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Franco Bonvicini

Bonvi
Born Franco Bonvicini
(1941-03-31)March 31, 1941
Died December 10, 1995(1995-12-10) (aged 54)
Nationality  Italy
Area(s) Cartoonist
Pseudonym(s) Bonvi
Notable works
Sturmtruppen, Nick Carter
http://www.bonvi.it/

Bonvi, pen name of Franco Bonvicini (March 31, 1941 - December 10, 1995), was an Italian comic book artist, creator of Sturmtruppen and Nick Carter strips.

Bonvicini was born either in Parma or Modena, in the Emilia Romagna region of Northern Italy. The correct site is unknown, as his mother registered him in both places to obtain twice the amount of war-rationing food stamps. The author hinted at this fact in one of his Sturmtruppen comic books, where he usually hid autobiographical notes inside the dark humour of the books.

After a brief experience in advertising work, he made his debut in the comics world in 1968 for the newspaper Paese Sera with his most famous strip Sturmtruppen. Sturmtruppen was later translated in numerous countries outside Italy. While politically left-aligned and a pacifist, Bonvi was fascinated by war, and had served in the tank corps in postwar Italy. He also had an encyclopedic knowledge of the Wehrmacht's uniforms, weapons and equipment, which he faithfully recreated in his cartoonish universe. Each weapon and vehicle appearing in the strip is real; uniforms are also faithfully depicted apart from some simplifications. Sturtruppen, however, was not only a satire of military life and Nazism, but also a true, endless wellspring of comical and surreal situations.

Bonvicini was one of the first Italian cartoonists to use the horizontal format typical of United States' strips.

Sturmtruppen strips were published periodically until Bonvi's death, with the exception of a pause in the 1970s, in which he left Italy for a long trip to Africa. In 1967 he played Derek Flit, a parody of Derek Flint in Come rubammo la bomba atomica an Italian spy comedy movie shot in Egypt.


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