broke off in 92. My uncle had a chest full of these haha.

Fantastic comic! I remember episode "Don't vote for Notax". Now I see Notax was like Trump :) Basically it was irony of american society, that's why it was not forbidden by yugoslav regime. Character No.1 and his short stories about his happenings with Homer during their travel through old Greece were short version of Iliad. I learned Iliad from this . This was surrealistic, and just because of that, acceptable.

Superhik for president!

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