Lo Sconosciuto

Lo Sconosciuto (The Unknown) is an Italian comics series created in 1975 by Roberto Raviola, better known his pseudonym Magnus. It has been translated into English as The Specialist.

The series and its eponymous character was created by Magnus after a series of trips abroad and was defined together with his friend, the singer and writer Francesco Guccini. It was the first great creation by Magnus after he had left Editoriale Corno and his partnership with writer Max Bunker, with whom he had created famous series such as Kriminal and Alan Ford. Published in July 1975 by Edizioni Del Vascello (Renzo Barbieri's publisher), it is considered his finest achievement. The last Sconosciuto story was released in 1984, though a short prologue for another, never published story appeared in 1996 as a dedication to his friend, the cartoonist Franco Bonvicini, who had recently died.

Lo Sconosciuto owes this nickname to his second name, "Unknow" (without the final "n", misspelling intentional). He is a disillusioned, former mercenary who tries to forget the wounds of his past, usually without success. This past is only partially shown: as a former member of the Foreign Legion in Algeria and Vietnam, he learnt combat techniques and the use of weapons. After a conscience crisis, he tries to escape the horrors he had experimented searching for jobs all around the world. However, the fate seems to compel him to take part to new kills and obscure international plots.

Unknow's stories are renowned for their striking realism, and are set in various countries, everywhere his skills are needed. They show without censorship several aspects of international politics and trades, including drugs, corruption, violence, terrorism (included the Italian one in the 1970s), hidden wars, espionage. Magnus' panels add deepness to the crude realism of the stories, through a perfectionist rendering of the landscapes and the events themselves. Violence apart, the uncensored representation of a sex scene gave Sconosciuto's stories the mark of pornography for several years in the 1970s. This, together with other problems and the slowness of the meticulous Magnus in finishing the panels, forced the monthly series to end with N°6. As an end, Magnus showed Unknow being shot twice in the belly while trying to prevent a slaughter in a hotel.

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