Men but extraordinary
Author: Altan
Title: Men but extraordinary
Pages: 256, B&W + Color
Price: 25,00 euro
Date: November 2019
Men But Extraordinary desecratingly shreds all our history, geography and catechism books and undermines many of our other certainties. Altan recounts in his own way the life and deeds of Christopher Columbus and then of St. Francis of Assisi: both anti-heroes outside any hagiography, in medieval and Renaissance Italy, against a background of physical and moral ruin, among opportunistic nobles, corrupt priests, greedy merchants and ridiculous adventurers. Then the story of Giacomo Casanova, with his rude leaps between high society and taverns of the calli of Venice, pursued in crowded cartoons by one hundred lovers and a
thousand aspiring ones. Finally the recovery of the fantastic biblical story of Ben, the fourth son of Noah, not very revered by his father but able to give humanity the invention of grappa: an amusing long color story published only once, over twenty years ago, in a limited edition limited.
Altan is one the most iconic Italian cartoonist. His children’s character La Pimpa, was made into a TV cartoon that every Italian from the 1970s until now grew up with. His satyrical comic run on La Repubblica daily.
Men But Extraordinary are the irreverent, anti-heroic, counter-historical biographies of Cristopher Colombo, Franz (San Francis of Assi) and Giacomo Casanova. And the story of Ben, Noah’s fourth child, previously published only in a limited edition.
Desecrating, parodic biographies of Cristopher Columbus, Saint Francis of Assisi, Giacomo Casanova and Ben, Noé’s fourth child. What could be more feminist than dismantling these four white men’s legacy, one comic at a time?
« Altan is like an Olympic shooter: he only misses one out of a hundred. »
Stefano Benni
Best Selling Authora
« Altan delights us with the intelligent precision of his satirical arrows, with the
sensuality of his softly curvilinear design, with the chromatic joy of his lively
contrasts, with the affectionate ferocity of his gaze, always resorting to a smile. »
Ferruccio Giromini
Journalist and Art Historian
« A man (Altan) who knows comic times more than anyone else. Certainly capable of writing the Italian novel. »
Repubblica, leading Italian newspaper
ALTAN Francesco Tullio Altan (b. 1942) is an Italian cartoonist, scriptwriter and satirist. Having graduated from architecture studies, he embarked on a career as a cartoonist for children, later becoming the creator of Pimpa and Kamillo Kromo as well several other well-known comic strips published in major Italian press titles including Espresso, Panorama and La Repubblica. He is also the author of several parodies of celebrities and the creator of the communist machine operator Cipputi.