EXTRACTS: British War Comics Illustrators Special © 2018 The Book Palace (144 PAGES in Full edition)

18 Air raids, sturdy men caught in the midst of war, and exploding tanks were just some of the action-packed covers featured on the British war comics of the fifties. Some of the most iconic covers were done by an Italian artist who is also one of the most enigmatic. Considered one of the greatest Italian artists/illustrators of the 20th century, Giorgio De Gaspari remains nonetheless a mystery and virtually forgotten. Though born in 1927, even his birth place remains a mystery—some claiming it was Milan, where he worked for a large part of his early career, others claiming he was born either in the city or province of Varese in the northern Lombardy region. After graduating from the Art School of Brera, it’s believed De Gaspari worked as a comic book artist signing his work as G. De Gaspari for the Corriere dei Piccoli — though some experts doubt whether it was the same person. What is certain is that his first illustrations appeared as covers for the same publisher in the La Domenica del Corriere ( The Sunday Courier ), a weekly newspaper that came free with the Corriere della Sera ( Evening Courier ), but was also sold separately. The Sunday paper was famous for carrying a full colour illustration, sometimes on both its front and back pages, usually depicting a true historical event, or an extraordinary (and hardly believable) one that would grab the attention of the readers. Most of these events were highly implausible, and on some occasions fully made up by two journalists: Giuseppe Baracchi and Mauro Senesi (the latter being the father of journalist and satirical cartoonist Vauro Senesi). Nonetheless these covers were pretty much the selling point of that paper, and showed the vivid imagination and stunning talent of its artists, including, apart from De Gaspari, Walter Molino, Rino Ferrari and Achille Beltrami. ABOVE: Two samples of covers De Gaspari did for La Domenica del Corriere dating from 1947. FACING PAGE: Cover for War Picture Library No. 9, gouache on board, 18” by 23”. Part of the cover’s text was glued onto the painting. FOLLOWING PAGES LEFT: Part of the cover for War Picture Library No. 76, gouache on board, 11” by 16”, reproduced at its original size. FOLLOWING PAGES RIGHT: Cover for Air Ace ' Whirlwind in the Sky', gouache on board, 15” by 20”. Showing De Gaspari’s ability to paint anything pertaining to war, from roaring planes to soldiers in the battlefield.