Diabolik

Diabolik is a fictional character, an Anti-hero featured in Italian comics. He was created by sisters Angela and Luciana Giussani in 1962. His stories appear in monthly black and white digest-sized booklets. The character was inspired by several previous characters from Italian and French pulp fiction.

Creation and development
Diabolik was born from seeing commuters every day. Creator Angela Giussani, who lived near the 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" (a small 12 x 17 cm book), 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 wealthy people (and has no issue with killing them if need be, but rarely kills the innocent or the police, and has a set of lifelike masks which he uses to fool his opponents, assuming their identities. 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. Shortly thereafter the violence was toned down, in order to soften the series' violence and amorality.

He was raised as an orphan on a secret island hideout of a criminal combine, where he learned all his criminal skills, including developing his special masks, before killing the head of the combine. Diabolik’s true name has never been revealed in the series, and he doesn't 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 (very distinctive ones) 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.

He, along with Eva Kant, are also able to mimic the voice of those they replace. Typically he takes the place of men, while Eva replaces women. Both though only replace those whose height and build are similar to theirs.

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 fiancee.

Principal character

 * Diabolik
 * Eva Kant - Diabolik's lover and accomplice
 * Inspector Ginko - A notorious cop of Clerville.

Secondary characters

 * Altea - Ginko's lover and noble heiress.
 * King - Leader of a powerful criminal organization that brought up Diabolik as a father, and then exploit it, and finally being killed by Diabolik.
 * Elisabeth Gay - Former lover of Diabolik, who prosecuted psychologically bringing it to madness.
 * Dr. Alberto Floriani - Famous Italian neuropsychiatrist, successor to Diabolik first as lover and then as husband of Elizabeth Gay, who in his madness he kills Diabolik believed him to be.
 * Bettina - Italian girl who should become familiar with Diabolik and Eva, until it becomes like a daughter.
 * Gustavo Garian - Scion of a wealthy family, which will be decimated by Diabolik, which will seek revenge on several occasions.

Clerville
Many of Diabolik's 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. 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 German name for Geneva), the second most important city in the state which is situated on the sea (Clerville, the city, is located in the interior and is crossed by a river).

Publication - Comics
Diabolik was published as a succession of series with progressive numbering. The Giussani sisters wrote many stories until the 1980s, passing the role of writer to Patricia Martinelli's - and others' - hands. A lot of the artwork is done by Sergio Zaniboni, who has drawn Diabolik since 1969. 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.
 * The first issue, Il Re del Terrore (in English "The King of Terror"), appeared in print on November 1st, 1962. The next issue appeared in February 1st, 1963, followed by monthly issues up to issue #24 in December 1964.


 * Seconda Serie, 1965. Issues #25-50.
 * Publication switched to one issue every two weeks, with each series being one year and 26 issues long.


 * Anno V, 1966. Issues #51-76.
 * The series began to be named for the year of publication since the first issue.


 * Anno XII-XVI, 1973-1977. Issues #233-351
 * The first 12 issues of Prima Serie started to be re-released, 2-4 a year, in place of regular issues. "Il Re del Terrore" was re-released as Anno XII, No. 6


 * Anno XVII-XIX, 1978-1980.
 * 24 issues a year, published twice a month.


 * Anno XX-XXV, 1981-1986.
 * 14 issues a year: published monthly, plus an extra issue in July and August.


 * Anno XXVI-XXVII, 1987-1988.
 * 12 issues a year, published monthly.


 * Anno XXVIII-XXXII, 1989-1993.
 * 7 issues a year


 * Anno XXXIII, 1994. Issues #566-574
 * 9 issues were published this year. Starting in July 1994, publication returned to once a month.


 * Anno XXXIV-XLII, 1995-2013
 * 12 issues a year, published monthly. In October 2013, the 800th issue was published.

Reprints and digests
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.

In India, a Tamil translation of the Diabolic comics is published regularly in high quality digests by Lion comics. This is published by Prakash Publishers, for around $Rs.40-50, as of 2010.

Film
Italian filmmaker Mario Bava adapted the story for a 1968 feature film, Danger: Diabolik, produced by Dino De Laurentiis and starring John Phillip Law.

The film was used in the final episode of the long-running television series, Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Animated series
On January 1, 2000, an animated series, produced by Saban International, premiered in Europe on Fox Kids, and lasted for 36 episodes, before ending on January 1, 2001. The series featured Diabolik and his companion Eva, as they fought and gradually exposed the Brotherhood and Dane, while evading detective Ginko. It was directed by Jean Luc Ayach with Paul Diamond and Larry Brody as head writers.

Video game
Diabolik: The Original Sin 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.


 * Max Bunker (writer) and Magnus created in the 1960s two of these "K" characters, Kriminal and Satanik, the second being a feminine and horror version. Both are distinguished for their greater realism and for a more substantial sexy style.
 * Killing, an Italian comic book.
 * Paperinik (Duck Avenger) is the volatile superheroic alter-ego of Donald Duck created by Elisa Penna, Guido Martina and Giovan Battista Carpi in 1969.
 * Cattivik is a humorous version of Diabolik created by Franco Bonvicini in 1967: cattivo means bad, evil in Italian.
 * Dorellik is the name of a film starring singer and actor Johnny Dorelli.
 * Fantomex is a character created by Grant Morrison during his run writing X-Men. He is a master thief using technological gadgets and his uniform is similar to Diabolik’s, but coloured white. He is assisted by an artificial intelligence called E.V.A.
 * Mike Patton had decided on either Fantômas or Diabolik for his avant-garde metal band, ultimately called Fantômas.
 * The Beastie Boys music video for the song "Body Movin’ " is a direct parody of Danger: Diabolik and features many clips from the movie itself.
 * Millar &amp; McNiven's Nemesis
 * A racing driver named Diabolik who races in the Superstars Series, who never takes off his balaclava.

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.