Dylan Dog- sesso e violenza

Most people don't realize that there is much more to comic books than superheroes like Spider-man or Superman.  Over the decades, many different genres have had their ups and downs in the world of comic books: western, science fiction, horror, crime, romance, and, of course, superheroes.  Comics are also not just an American thing; they are produced in many countries around the world.  Today, I want to write about one such comic-- the Italian fumetto dell'orrore (horror comic), Dylan Dog.

Two different issues of Dylan Dog

Dylan Dog, created by Tiziano Sclavi and published by Sergio Bonelli Editore, debuted in 1986 and continues to this day.  At this moment, the regular series is at #400.  Dylan Dog, the character, is a private investigator residing in London.  However, he does not handle normal cases; he is the nightmare investigator.  He deals with monsters, ghosts, deranged killers, etc.

Dylan Dog is a man who lives somewhat nonchalantly, from time to time taking up cases of strange happenings.  He will often be hired by a woman, who will usually end up in bed with him at some point, and, along with his assistant, Groucho, he will try to unravel the odd scenario he has been thrown into.  The title has understandably gone through some changes over the years as more and more stories were published, giving more background to the characters as well as events that change the direction of the stories themselves.

Maxi Dylan Dog, a series of volumes featuring 3 new stories each

Though the title has immense popularity in its native Italy (although there seems to be something of a divide in the fan-base regarding the more recent material, specifically since Roberto Recchioni took over as editor), as well as some other countries, such as Croatia, Dylan Dog has not seen much popularity here in the U.S.  There has been minimal publication of the stories Stateside, first through Dark Horse Comics and, more recently, through Epicenter.  Dark Horse published English translations of a total of seven issues, which adds up to nearly 700 pages, as each issue is about 95 pages or so.  That length is one of the major differences between Italian comics and American comics, with American ones usually only lasting 23 pages or so.  This allows the writers to develop a story and put it all into one issue, rather than piecing it out over the course of four or five months.  In the last few years, Epicenter has published another four issues and it is not clear whether or not there will be more.

The complete collection of the Dark Horse issues, The Dylan Dog Case Files

The most recent issue published by Epicenter

Regardless, the original Italian issues can be found here in the U.S. sometimes.  They are not readily available, so it can be difficult tracking any specific issue, and they are, naturally, in Italian, making them inaccessible to the majority of the American public.  I have managed to collect a reasonably large number of issues over a period of some years, considering the difficulty of finding them in the U.S.  Though I do have the English-language editions that have been published, I mostly have Italian-language editions, which I do prefer for the most part.  My Italian, at this point, is probably somewhere between upper beginner and lower intermediate and I enjoy reading Italian comics to expand my knowledge of the language.  To be sure, I would understand the stories more easily in English, but I am able to understand at least 50-60% of the text, which does allow me to follow the stories reasonably well.

Issue #383, written by legendary Italian director, Dario Argento

Despite the lack of popularity in the U.S., there was an American-made feature film adaptation back in 2010, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night.  To coincide with the film's release, the Dark Horse issues were compiled into a massive single edition: The Dylan Dog Case Files.  While I do find the movie to be fairly enjoyable (fun, but nothing particularly special), it is not a very good adaptation of the source material.  For instance, the action has been relocated from London to New Orleans (which is probably the best choice in the U.S. for the story, but it really should have remained in England) and Dylan's assistant has been changed completely.  The change of his assistant is one that makes sense, as in the comics he is called Groucho and looks and acts like Groucho Marx.  To avoid any legal issues, in the English editions that have been published, the art has been altered to remove the trademark mustache and his named changed to Felix.  I also think the feel of the movie version is more akin to action-horror flicks like the Underworld movies or the Blade movies.  There are actually things the movie manages to do right, but so many more things are changed.  It certainly does not help things that the movie is PG-13, when it really should have been an R-rated film, so it does feel like they held back to get a more family-friendly rating.  In short, if you go into this movie expecting Dylan Dog, it will be disappointing, but it you forget that it holds the flimsiest of ties to the fumetto, you may at least have a fun time.

Blu-ray of Dylan Dog: Dead of Night starring Brandon "the forgotten Superman" Routh.
The lower your expectations, the better your enjoyment

One recent event is a crossover between Sergio Bonelli Editore and DC Comics.  This has so far resulted in a crossover of Dylan Dog and Batman.  From what I have read, the crossover is meant to last four issues.  It also looks like other DC and Sergio Bonelli characters will meet up.  Based on the information from the inside of the back cover of the Dylan Dog/Batman crossover issue, the Justice League and Nathan Never will crossover as will The Flash and Zagor.

Dylan Dog/Batman crossover issue

Then, I must mention Francesco Dellamorte, another character created by Tiziano Sclavi.  Francesco is something of a doppelganger of Dylan Dog, although he is a cemetery caretaker from the title's native land of Italy, rather than an investigator residing in England like Dylan.  In addition to showing up in Dylan Dog he got his own novel, Dellamorte Dellamore, which was adapted into a film of the same name by the last of the great Italian horror directors, Michele Soavi.  The film was released in the U.S. under the title Cemetery Man and features Rupert Everett, who was the visual inspiration for Dylan's look, as Francesco, who looks just like Dylan.  Rupert is excellent in the film, which is a surreal and sometimes funny, sometimes creepy, and sometimes a bit nasty, ride.  If you are a fan of Italian horror and have not checked this one out, you certainly should pick up a copy and give it a go.

Figurine of Dylan Dog in front of various issues of Dylan Dog

If you like horror comics and are looking something that has interesting stories, likeable characters, some surrealism, and of course, some good old sex and violence, check out Dylan Dog.  If you aren't able to read Italian, then I would recommend tracking down the Dark Horse issues or the omnibus version (which does tend to be expensive) as well as the Epicenter issues, which are still readily available from Epicenter, so they are easily found for a reasonable price.  In addition, there are a few English language variant issues from Italy, but those are harder to find, since they are Italian produced issues.  Regardless of which of these you track down, they are absolutely worth checking out.