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TEXBR
Site, from a Nilson's genial idea (editorial staff of TEXBR, Nilson
Pires), performed by José Ricardo (editorial staff of TEXBR, Jose
Ricardo do Socorro), have interviewed Sergio Bonelli, the best name of
Italian current comic strips, personality of publishing world that
commands the purpose of comic heroes which we love its adventures every
month. With clear and objective answers, Sergio spoke about comic strips
and the present-day of comics, and left a message to fans of Bonelli
comics in Brazil. See below the whole interview:
 TEXBR
Site - Sergio,
it has been a long time you have officially visited Brazil, on Bienal do
Rio de Janeiro (1993). When will we can have the happiness of meeting
you in Brazil again?
Sergio Bonelli -
I am sorry answering in
Italian. Like a Carioca honorable citizen (from
a diploma awarded to me by of Rio de Janeiro´s mayor in July of 1993),
have a conceit of
thinking I do very well when I speak in Portuguese, but I would have
a lot of problems if wanted to write with the same facility... The
questions do are
very interesting and should be answered in about ten pages. However, I
don't want to bore
the visitors of the site, I am going to try beeing as concise as
possible.Last
times, we have also used the beautiful word "missing". Telling
you the truth, this word
has used here in many ways, without people knowing its real meaning, in
my opinion, "no-translationable".
I, unlike, have been learned with passage ot time to know better the
meaning of that word and I don't hesitate to teel you what I have always
told my friends from
Rio, São Paulo, Manaus, Campo Grande or Ilhéus: I have not been in
Brazil for five years
and I am missing a lot. Very work and health problems have stopped me
from traveling, but
I hope I will can meet up my old friends, crossing the Atlantic during
next winter.
Portal TEXBR -
When we fly over Amazon, we see many forests and rivers until we find
the beautiful town named Manaus. Which was the inspiration to create
Mister No?
Sergio Bonelli - The
true and irresistible inspirations to adventures of Mister No is linked
to my discovery, in
the distance year of 1968, from Amazon's wonderfull world, that year
after year I have
learned to know after traveling through every river of Amazon. Since the
most majestic and known
one, like Rio Negro and Solimões, until the less sailed one like
Uapés and Demini. Some
visits to Manaus and consequently friendship with local inhabitants
led me to consider that
extraordinary region like my second country. I confess I am really
happy and proud to
have met the town of Manaus more than thirty years ago, before the
population increase, the
foreign industries and before the changes of tourists about urban
aspects and spirits of inhabitants.
Portal TEXBR - In
Brazil, only Tex has stood out among readers. Others comic strips (like
Zagor, Mister No, Martin Mystère, Nathan Never and Dylan Dog) has fewer
acceptance by market. What do you think about it?
Sergio Bonelli -
I think my first contact with Brazilian readers was in 1967, when by pure spirit of
friendship, I passed to a famous "carioca" publishing house, belonging to Vecchi family,
the task of going through an experience, proposing to Brazilian readers the Tex´s
adventures. At the same time, another famous publishing house, Editora Brasil-América (EBAL)
released the comic books of the Pequeno Ranger (Little Ranger) and A História do Oeste
(The West Story). The next years, another important editor from Rio de Janeiro, named
Sergio Machado (who has come to my friend), came out some comic strips (Zagor, Martin
Mystère, Dylan Dog and Nathan Never). Well, while Tex became a hit, whose publication
has kept on until now, without interruption all these years, the other attempts did not
get well. Because my big experience about publishing world I could understand that
in the world of comic books, we sometimes cannot to find out racional
explanations. In many cases, success and failure are related to unpredictable factors, such as
release time or the proposed subject matter doesn't go with general anxieties of public
that it is made for, the ones that figures out these anxieties. The last may be the most
correct explanation. I figure out our comic strips have found in Italy an audience
that has aspirations and interests different from other people that has read the same
ones in French, Brazilian or in Spanish. In short, I believe it's not easy to
propose comic strip with acceptance everywhere, although Tex is the contrary what I
meaning. However, the fact is Tex (and other western and adventures tales) is a universal
model, because it is about themes that are familiar to everybody (or to the most) and
these themes are significant to everybody too. We have proposed to readers moral themes
(justice, honor, loyalty) that have belonged to ancient histories. However, the other
characters usually are linked to particular situations, the expectations and tastes which
cannot be spread to readears from everywhere, unlike Zagor, where a lot of considerations
made for Tex can be used for it.
Portal TEXBR -
Will SBE continue without e-mail for much time? Don't you think that the
readers are anxious to communicate by Internet?
Sergio Bonelli - For the time being we
do not think about endowing our site with an e-mail address and the reason is very
simple: the Publishing firm has the habit of always answering all the readers who
has written us, but this task that already takes us too time, even so we
take
it with much enthusiasm, task would become really hard if we consider the
possibility of all the navigators of the Internet to correspond with the
Publishing firm. We would not be able to answer to all any more, and for the first time
in more than half century, we would be forced to select our correspondence,
what would disappoint those readears whose correspondence were not answered. Our
concern is that the means of e-mail sending would make to multiply our
correspondents in proportions that we
could not give answers to all as they would deserve.
Portal TEXBR -
The young
Brazilians are more interested in mangás magazines. In Italy also
happens this? Exists a SBE´s concern with the future readears?
Sergio Bonelli -
The passion for mangás has been nowdays a reality also in the Europe. Young people who has
grown up seeing Japanese cartoons on TV got used to this new graphic and "ideological"
culture so that they also are appealed to comic strip. It is about a production
that, as it happens in all the other fields, offers good things and bad things, as also
it happens with us. For the survival of the traditional comic book, the phenomenon of the mangá, at least of the economical
point of view, it is less preoccupying of what we imagined and, in a certain sense, it
is obtaining the effect of to stimulate the competition. So that we still insist
more to support that improvised competition.
Portal TEXBR -
What do you think about the countless sites created at several
countries to honor the bonellianer characters?
Sergio Bonelli -
Not being a habitual visitor of the internet, I have just discovered the
existence of many sites that, in the last times, they take in
consideration our work, without saving praises or critics. I feel proud
and flattered with the discovery that our work is being followed in
several parts of the world, but I also admit that in a first moment I
was very concerned for the fact that, any day, anyone (besides a person
of little experience and culture) has the possibility to transmit to
everyone concepts that could be revealed inexact or even unjust. Then I
have been started to share that initiative gender, especially because I
consider it an alternative way to the correspondence and the occasional
encounters in the course of the strip displays to maintain, although
faraway, a more continuous dialogue with the lovers.
Portal TEXBR -
Our site almost
published all the stricias (strips). Didn't official SBE Site publish
for some reason?
Sergio Bonelli -
In half century
of life our publishing firm has produced such amount of series,
magazines and special copies, that to insert all in the site of SBE, it
would need an immense pledge, perhaps even exaggerating considering what
we think about our publications. Therefore we decided to limit the
integral insert of the magazines covers to the series in current
publication or ended little ago.
Portal TEXBR -
Finally, leave a message to the bonellianer readers of everywhere!
Sergio Bonelli -
Permitt me to
conclude my intervention without messages or private announcements. The
only thing I tell to the bonellianer from Brazil and those dispersed
ones for everywhere is that our dedication and our good faith when doing
comic strips have continued the same ones. We have been tried to do
strips so that our work is to the height of the affection that so many
readers have demonstrated us. Whether we didn't sometimes get it, excuse
us, but you can to have in your minds we didn't do on purpose. Greetings
to you and the visitors of the site. Sérgio Bonelli.
From
Brazil we expressed our thank you very much to Sérgio Bonelli, that,
beeing aware of importance of bonellianer´s readers universe and
navigators of the TEXBR Site, he kindly answered to our interview,
donating us part of your precious time and toasting the Brazilian
public with an the one and exclusive moment. Thank you Sérgio!
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