Kriminal

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title = Kriminal


caption = A recent reprint of Kriminal adventures.
schedule =
format = Magazine
publisher = Edifumetto
date = 1964-1974
issues = 419
main_char_team =
writers = Magnus
artists = Max Bunker
pencillers =
inkers =
colorists =
creative_team_month =
creative_team_year =
creators = Magnus, Max Bunker

"Kriminal" is an Italian comics series featuring an eponymous fictional character, created in 1964 by Magnus and Max Bunker, the authors of "Alan Ford", "Maxmagnus" and "Satanik".

Characters

Kriminal is an English master thief, Anthony Logan, who dresses in black and yellow costume with a fearsome skull face for his adventures. The character was directly inspired by the contemporary (and more successful) Diabolik, with whom he shares the ability to use masks thal allow him to assume any identity. In the earliest adventures, Kriminal was a near sadistic killer fighting for revenge against the criminals who had pushed his father to commit suicide. Having also lost his mother and sister, Logan spent his youth in a reformatory, from which he managed to escape, intent to pursue vengeance.

Kriminal has a female companion, Lola Hudson, who was once the wife of Scotland Yard Inspector Patrick Milton, his main enemy. Gradually over time, Kriminal's most extreme villainous features were toned down,and in the later stories assumed more positive and heroic connotations.

The series was also notable as one of first to employ continuity in Italian comic books, as any new story would begin exactly at the point the previous had ended, and the characters' lives continually evolved (in contrast to "Diabolik"). Logan himself married and had a child, who soon died.

The series ended in November 1974, after 419 episodes.

Censorship

Due to the violence and the proto-erotic scenes in the comic book (as well as in Satanik), Bunker and Raviola had problems with Italian censorship. Bunker was prosecuted several times, but never condemned. The panels depicting semi-nude girls were often censored by the publisher itself.

Cinema

"Kriminal" has been adapted for the big screen several times. The first film, "Kriminal" was released in 1966 by Umberto Lenzi, starring Dutch actor Glenn Saxson in the lead role. The skeleton costume was slightly altered. A sequel, "Il marchio di Kriminal" ("The Sign of Kriminal") directed by Fernando Cerchio, followed in the summer of 1968.

External links

* [http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/k/kriminal.htm Kriminal's entry at the International Catalogue of Superheroes]
* [http://cinema-nocturna.com/kriminal_review.htm DVD Review of Kriminal]
* [http://cinema-nocturna.com/kriminal2_review.htm DVD Review of Il Marchio di Kriminal]
*imdb title|id=0060608|title=Kriminal
*imdb title|id=0061952|title=Il marchio di Kriminal