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The Great Alfredo - Spider

The Great Alfredo , Spider, Ear Acerbo Publisher, 2010

The Great Alfredo is a great, great clown, the largest ever existed: it is incredible stunts, irresistible tells jokes, does anything to make his audience laugh. Why you ask? Because laughing is good for health as scientifically proven, and Alfred the Great is uno scienziato della risata.  

Il Grande Alfredo ha un'energia invidiavile, non v'è nulla che lo possa fermare, nemmeno la malattia. Un giorno difatti, durante uno dei suoi increbili funambolismi, il clown più famoso del mondo cade e si fa male, molto male.

Voleva curare il mondo a furia di risate ed ora? Cosa ne sarà del più famoso clown della terra? Ora che è gravemente ferito alle gambe come farà ad esibirsi nelle sue funamboliche evoluzioni? Ma il Grande Alfredo, si sa, non è tipo that strikes easily, indeed:

The most famous and beloved clown of the world decides to resume the show, is greeted by his jubilant audience. Announced the world tour tickets are sold out a flash and a great Alfredo returns to make all ages laugh with his jokes hilarious, but, again, is a bridge too far and get hurt again, seriously, terribly! What will become of poor Alfred is now completely paralyzed from head down?

Like Winnie, the heroine surreal di  Giorni Felici  di Beckett, anche il Grande Alfredo si trova bloccato, completamente immobile: in un primo tempo dalla vita in giù, poi dalla testa in giù. Esattamente. Come Winnie anche Il Grande Alfredo non darà peso alla sua condizione, "rialzandosi" e ricominciando a modo suo. Parallelismo che inizia e termina qui, poiché ne Il Grande Alfredo non solo la tematica è differente ma l'intento artistico-filosofico di tale scelta ha scopi distanti: Spider infatti, benché sfiori con leggiadria la tematica della condizione umana centrale nel dramma di Beckett, sembra volerci dire che, laddove le difficoltà diventano insopportabili l'unica alternativa possibile è the reaction. Where Winnie resigned to their condition and showing only a slight hint of discomfort, the Great Alfredo suggests that we attack the problem (and disease) with a huge laugh, not a bitter and sardonic laughter mind you, but with a laugh joyful and profound, a laugh so liberating change from the fate that seemed to have locked up forever.

The Great Alfredo closely resembles the character of Patch Adams, as the editors rightly say in their submission to the text, but it is a Patch Adams with a strong touch of the surreal accentuated, if possible, by the beautiful illustrations that recall American comics of the years 20-40, from Betty Boop (clearly mentioned in the last picture below), to Popeye, Mickey Mouse at the beginning (to Steamboat Willie for instance), with a modern finishing touch that reminds me of the peculiar art of Gary Baseman .

Spider, his real name is Daniele Melani, was born in Florence. After some roaming around the world has been based in Pesaro. With his art has helped to beautify various newspapers, including the "Manifesto" and "Twenty-Four." Over time he conducted an impressive artistic research, his style relaxed and multicultural influences and in fact includes very different trends: changes from the manga cartoons, from pop art to expressionism sign, not to mention the graffiti. For its use graphic boards, battens and pasty colors that stain the scratched surface, giving an expressive touch intense and dramatic, highlighting the surreal and sometimes grotesque stories recounting.

Besides The Great Alfredo , for the publisher Ear Acerbo Published:

Cloudy, with texts by Fabian Negrin (2002);

The invisible world and other stories , text by Fabian Negrin, illustrated by various authors (2004);

repair your grandfather , with text by Stefano Benni (2006 )

Emma. Where do the flowers in the winter? opera debut as an author (2008).

Footnotes:

1. For fans of Popeye, aka Popeye, I recommend the following site: http://popeyeanimators.blogspot.com/ ;
2. on Betty Boop, among the other is my favorite illustrator Grim Natwick on the site of Michael Sporn will find many interesting information: http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/index.php?s=Grim+Natwick&submit=Search ;
3. If you want to know Gary Baseman better, this is his site: http://www.garybaseman.com/ .

Copyright text and pictures of the Publishing House Ear Acerbo 2010. The images have been published with the permission of the publisher, their reproduction is prohibited.