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| Linus (magazine) | |
|---|---|
| Title | Linus |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Category | Comics magazine |
| Firstdate | 1965 |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
Linus (magazine) is an Italian monthly comics magazine founded in 1965 and known for pioneering the publication of European and American comic strips, essays, and cultural commentary. It served as a platform for serialized works by international cartoonists, serialized literature, and critical discussion, influencing Italian publishing, journalism, and popular culture. The magazine has intersected with figures and institutions across comics, literature, journalism, and politics, shaping visual culture in postwar Europe.
Launched during a period of cultural transformation in Italy, the magazine emerged amid dialogues involving Gianni Agnelli, Aldo Moro, Giorgio Napolitano, Enrico Berlinguer, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Umberto Eco; it positioned itself alongside publications such as L'Espresso, La Repubblica, Il Giorno, Corriere della Sera, and La Stampa. Early editors navigated relationships with Italian publishers like Rizzoli, Mondadori, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Einaudi, and Feltrinelli. The magazine adapted through Italy’s social changes linked to events such as the Years of Lead, the 1968 protests, the Mafia trials, and European integration debates involving the European Economic Community and the Treaty of Rome. Its founding coincided with the European comics revival that involved creators associated with Tintin, Asterix, The Adventures of Tintin, Spirou, Pilote, and the Anglo-American comics legacy such as Peanuts, Krazy Kat, and Mad (magazine). Over decades the magazine engaged with anniversaries of the Italian Republic, cultural policy under Giulio Andreotti, and debates involving media laws like the Mammì law.
The magazine published serialized strips, critical essays, interviews, and reportage. It featured work by cartoonists connected to movements and titles including Charles Schulz, Hergé, Goscinny, René Goscinny, Moebius, Hugo Pratt, Enki Bilal, Jacques Tardi, Quino, Joaquín Salvador Lavado], and material from syndicates related to King Features Syndicate, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and European houses like Dupuis and Casterman. Essays engaged with writers and intellectuals such as Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, Giorgio Bassani, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and journalists from Il Manifesto, La Stampa, Il Sole 24 Ore, and L'Espresso. The magazine balanced humor and political satire, bringing voices linked to Dario Fo, Eugenio Scalfari, Giorgio Bocca, Indro Montanelli, and critics associated with Roland Barthes and Northrop Frye into discussion.
Editorial direction included editors, cartoonists, and writers who had ties to institutions such as Università degli Studi di Milano, Sapienza University of Rome, Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, and cultural centers like Teatro alla Scala and La Fenice. Contributors have included prominent European and American creators—Fernando Krahn, Andrea Pazienza, Guido Silvestri, Sergio Bonelli, Hugo Pratt, Milo Manara, Altan, Vauro Senesi, Gian Luigi Bonelli, Giovanni Guareschi, Franco Battiato (as cultural commentator), and journalists from ANSA and Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata. The magazine’s roster created intersections with comic festivals and institutions such as the Angoulême International Comics Festival, Lucca Comics & Games, Salone del Libro di Torino, and museums like the Musée d'Orsay and Palazzo delle Esposizioni.
Circulation figures varied against competitors such as Topolino, Il Giornalino, Corriere dei Piccoli, and later graphic periodicals connected to Heavy Metal and 2000 AD. Readership spanned students at institutions such as Università degli Studi di Bologna, professionals working for organizations like ENI, RAI, Mediaset, and readers engaged with cultural debates involving Italian Communist Party, Christian Democracy, Italian Socialist Party, and intellectual circles around Beppe Grillo and Michele Serra. The magazine’s demographic included subscribers across Italian regions—Lombardy, Lazio, Sicily, Campania, Piedmont—and extended into francophone and hispanophone markets.
Design drew on typography and layout traditions from publishers like Futura adopters and designers associated with Massimo Vignelli and Bruno Munari. Supplements and special editions connected with anniversaries of works such as The Adventures of Tintin, Asterix, Peanuts, and retrospectives on creators like Hergé, Moebius, Hugo Pratt, and Milo Manara. The magazine produced themed catalogues and bound collections distributed through partners such as Feltrinelli bookstores, Mondadori Bookstores, and fairs like BookCity Milano. Visual presentation referenced galleries and archives such as Archivio Storico LUCE and collections in institutions like Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma.
Several issues are remembered for publishing early works or exclusive interviews tied to personalities like Umberto Eco, Italo Calvino, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Dario Fo, Enzo Biagi, and cartoonists who later exhibited at Venice Biennale, Documenta, and Milan Triennale. The magazine influenced adaptations and dialogues in television series produced by RAI, theatrical productions at Piccolo Teatro di Milano, and film projects involving figures such as Federico Fellini and Bernardo Bertolucci. Its cultural impact is traced through citations in scholarship from universities including Bocconi University, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, and mentions in monographs published by Il Saggiatore and Feltrinelli Editore.
The magazine and its contributors received awards connected with institutions such as the Angoulême Festival Prize, the Eisner Award (through featured creators), the Premio Andersen, the Premio Flaiano, and national honors like citations from the Italian Republic and cultural prizes administered by Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali. Individual contributors have been honored by academies such as the Accademia dei Lincei and cultural societies like Società Dante Alighieri.
Category:Italian magazines Category:Comics magazines