Guido Crepax

Guido Crepax
Crepax in 1993
Born	Guido Crepas (1933-07-15)15 July 1933 Milan, Italy
Died	31 July 2003(2003-07-31) (aged 70) Milan, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Area(s)	Artist, writer
Notable works	Valentina Anita Histoire d'O Belinda Bianca
Awards	Torre Guinigi d'oro (1967) Yellow Kid Award (1972) Adamson Award (1972) Jack Kirby Hall of Fame (2001)

Guido Crepas (15 July 1933 – 31 July 2003), better known by his pen name Guido Crepax, was an Italian comics artist. He is most famous for his character Valentina, created in 1965 and very representative of the spirit of the 1960s. The Valentina series of books and strips became noted for Crepax's sophisticated drawing, and for the psychedelic, dreamlike storylines, generally involving a strong dose of erotism. His work was often politically motivated too, inspired by his Communist convictions. A film based on his work called Baba Yaga, featuring the character Valentina, was made in 1973.

Works

Valentina stories

Crepax's grave at the Monumental Cemetery of Milan

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  Disegno per copertina di libretto, drawing for Count Down. Archivio Storico Ricordi

  The Lesmo Curve (1965)
• The Subterraneans (1965)
• The Descent (1966)
• Un Poco Loco (1966)
• Ciao, Valentina (1966)
• The Force of Gravity (1967)
• Funny Valentine (1967)
• Valentina in Sovietland (1968)
• Valentina in Boots (1968)
• Marianna in the Country (1968)
• Fearless Paper Doll Valentina (1968)
• Filippo and Valentina (1969)
• Valentina's Baby (1969)
• The Manuscript Found in a Stroller (1970)
• Baba Yaga (1971)
• Bluebeard (1971)
• Who's Afraid of Baba Yaga? (1971)
• Valentina the Fearless (1971)
• Annette (1972)
• The Little King (1972)
• Pietro Giacomo Rogeri (1972)
• The Time Eater (1973)
• Fallen Angels (1973)
• The Empress's New Clothes (1973)
• Reflection (1974)
• Private Life (1975)
• Subconscious Valentina (1976)
• Valentina the Pirate (1976)
• Rembrandt and the Witches (1977)
• Anthropology (1977)
• Le Zattere, Venice (1980)

Other heroines

• La casa matta (feat. Bianca, 1969), Edip
• Anita, una storia possibile (1972), Persona/Ennio Ciscato Editore
• Histoire d'O (1975), Franco Maria Ricci Editore, from the novel by Pauline Réage
• Emmanuelle (1978), Olympia Press, from the novel by Emmanuelle Arsan
• Justine (1979), Olympia Press, from the novel La nouvelle Justine by de Sade
• Hello, Anita! (1980), L'isola trovata, in colour
• Belinda 1 & 2 (1983), Editori del Grifo
• I viaggi di Bianca (1984), Milano Libri, inspired by Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels
• Venere in pelliccia (1984), Olympia Press, inspired to a tale by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.
• Bianca 2. Odesseda (1987), Editori del Grifo
• Emmanuelle l'antivergine (1990), Rizzoli
• Eroine alla fine: Salomé (2000), Lizard Edizioni
• Crepax 60|70 (feat. Belinda, and Valentina 2003), Fiction inc. Tokyo

Other works

• L'astronave pirata (1968), Rizzoli
• Il dottor Jekill (1972), Persona/Ennio Ciscato Editore
• Circuito interno (1977), Edizioni Tempo Medico
• Casanova (1977), Franco Maria Ricci Editore
• L'uomo di Pskov (1977), CEPIM (Sergio Bonelli Editore), in colour
• L'uomo di Harlem (1979), CEPIM (Sergio Bonelli Editore)
• La calata di Macsimiliano XXXVI (1984), Editori del Grifo
• Conte Dracula (1987), Rizzoli-Milano Libri, from the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Dr.Jekyll e Mr.Hide (1987), Rizzoli-Milano Libri, from the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Giro di vite (1989), Olympia Press, from the novel The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
• Nessuno (1990), Milano Libri
• Le clinicommedie (1990), Editiemme
• Il processo di Franz Kafka (1999), Piemme, from the novel The Trial by Franz Kafka
• Justine and The Story of O (2000), graphic novel of the works by Marquis de Sade and Anne Desclos respectively
• Frankenstein (2002), Grifo Edizioni, from the novel by Mary Shelley

Wargames

Besides his much better known activity as a graphic artist, Crepax was a keen wargamer and wargame designer and collector of paper soldiers, drawn by himself. He was the author of some of the first wargames published in Italy to be widely circulated:

• La Battaglia di Trafalgar (Corriere dei Piccoli, 1964)
• La Battaglia di Waterloo (Linus, 1965)
• La Battaglia di Pavia (Linus, 1967)
• La Battaglia del Lago Ghiacciato - Alexandr Nevsky (Linus 1972, poi ristampato da Milano Libri)

Other activities

He was also active as an animator and as an album cover designer.

See also

• Fernando Carcupino
• Hugo Pratt
• Dino Battaglia
• Damiano Damiani
• Milo Manara
• Italian comics

References

• Crepax publications – Fondazione Fossati (in Italian)
• Guido Crepax albums – Bedetheque (in French)

External links

• Guido Crepax biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia
• Guido Crepax biography on Museo Nazionale del Fumetto (in Italian)
• Crepax's Story of O Archived 2018-02-07 at the Wayback Machine