Dylan Dog, goodbye to Luigi Piccatto – The best 5 stories

Dylan Dog

Certain personalities should live forever, and thanks to their art that made them immortal, they are destined to do so anyway. Luigi Piccatto died on March 14, 2023 at the age of 68, one of the Italian cartoonists of the Piedmontese school, known to the general public, among other things, for some of the most memorable stories of Dylan Dog, the investigator of the nightmare created by Tiziano Sclavi.

On Dylan Dog, Sergio Bonelli's publication that has most allowed us to appreciate his art, Piccatto has imagined and drawn some of the most memorable horror realities such as Maelstrom! and Golconda! , designed key characters in Dylan Dog's editorial life such as Kim and his cat Cagliostro, but also one of the most feared villains such as Mana Cerace created by Claudio Chiaverotti (The Specter in the Dark n.68).

Before getting to know the most representative stories of this great artist more closely, let's briefly retrace his career.

Luigi Piccatto, that unmistakable trait

--> Luigi Piccatto was born in Turin in 1954. After starting his medical studies, in 1977 he decided to devote himself full time to comics and began working on Corrier Boy with the Chris Lean series. Subsequently, he draws stories for Skorpio and Lanciostory and for Edifumetto's Jeans adventures magazine. In 1986, he was contacted by Sergio Bonelli Editore to draw for the nascent Dylan Dog project.



Self-portrait of Luigi Piccatto. Credits: Sergio Bonelli Publisher. --> Piccatto becomes one of Dylan Dog's most representative authors, drawing dozens of stories for the regular series, as well as specials and custom-built albums. The Turin designer allows the general public to unmistakably recognize a richly detailed style, albeit characterized by few strokes, and the omnipresent play of shadows. The surrealism of Tiziano Sclavi has very often confirmed him as the ideal draftsman.

In addition to Dylan Dog, Piccatto has drawn stories of Magico Vento, Nathan Never, Zagor, Demian and the comic novel of Darwin created by Paola Barbato.

Unfortunately his last appearance in the regular series of Dylan Dog dates back to 2019 with the register n.389 of Paola Barbato "The survivor".

Dylan Dog – The best 5 stories drawn by Luigi Piccatto

It was not an easy feat: Luigi Piccatto, as a cartoonist, unlike many others, covered the entirety of Dylan Dog's editorial life. It was there in the early days with The return of the monster n.8 written by Tiziano Sclavi, cover by Claudio Villa and illustrated by Piccatto and we find it again in over 36 years of stories… for a total of 32. So, in reality, we have no chosen the best, but certainly those most representative from the artistic point of view of Piccatto, and from that of the editorial life of the character created by Sclavi.

Golconda! Cagliostro! Pink Bunnies Kill Season 5 It's Raining Frogs -->

Golconda!

It was the year 1990, the beautiful and disturbing Amber Cat manages the local "Andate all'Inferno!", but she, perhaps, he is the only normal person in that place. But even London is turning into a hellish place, with otherworldly creatures roaming free among terrified passers-by, while there is a typically… apocalypse air. Dylan and the beautiful Amber begin a journey to investigate where these infernal hordes come from, to reach Golconda.

It is one of the most evocative stories born from the mind of Sclavi and Piccatto has succeeded very well in making a magical and frightening place like that of Golconda unforgettable.

You can recover this historic album included in the recently published collection Dylan Dog. Golconda and other follies available on Amazon.

Cagliostro!

It won't often happen to see Dylan outside the London context, let alone in New York! But the exceptional elements of this story are many others, such as the witch Kim (clearly inspired by Kim Novak in "A witch in heaven", the 1958 film by Richard Quine) and her cat Cagliostro, the absolute protagonist of the story.

Five thousand dollars and an anonymous challenge lure him across the Atlantic, towards an unknown destiny, towards a series of appointments that from this point on will make readers fall in love with these new characters.

Pink rabbits kill

What is more innocent than a cartoon? And a cartoon featuring pink rabbits? Maybe nothing… maybe we were wrong. Especially when they are capable of throwing an anvil from the tenth floor, a stick of dynamite or, worse, a steamroller... One of Dylan's most singular and memorable investigations, which also had a sequel (The Land of Colored Shadows n.107, always drawn by Luigi Piccatto) which will lead him to collide with Sandy Sidney, a powerful cartoon multinational, but the culprit is still really unexpected!

The fifth season

Definitely one of Dylan Dog's most surprising adventures. Written by Tiziano Sclavi and illustrated by Luigi Piccatto, "The fifth season" takes the reader into a world where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur. The story features ancient demons, aliens, zombies and enchanted places, in a mix of comedy, unpredictability and genuine terror. The adventure represents a new narrative territory for the character, while maintaining its essence of horror and the dark atmosphere typical of the comic.

This story has received a special reissue with a hard cover of Carmine by Giandomenico, which you can retrieve at this link on Amazon.

It's raining frogs

Healing planet Earth from all evil, erasing every nightmare. It's not impossible according to a secret formula discovered by a scientist who has been missing for years. The "breath of life". But strange atmospheric phenomena begin to occur in London characterized by rains of… animals! In addition to the power of Luigi Piccatto's tables, "It's raining from frogs", that n.294 published back in 2011, also sees the debut of Andrea Cavaletto, one of the most prolific and appreciated screenwriters of recent years in the Dylan scene and beyond.

And which stories of this great artist do you remember with greater affection? We are sure that, like us, you can't wait to be able to see more, sure that Sergio Bonelli Editore has others that are still well kept just waiting to be published.