Alan Ford is an Italian comic book created by Max Bunker (Luciano Secchi) and Magnus (Roberto Raviola), published since 1969, with Milano's Editrice Corno as a publisher. The comic book is a satirical take on classic secret agents laden with surreal and black humor, sardonic references to aspects of the contemporary Italian and Western society. Although it became widely popular in Italy shortly after its introduction, Alan Ford remained relatively unknown outside Italy. The French edition soon failed but the only other foreign edition, in SFR Yugoslavia, was a huge success, becoming and remaining one of the most popular comic books in the former country and its successors. Alan Ford is published monthly by Max Bunker Press in Italy.
Although the initial plot in the first few episodes develops around an agent called Alan Ford, he is later just one of the central group of characters: Group TNT. The comic book ridicules aspects of American society, including capitalism and racism. There were also direct references to local Italian reality, whose social ills were often satirized by Magnus & Bunker, as well as terms in Milanese dialect.
The authors of this comic book started their project as a satire of James Bond. According to Max Bunker, he wanted to create a comic book which did not fall into either of the then predefined categories of adventures and dark comics, like Satanik or Kriminal (both by Bunker and Raviola), or traditionally funny comics, like Mickey Mouse.
The initial script was written in August 1967 and the dialog revised in April 1968. The script included six main characters - Alan Ford, Bob Rock, Sir Oliver, The Boss, Jeremiah and Grunf - but the creators decided to omit Sir Oliver in the ultimate revision (July 1968), for fear of overwhelming readers with characters in the first issue. The character of Number One was introduced later into the series, in the 11th issue named "The Number One". Cirano first appeared in the 18th issue ("Dog For Million Dollars"), when he was adopted by Bob Rock, albeit unwillingly. Raviola decided to base the drawing of Alan Ford on Irish actor Peter O'Toole.
The first issue of the comic book, entitled "Group TNT", was received mildly by its audience. The second issue, entitled "The Rotten Tooth" appeared in June 1968, introduced the Sir Oliver character, and was overshadowed by the first issue's lack of success. The reputation of Alan Ford grew with subsequent issues. Raviola drew the first 75 issues, after which he was replaced by Paolo Piffarerio in 1975. In 1983, when the comic book moved to another publisher, Max Bunker Press, Raffaele della Monica and Giuliano Piccinnino replaced Piffarerio. Many readers think that the first issues, those drawn by Raviola, are the best. Currently the comic book is drawn by Dario Perucca (who also draws covers) with inks by Omar Pistolato. In its entire story the drawing style has remained the same set by Magnus.
In 1972, the translations of Alan Ford books came out in what was then called Yugoslavia (and is now the countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Macedonia), published by the Vjesnik concern, which was also putting out the most important Croatian daily paper (also called Vjesnik). There was, also, an attempt in France, where total of 12 books was published between 1975 and 1976, before the title was cancelled (unfortunately, the Alan Ford issues in Macedonian suffered the same fate).
Some of Vjesnik's editions were occasionally censored by the Yugoslavian government. For example, in issue number 16, "Don't vote for Notax", a line making fun of American racism, reading "Firstly, I promise that we will get rid of the Blacks. ... This is a country of the white race, and who doesn't think that way will get punished..." was changed to "Firstly, I promise that we will get rid of our enemy. This is our country and who doesn't think that way will..." Certain pictures from the book were removed or repainted in some editions, while in some other editions those very same pictures appeared in original version.
After the break up of Yugoslavia, Borgis continued publishing for the Croatian market. Maverick from Kraljevo initially started publishing for Serbian market, and was later picked up by Svet.
In the mid 1990s, a theater play Alan Ford was performed in Teatar T in Belgrade (Serbia). The play was an original story with most of the characters from the comic book, mostly based on the episode #29 "The Bearded Gang", but with numerous references to other episodes and characters. The play was performed in Croatian language, as used by Brixy. Another comedy based on Alan Ford was produced in a theatre in Nis (Serbia), and you can even find non-authorized cards and CD ROMS on the streets in this country. It's important to say that one of the cult-movies released in the early 80s - "Marathon Racers on Their Honorable Run", by the Serbian director Slobodan Sijan, was also heavily inspired by the humor of Alan Ford comics, and this was often pointed out by the director himself.
The cult status of this comic book was so powerful in the Balkans that the anonymity of Alan Ford in the rest of the world is usually a bit of a shock to the ordinary reader of Ex-Yugoslavia, because this comic was so influential, and so much loved past three decades. The black-humored stories about confused and poor secret agents, incompetent and lazy, but intelligent and cunning when it suits their own personal interests, led by their iron-fisted and shrewd leader, the wheelchair-ridden old man who embezzles the millions paid to the group by American government or City Fathers for secret missions, while paying a pittance to his agents, whose base was in a rotten old flower shop in New York, was quite different from the usual heroic stuff found in adventure comic books anywhere, Yugoslavia included. So very soon these comics, published in an edition called (bombastically, according to the times) Super Strip, became quite popular in this country.
Many people agree that the success of Alan Ford in Yugoslavia was connected with the inspired and imaginative translations by Nenad Brixy, a writer from Zagreb. Brixy's witty adaptations of the Italian text were noticed by readers in all parts of Ex-Yugoslavia, and many Alan Ford fans in Serbia, for example, have associated the strip mainly with its original edition, published in Croatian variation of this (in fact the same) South-Slavic language. When, after the dissolution of Yugoslavia, original Alan Ford episodes were reprinted in Serbia, they were criticized because the translation was adopted to the Serbian variation of the language. Even the new generation of readers in Serbia were familiar with the Brixy's original Croatian translation, thanks to the second-hand copies of Alan Ford books from the 70s and 80s, which were still available in the considerable amounts at the local flea markets, private collections, etc (first 75 episodes, which were drawn by Roberto Raviola alias Magnus, were considered "classic", and were reprinted in few re-run cycles over the years). Another reason is because some of the lines and situations from the strip became part of the slang and sort of a legend among the urban population (fine example is the catchphrase "Hello Bing, how's your brother?" by Sir Oliver, who is both secret agent, and a corny old thief constantly involved in black market transactions).
A musician/performer from Belgrade, true Yugoslav celebrity known as Rambo Amadeus (born in 1963), told us: "My whole generation grew up on reading Alan Ford. The influence of this comic is so big, that I considered its characters to be archetypes which helped me to truly understand the world around me".
The popularity of the strip in the ex-Yugoslav countries is illustrated by the fact that it was the only comic that was reprinted in all of the Republics after the country fell apart in the 90s =96 Macedonia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. Many of the people who were forced to leave their country and settle in more secure places like Western Europe and North America, have very nostalgic feelings about the Alan Ford comics, especially because (as I said earlier) they weren't able to find reprints in their adopted countries. One of the fans from Bosnia, now living in Germany, has posted these lines on his web site: "In a house where I lived in Bosanski Samac I left a collection of more then 400 Alan Ford comic books. Each issue was special to me- I was able to recall if it was bought on the newsstand or traded for some other comic. I read each issue for maybe ten times, and was overwhelmed by it each time again and again".
Finally, it's really hard to explain why this comic was so big in Yugoslavia - one of the factors could be its ironic approach, as both the authorities and the representatives of the law were presented as corrupt and far from perfect. Or maybe it was connected with fairly good distribution of the books, in a market which was at least not THAT overwhelmed by comic books like some other places.
All in all, Alan Ford is one of the pop icons in this part of the Balkans.