Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Italian Americans in American Comics

The ANNOTICO Report

To begin, we will take a close look at possibly the most important Italian-American super hero, Francis Castiglione known as the Punisher, and better known as Frank Castle.

Other popular Italian and Italian-American super heroes include: Zatana ( Zatana Zatara, daughter of Giovanni Zatara), Rockslide (Santo Vacarro), Sara Pezzini, wielder of the Witchblade, Strong Guy(Guido Carosella), Huntress (Helena Rosa Bertinelli), Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, agent of Shield.

Of course, One of the prime enemies in comic books tends to be mobsters who tend to be of Italian heritage. Today, the Italian mafia does not have close to as much power as it once did (at least in the United States.) In mainstream American culture, Italians tend to be very closely connected to the mafia. In Marvel comics for example, one of the main enemies of the character is Billy The Beaut Russo or most famously known as Jigsaw. Mobsters were perfect villains since they were very often much more weaker than super heroes and were just token bad guys that could easily be eliminated (with the exception of a few, of course.)

Another character that has been closely linked to the mafia is Jackie Estacado, better known as the Darkness. Jackie was a troubled young Italian-American who joined the mafia at an early age before becoming the Darkness.

The World In Comics: Italy

The World In Comics

December 19, 2008

Italy, a Southern European nation famous for it's food, art and history.

In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.~ Orson Welles

Italy, a country that through the ages has intrigued many individuals from all around the world. Through the centuries the Italian peninsula has experienced some of the most important events of not only the west but also the whole world. In the ancient world Italy was populated by several groups of people such as Celts, Greeks, Carthaginians and Romans. The Romans would go on to become one of the most important civilizations the world has ever seen. Italy was also responsible for providing the world with several great artists and humanists during the times of the renaissance.

Today, Italy is a country of 57.4 million people and a member of the European Union. Italy is a member of the G8 summit and tends to be a decisive force in the European parliament. The population of Italy is mostly attached to the catholic faith with a VERY small amount of Greco-Roman pagans and Muslims. Now, a country with such a powerful history would obviously provide the world with a nice chunk of super heroes? Unfortunately, Italian-born super heroes are very few and very rarely well known to the American mainstream comic audience.

However, this brings us to the next point. Italy suffered some tragic occurrences during the 20th century. After the unification of the Italian peninsula in the 1860s, Italy suffered many setbacks due to many reasons including poor administration on behalf of the king and foreign intervention. The economy of Italy suffered tremendously, especially in the Southern region of the country. This caused for large amounts of Italians to become immigrants and spread throughout the world. Today, one can find Italians in many part of the world such as Canada, Australia, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil but most famously..The United States Of America.

The Italians in America would go on to leave a huge impact on American mainstream culture that cannot be denied today. Now, we will look at the impact that Italy and Italians have left in the comic book industry and their legacy.

To begin, we will take a close look at possibly the most important Italian-American super hero, Francis Castiglione..better known as the Punisher.

For a very long time I have try to determine why Punisher is better known as Frank Castle and not Francis Castiglione. I have stumbled into two answers that seem to be the most likely:
1. The name was simplified or Americanized so the American reader would not have such difficult time with the name.
2. Someone commented that in one of the earlier issues of Punisher, Punisher travels to Italy and discovers about his family. He finds out that his parents who were Italian immigrants changed their name so they would not be discriminated and could adapt to the American culture better.
It has also been suggested that he changed his name so he could serve a fourth tour in the army during Vietnam. It is very likely that most of these reasons are true but I have not been able to confirm any of them as of right now. The first 2 reasons I listed above are good examples of what not only some Italian immigrants have to go through, but a lot of immigrants have to go through when they come to the United States.

One of the prime enemies in comic books tends to be mobsters who tend to be of Italian heritage. Today, the Italian mafia does not have close to as much power as it once did (at least in the United States.) In mainstream American culture, Italians tend to be very closely connected to the mafia. In Marvel comics for example, one of the main enemies of the character is Billy The Beaut Russo or most famously known as Jigsaw. Mobsters were perfect villains since they were very often much more weaker than super heroes and were just token bad guys that could easily be eliminated (with the exception of a few, of course.)

There is a few more Italian and Italian-American characters but those are the most widely popular ones. Regardless, of such limited amount to Italian super heroes from the mainstream American comic industry (I said Italian, not Italian-American) there is a large amount of Italian super heroes in Italy.

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/theworldincomics/news/?a=5601

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