Sergio Toppi

By LatAm ARTE

Sergio Toppi (Birth: October 11, 1932 – Death: August 21, 2012). He was an Italian illustrator and comic book author. Toppi debuted in the world of illustration working for the renowned Italian publishing house “UTET”, and collaborated on several advertising campaigns. In 1966 he finished his first comic strip for “Il Corriere dei Piccoli”, called "The Children's Gazette", written by Carlo Triberti; The character was the Wizard Zurlì. For the same title, Toppi produced numerous war stories. Later, Toppi worked mainly for one-shot titles, with the exception of the eccentric Collezionista ("Collector") of 1984. He produced historical and adventure titles for CEPIM's “Un uomo un'avventura” and, for the French publisher “Larrousse” , some episodes of “Histoire de France” en bandes dessinées and “La Découverte du Monde”. Later, he collaborated with “Il Corriere dei Ragazzi” (“The Boys' Gazette”) and “Messaggero dei Ragazzi”, the comics title of a popular newspaper in Rome, with stories set historically. Toppi's works appeared in a multitude of titles in Italy and abroad: an incomplete list might include “Linus,” “Corto Maltese,” “Sgt. Kirk and Il Giornalino” in Italy. The strips of it were grouped into several books. He last worked with the French publishing house “Mosquito”, with which he published 22 books since 1994. Among the artists Toppi has influenced is the illustrator Adi Granov.