Atillio Micheluzzi

First time I stumbled upon this Italian comic artist is when I as a kid read one of Dylan Dog special edition and was immediately drawn by its grotesque, yet somehow elegant artwork. And now Croatian publisher released handful of his comic books, most notably Air Mail. Atillio Micheluzzi was from his childhood obsessed by airplanes since his father was a pilot, and it shows in his work (he was born in Umag, Croatia, which at the time was an Italian state). Nevertheless, his occupation as an architect proved worthy as comic book artist and story teller, what he became as some might say too late, in his forties. Unfortunately, his recognition as one of the greatest Italian comic book artists came too late and he is now almost completely forgotten, unlike some others, like Hugo Pratt and the like. One thing to consider about this man is his unique approach to visual storytelling, and his use of black and white colours, creating chiaroscuro atmosphere in both day and night, and as I previously mentioned, very grotesque and at the same time elegant artwork. In this book Air Mail we follow adventures of pilot delivering air mail on his air plane and encountering on his trips humorous characters, from prohibition era gangsters, to movie moguls and jazz era bandits.