Comixology Originals has teamed with publisher Becco Giallo to bring five historical fiction biographies to English readers for the first time.
MARY SHELLEY: The Eternal Dream
Written by Alessandro Di Virgilio with art by Manuela Santoni
Translated from Italian by Lucy Lenzi
Lettering and layout by Giulia Gabrielli
Edited by Stefano A. Cresti
● The life of writer Mary Shelley, daughter of the famous philosopher, Mary Wollstonecraft, forerunner of the feminist movement, and William Godwin, novelist and radical politician is a constant escape from 19th century conformity, filled with acquaintances with important artists and writers.
● When she was 17, she eloped with her future husband, the romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, to then visit Europe with her step-sister Claire and her lover, the famous Lord Byron.
● In 1816, the year without a summer, the four of them stayed in Geneva at Villa Diodati, along with the doctor and writer, John Polidori. In order to combat boredom during rainy days, they created a challenge to write a story which would evoke “true terror.” Mary created one of the most beloved monsters in world literature, Frankenstein, also known as the modern Prometheus, the incarnation of man’s ancient fear towards diversity and the unknown.
SOCRATES
Written by Francesco Barilli with art and cover by Alessandro Ranghiasci.
Translated from Italian by Lucy Lenzi
Lettering and layout by Giulia Gabrielli
Edited by Stefano A. Cresti
With an introduction by Journalist Stefano Cardini
● Socrates was not only one of the best known and most influential philosophers in the history of humanity–he was also the first martyr for his own ideas. His trial tells the tale of how the greatest democracy of all time could have sentenced one of its best citizens to death.
● Athens, 399 BC. In what may be remembered as the first trial for crimes of opinion, Socrates is sentenced to death. Accused of corrupting youth with atheist doctrines, the philosopher’s defensive line is uncompromising and provocative. He is thus condemned to drink hemlock by an even larger majority of the jurors. Once in prison, awaiting execution, he refuses to flee in order not to violate those laws to which he has always been devoted.
NIKOLA TESLA
Written by Sergio Rossi with black and white art by Giovanni Scarduelli
Translated from Italian by Lucy Lenzi
Lettering and layout by Giulia Gabrielli
Edited by Stefano A. Cresti
● Who was Nikola Tesla? A brilliant inventor or a visionary uncoupled from his time?
● Growing up in poverty in the mid-19th century under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Tesla managed to study and become an engineer on his own. He emigrated in search of fortune, first in France and then in America, where he was hired to work in the laboratory of Thomas Edison, the renowned inventor of the phonograph and light bulb.
● He suffered, endured, and then overcame his envious colleagues, first and foremost Edison himself, which culminated with the so-called War of Currents, a competition for the control of electric energy on the world market. He had a grand public comeback before his resounding and definitive downfall.
● With over two hundred different patents, some of which spread the alternate current and the radio throughout the world, and thanks to his intuition about the remote control and wi-fi, Tesla is now remembered as one of the most important innovators in modern history.
VINCENT VAN GOGH: Sadness Will Last Forever
Written by Francesco Barilli with art by Sakka (aka Roberta Sacchi)
Translated from Italian by Lucy Lenzi
Lettering and layout by Giulia Gabrielli
Edited by Stefano A. Cresti
● Van Gogh is, even today, one of the most renowned artists in the world. His short life was full of mysterious episodes and fascinating peculiarities: from his relationship with his brother Theo–his major benefactor, to the famous argument with Gauguin–which resulted in the partial self-mutilation of his ear, to the extreme act of self-harm which led to his death. Van Gogh led a tormented and fascinating existence. In the end, Theo’s wife Johanna became the first promoter of his work.
● The book showcases his life through an intense and uninterrupted dialogue between Vincent Van Gogh and his madness.
VIRGINIA WOOLF
Written and drawn by Liuba Gabriele
Translated from Italian by Lucy Lenzi
Lettering and layout by Giulia Gabrielli
Edited by Stefano A. Cresti
● England, March 1941. Virginia Woolf walks along the banks of the river Ouse. She picks up a stone from the ground, weighs it in her hand, and watches the water flow. She thinks about the fierce war happening in the world and within herself. All that accompanied her up to that shore still lives in radiant images which represent the extreme strength of her emotions, such as the passion for her lover, Vita Sackville-West, the fondness for her fundamental husband, Leonard, and her grief for the tremendous family bereavements. Feelings poured into her writing, which revolutionized literature, and solidified her place in history as one of the world’s most important authors.
