Serie d'Oro Audace
Serie d’Oro Audace N. 1/12 = From 1.10.1948 to 15.5.1949
Details:
• Frequency: Fortnightly
• Format: 21 x 29 cm
• Pages: 8 pages in B / W + cover.
• Price: 30 lire
The series presents in the first six issues the adventures of Occhio Cupo, by Gianluigi Bonelli and Aurelio Galleppini, and in the following issues it proposes the l’Orlando Furioso by Rino Albertarelli reprint from the pages of the Audace. The tables of an adventure by Captain Fortuna, also previously published in Audace N. 366/383, are retouched by Galep, transforming the character into Dark Eye, with a retouching of the dialogues by Bonelli. It is likely that the character's lack of success had forced the publisher to do this, before resorting to reprints for subsequent issues, to reduce production costs. On the first nine issues of the series, the "We are all designers" prize competition was launched, whose participants were entrusted with the task of illustrating the story "L’idolo verde" by Aurelio Galleppini, published in installments on the back cover. The names of the winners of the competition were announced on the last issue of the series. The cover of N. 11 takes up that of the Albo d’Oro Audace 1st series "Orlando: Nei regni della magia". "Il libro della Jungla" will remain incomplete while "Il ladro di Baghdad" will see its conclusion in the Collana Ragno d'Oro.
History
In 1948 Tea Bonelli , the separated wife of Giovanni Luigi Bonelli and director of Edizioni Audace, wanted to relaunch her company with new comic productions. Thus, on May 31, 1948, she wrote a letter to the designer Aurelio Galleppini, resident in Florence , inviting him to move to Milan to illustrate two parallel editorial projects: Occhio Cupo but also, by extension, the western Tex.
For both projects, the scripts are by Giovanni Luigi Bonelli, and the designs and covers are entrusted to Galleppini, who signs himself Galep. The cartoonist to in order to draw up costumes and settings to use for Occhio Cupo , goes to the cinema to see the films about swords and pirates , abundant in those years. To give a little respite to Galleppini's incessant work, some drawings of two adventures of Captain Fortuna , a Salgarian- inspired comic series by Rino Albertarelli from 1941 published in Audace Editions, were appropriately retouched and used for Occhio Cupo.
The expectations and commercial strategies for the two publications were different: " The Audace Editions focused heavily on Occhio Cupo , a character designed to fascinate the fine palates of Italian comics; a little less were expected from Tex Willer , less accurate in graphics. and editorial ". In fact Occhio Cupo , as Sergio Bonelli himself said , was "a book intended for an elite who understood a refined, well-finished design." They had pinned their hopes on Occhio Cupo, presented in an innovative giant book format (prototype of the classic ' Bonelli format ', which will allow Galep to express the best of himself through a very dynamic and extremely accurate design, far superior to the standards of the time).
The first episode, entitled The oath of the convict , was published on 1 October 1948 giving life to the Serie d'Oro Audace , at the cover price of 30 lire , quite expensive for the time (just think that Tex , released on 30 September, instead offered in an economical strip format at 15 lire). The periodicity is fortnightly, and the format is 12 pages, including the cover. Galep, who also holds the position of artistic director for Serie d'Oro Audace , works tirelessly, dedicating the best hours to Occhio Cupo, and Tex the hours of the evening and night, kept awake by the coffee coming from those coffee pots that he sometimes are shown in the captions.
On the Serie d'Oro Audace, in the appendix there are other stories drawn by Galep: a reduction of Il libro della jungla on texts by Marcello Serra , one table by number always on backcover, unfortunately left incomplete at 12 tables, "Gli slaiavi della mezzaluna" , on texts by Franco Baglioni , published from N. 5/9, at N. 10 "The mockery of San Domingo" by Galleppini, at N. 11/12 "The Thief of Baghdad" by G.L. Bonelli and Raffaele Paparella, which ends in the subsequent Collana Ragno d'Oro.
Despite the expectations that the publisher and authors place in the comics, Occhio Cupo does not meet the public's favor , so much so that Tea Bonelli interrupts its publications after just 6 issues (the latest issue, The Enterprise of Occhio Cupo , comes out on 30 December 1948), replacing it in the Serie d'Oro Audace with the reprints of l’Orlando Furioso, series originally published in Audace in 1941 - 42 written by G.L. Bonelli himself and drawn by Vittorio Cossio and, later, by Rino Albertarelli . This series is inspired by the exploits of the paladin Orlando narrated by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Ludovico Ariosto , for which Galep creates unpublished covers. Tea Bonelli closes the Serie d'Oro Audace after 12 albums, on May 15, 1949. Instead, Tex, contrary to editorial predictions, proved to be an unexpected success, which continues to this day.
Reprints
• 1950 Ragno d'Oro Series N. 4 - Re-proposition of the six episodes of Occhio Cupo by the Audace Publishing House.
• 1976 Serie d’Oro Audace N. 1/12 - Anastatic reprint of the complete series, published as a Supplement to the Collana Eroi dell’Avventura by the Golden Comics Club.
• XXXX Supplement to the "Lo Sparviero" Newspaper N. 3 - Dark Eye - Reprint of the six episodes of Occhio Cupo in a single color volume by the Nostalgia Club.
• 2014 Collana Grandi Minori N. 127 - Reprint of the six episodes of Occhio Cupo in a single volume by the Mercury Editorial.
• 2017 Collana Almanacchi Avventura Magazine - 100 years of Galep, a life with Tex - Re-proposal of the first two episodes of Occhio Cupo by Sergio Bonelli Editore.
