Romano Scarpa

Infobox Comics creator
name = Romano Scarpa


imagesize =
caption = Romano Scarpa at an Exposition in Rome in 2000.
birthname =
birthdate = September 27, 1927
location = Venice, Italy
deathdate = April 23, 2005
deathplace = Málaga, Spain
nationality = Italian
area = artist, writer
alias =
notable works =
awards =

Romano Scarpa (September 27, 1927, Venice - April 23, 2005, Málaga) was one of the most famous Italian creators of Disney comics.

Biography

Growing up in Venice he developed a particular love for American cartoons and Disney comics, that, at the time, were published in the big format of the Topolino Giornale which was then printing now classic Floyd Gottfredson's stories. In the Forties he opened an Animation Studio in Venice in which he produced his first works: some commercials, a short titled "E poi venne il diluvio" and another very good short, titled "La piccola fiammiferaia" (1953, based on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Match Girl"), distributed in Italy together with Robert Aldrich's "Attack!" (1956).

Right after that he stopped working in animation for a while and dedicated wholly to creating Disney comics. When in 1956 Italian editors had no more new Floyd Gottfredson's stories to reprint, he was given the responsibility to continue Gottfredson's stories about Mickey Mouse. Also influenced by Carl Barks in the late Fifties and up to about 1963 he wrote and penciled some of the best-known comic masterpieces of all time: stories like "Topolino e la collana Chirikawa" (1960) or "The Flying Scot" (1957) that have, later, been translated in many different languages throughout the world. Many of these stories have their backgrounds in movies, for example "Topolino nel favoloso regno di Shan Grillà" (1961) is based upon Frank Capra's "Lost Horizon" (1937); not to talk about all the stories starring Snow White or the Seven Dwarfs, obviously based on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937). Sometimes the exact opposite happened; the Italian movie "Riusciranno i nostri eroi a ritrovare l'amico misteriosamente scomparso in Africa?" (1968) is based on Scarpa's story "Topolino e il Pippotarzan" (1957).

Around 1963 Scarpa relaxed a bit and practically stopped writing his stories for 6 or 7 years, while still penciling stories written by other people, generally not up to the same high standards of his; an exception to this "rule" is the long "Storia e Gloria della Dinastia dei Paperi" saga, written by Guido Martina, and co-pencilled by Scarpa with Giovan Battista Carpi. Then, in the Seventies he went back to writing too, and kept doing it to the end, though he later moved to Spain and started working for a different publisher. Among the last things he made while he was still in Italy, at the end of the Eighties and at beginning of the Nineties, there are the so called "Paperolimpiadi" (a long story about the 1988 Seoul Olympic games) and some wonderful strip stories, the same kind of stories that he loved when he was a child. One of these, "Topolino e l'enigma di Brigaboom" (1989) was partially based on "Brigadoon" (1954).

In the meanwhile he has had time enough for some more animation, so we have "Aihnoo degli Icebergs" (1972), "The Fourth King" (1977) and a new TV series, "The Adventures of Marco and Gina" ("Sopra i tetti di Venezia") (2001).

Mainly Scarpa worked on Disney comics, but many years ago he used to do something non-disney once in a while, so he did one (Rolf Kauka's) "Lupo" story and one (Hannah and Barbera's) "Yogi Bear" story. In the 1950s he also drew some "Angelino" story, and Italian character.

Since 1988 some of his comic stories have been published in the USA by Gladstone publishing; it was the first time that this happened to an Italian Disney author. Later, when Disney Comics took Gladstone's place, they published some more of his stories, and in 2003, the same happened with Gemstone Publishing, that is publishing his stories in the US at the moment.

He has influenced many younger creators (Giorgio Cavazzano was his inker during the Sixties) and many have attempted to imitate his style.

Disney characters created by Romano Scarpa

In his career Scarpa created many Disney characters that are now widely accepted by everybody to be part of the Disney Universe. Those include, but are not limited to:

*Brigitta McBridge, Scrooge McDuck's self-appointed girlfriend with whom she shares a love/hate relationship;
*Bruto, Ellsworth's stepson.;
*Dickie Duck, a dynamic female teenage-duck which was introduced as the granddaughter of "Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt;
*Gideon McDuck, a newspaper editor and Scrooge's brother;
*Jubal Pomp, an unlucky wanna-be businessman always trying to imitate Scrooge and failing miserably;
*Kildare Coot, a crazy cousin of Donald Duck's;
*Plottigat, Black Pete's cousin, a genius of crime;
*Trudy, Black Pete's mate and accomplice in crime.

Index of comics books published in the USA

This is an index of all Romano Scarpa comics published in USA. Only Duck universe and Mouse universe are listed. Chip and Dale comics are not listed.

References

*"Romano Scarpa - Un cartoonist italiano tra animazione e fumetti", by Luca Boschi, Leonardo Gori and Andrea Sani. Alessandro distribuzioni, 1988.
*"Romano Scarpa - Sognando la Calidornia" by Luca Boschi, Leonardo Gori, Andrea Sani and Alberto Becattini. Vittorio Pavesio productions, 2001 (in Italian);
*"I Disney Italiani" by Luca Boschi, Leonardo Gori and Andrea Sani. Granata Press, 1990.

External links

*Inducks author|RSc
* [http://www.dimensionedelta.net/scarpa/last/balaboo.html The Last Balaboo] , site completely about Scarpa, with drawings, covers, sketches, indexes, biography and much more (currently temporarily closed, but there's a message board available for anyone willing to share their feelings about the loss, the messages will be collected and sent to Scarpa's family);
* [http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~fms27/disney/scarpa/ Frank Stajano's page on Scarpa] , with a detailed analysis of the different Scarpa's art's periods.