Not only the capital of motors, good food, volleyball… Modena is also the capital of comics!
From Paolo “Paul” Campani to Massimo Bonfatti (Bonfa), from Claudio Onesti (Clod) to the unforgettable Franco Fortunato Gilberto Augusto Bonvicini (or simply Bonvi), generations of cartoonists, especially humorists, were born and trained in Modena and have written the history of the ninth art. And we can’t forget the Panini family, known for their famous figurine (trading cards), but also publishers of Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Disney and Comix magazine.
Right in the province of Modena, specifically in Carpi, Guido Silvestri, better known as Silver, was born.
And it was in Modena, where a very young Silver had moved to work in the world of comics, that Lupo (Wolf) Alberto was born. The wolf is the protagonist of the comic book series of the same name, which has become a publishing sensation and one of the longest-running comic book characters of all time.
Lupo Alberto first appeared in the Corriere dei Ragazzi magazine in 1974. Since then, it has had its own regular series, with more than 450 issues to date!
Not only comics (in Italy and abroad): Lupo Alberto is the protagonist of animated TV series, video games, merchandising items and testimonial of several campaigns (Ministry of Health, UN, Emergency, Telefono Azzurro1, Legambiente2 among others).
And the exhibition “Zitt! Zitt! Arriva Lupo Alberto. Silver, 50 anni da lupo” (Here comes Lupo Alberto. Silver, 50 years as a wolf), at the Museo della Figurina (Trading Cards Museum) in Palazzo Santa Margherita, celebrates 50 years of the comic strip Lupo Alberto.
Come to Modena to learn all about Lupo Alberto and the protagonists of the McKenzie farm: you have until the 25th of August 2024!
(more info on MFAV – Museum of Trading Cards and Visual Arts website)
Fun facts
The comic strip was to be called “The McKenzie Farm,” and Lupo Alberto was to be just one of the characters. The editor of the Corriere dei ragazzi magazine decided to name the strip “Lupo Alberto”, who quickly became the main protagonist.
Compared to the early years, as Silver’s stroke has become more refined, the appearance of Lupo Alberto (and the other characters) has changed significantly, as seen in the following image. In the late 1990s, with publication in foreign markets, Silver redesigned most of the early strips.
In 1991, Silver was commissioned by the Italian Ministry of Health to produce an information brochure to raise awareness among young people about the risks of AIDS. This brochure, titled Come ti frego il virus! (How I Fool the Virus!), was an immediate success and had wide circulation among students.
However, it was censured by the Ministry of Education for not meeting the Ministry’s criteria for sex education, as it openly talked about unprotected sex and the use of condoms.
(The brochure is available for download here)
The wife of Mr. Alberto Lupo (pseudonym of Italian actor Alberto Zoboli) threatened Silver with lawsuits because the name Alberto Lupo was a registered trademark..
