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Federico Pedrocchi

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Federico Pedrocchi (1 May 1907 – 20 January 1945) was an Italian comic book artist and writer. He sometimes used the pen name Costanzo Federici.[1] He founded the magazine Paperino e altre avventure (Donald Duck and Other Adventures) in 1937, and wrote some of the earliest Disney comic book stories.

Life and career

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Pedrocchi was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina of Italian parents, and he moved back to Italy with his family in 1912.[1] Forced to interrupt his studies because of his father's death, in 1930 he opened a small advertising studio and the same year he started collaborating as illustrator with the children magazine Corriere dei Piccoli and with a number of other magazines, notably La Domenica del Corriere.[1] In 1935 he debuted as a cartoonist with the story "I due tamburini", and in 1936 he started collaborating with Cesare Zavattini for the script of Saturno contro la Terra.[1]

In 1937 Pedrocchi was allowed by Disney to write and draw stories with Disney characters, and the same year he founded the magazine Paperino e altre avventure (Donald Duck and Other Adventures), published by Mondadori, in which Donald Duck became the protagonist of long, adventurous stories.[1][2] Pedrocchi wrote eight serials starring Disney characters for the paper, featuring Donald Duck, Goofy (Pippo) and the characters from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Biancaneve e i Setti Nani). During the same period, he also wrote two further Disney stories which were printed in Mondadori's biweekly publication Albi d'oro.[3]

Following the success of the magazine, he was appointed editorial and artistic director of Mondadori's comic magazines in 1939, a role he maintained until he was enlisted in the army in 1942.[1] Pedrocchi died in Gallarate at 37 years old, after having been hit by a burst of machine gun during an English air raid.[1][2]

Disney comics bibliography

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Pedrocchi's Disney stories in Paperino e altre avventure were:[4]

  • Paolino Paperino e il mistero di Marte (Donald Duck and the Secret of Mars): issues #1-18
  • Paolino Paperino inviato speciale (Donald Duck, Special Correspondent): #19-48
  • Pippo viaggiatore di commercio (Goofy, Business Traveler): #40-48
  • Paperino fra i pellirosse (Donald Duck Among the Redskins): #72-100
  • Biancaneve e il mago Basilisco (Snow White and Basilisk the Wizard): #72-100
  • Paperino chiromante (Donald Duck, Fortune Teller): #101-130
  • I Sette Nani cattivi contro i Sette Nani buoni (The Seven Bad Dwarves Against the Seven Good Dwarfs): #101-121
  • Paperino e il vaso cinese (Donald Duck and the Chinese Vase): #131-149

The stories published in Albi d'oro were:

  • Paperino e la pietra filosofale (Donald Duck and the Philosopher's Stone): #22/1938
  • Clarabella fra gli artigli del diavolo nero (Clarabelle in the Claws of the Black Devil): #25/1939

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Franco Fossati. Dizionario Illustrato del Fumetto. Mondadori, 1992. pp. 196–197. ISBN 8804355441.
  2. ^ a b "Pedròcchi, Federico". Treccani. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  3. ^ Becattini, Alberto (2016). Disney Comics: The Whole Story. Theme Park Press. pp. 160–163. ISBN 978-1683900177.
  4. ^ "Federico Pedrocchi index". Inducks. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
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