Euro-Superheroes (and Villains)

Introduction: Sixties European genre cinema was replete with superheroes, supervillains, spies, gadgets and gizmos. Germany had the criminal mastermind Dr. Mabuse. France had the arch villain Fantomas. And thanks to the James Bond craze, there was an endless supply of “Eurospies” (among the most durable, Jerry Cotton and Kommissar X, each begetting a series of films). Close cousins to these were the superhero and super-criminal films produced in Italy. Although they were no doubt born out of the decade's “spy-fi” craze, their origins are also found in Italian fumetti (comic strips).

Italian cinema's fascination with fumetti can be traced at least as far back as Federico Fellini's solo debut, The White Sheik (1952), in which a character from a beloved fotoromanzi (photo comic strip) becomes the object of one woman's obsession. However, Italian comics series truly made the jump to cinema in the following decade. 1962 saw the release of Diabolik, a digest-sized black-and-white comic book, created by sisters Angel and Luciana Guissani. This long-running series (which celebrated its 800th issue in 2013) chronicles the exploits of master thief Diabolik and his lover-accomplice Eva Kant. Inspector Ginko attempts to bring the brigands to justice, but Diabolik always outsmarts him. The popularity of Diabolik influenced other Italian crime comics (referred to as fumetti neri -literally, black comics), including Kriminal and Satanik, both created by Magnus and Max Bunker (who would later release the wildly popular Italian secret agent spoof, Alan Ford).

Kriminal features an English master thief named Anthony Logan, who dons a black-and-gold costume with a skeletal mask. He too is helped by a female companion (Lola Hudson), and is dogged by an Inspector (Milton of Scotland Yard). Although Diabolik was more popular, Kriminal nonetheless enjoyed a print run of 419 issues from 1964 to 1974. Satanik also featured a criminal mastermind, albeit in plots with more horrific and supernatural aspects. Its origin story offers a space-age Jekyll and Hyde persona in a hideously scarred woman scientist who takes a potion to transform into an alluring younger woman, yet the serum also conjures murderous tendencies. This title also ran from 1964 to 1974, with 231 issues. These three durable characters all had adaptations to the big screen, with varying levels of success, or faithfulness to the source material.

By and large the Italian superhero boom was already underway when these arch criminals appeared before the camera. The genesis of the Italian superhero movie subgenre can also be ascribed to the Eurospy craze of its day. As you will see in the films featured in this “festival”, some characters work for government agents, and some of the scenarios use time-worn tropes used in espionage films. These movies also have an otherworldly feeling: no less so than the German krimis of the era, which featured London locations and Scotland Yard characters, albeit presented with a distinctive art direction and atmosphere that is representative of German cinema. Some of the films in this issue likewise have London settings, Scotland Yard detectives and English butlers enacted by Italian-speaking performers. Because of their content, many of these films can be regarded as “camp” (misused as that term often is), even when they're not attempting to be spoofy, with their larger than life performances and production values. At their best, they nicely capture the look and feel of a live action comic book.