Saturday, March 30, 2013

Alberto Giolitti's Gunsmoke

The Guns of Alberto
Many years ago, another fan, whose identity I've regrettably long since forgotten, sent me Xerox copies of a number of Alberto Giolitti originals. Here are scans of some nice work for Dell and Gold Key.

These two panels came from the inside front cover of an issue of Dell's Have Gun, Will Travel. Dell often presented illustrated synopses of an issue's stories on the IFC. They commissioned new art for these summaries rather than re-using story panels.


The panels showcase Giolitti's control of composition. Both panels are complex, yet they're clear and readable. Check out the distribution of blacks in the second panel. Giolitti plays with the light source in places, but the overall effect is dramatic and believable.

The rest of the scans came from  Gunsmoke #1, the first issue under the Gold Key banner. This art seems to have been drawn more quickly than Have Gun. Despite this, Giolitti's drawings are solid and he doesn't skimp on backgrounds. Numerous sources mention that Giovanni Ticci assisted on Giolitti's later work. Judging by art which has documented Ticci input (King Kong, for example), he may have worked on this issue. Comparing this to Ticci's solo Italian work, I'm pretty sure the figures are all Giolitti.




2 comments:

Joe Jusko said...
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Joe Jusko said...

No one did better draping or complex panel compositions. His backgrounds and landscapes have always amazed me. I've been a fan all my life, it seems.