Messalina (Fumetti per Adulti)

Marisa Mell was regarded in her days as a classical beauty like Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot. Thick dark auburn hair, cat like emerald green eyes and a voluptuous sensual mouth with big inviting lips. Every mans wet dream! So when she arrived in Rome in the mid '60's she was quickly spotted by the incrowd and finding a job in the movie business was easy. In a very short time she rose to fame becoming a weekly staple in the yellow press with her movies and especially with her love affaires with very famous men. In short Marisa Mell became a house hold name in Italian society. Everybody knew her name and face! So it isn't strange that her image also found its way in other media outlets than the movies. In the past the Marisa Mell Blog had entries about Marisa Mell being the template for comic book characters like Satanka. or Lucifera. This time her sexy image has been used to grace a cover of an Italian fumetti called "Messalina". The cover is from issue 101 of the series. Messalina is the wife of the Roman emperor Claudius. Because her husband is regarded as a retard and stammerer, not capable to satisfy his wife in bed, she is always on the look out for sexual adventures in ancient Rome with men and women from different races while plotting her way through Roman politics to satisfy her lust for power often using torture and gruesome murders as her wapon. The series was, like many other fumetti heroines, a  big success from 1966 until 1974 running for 185 issues. Today these individual issues fetch top prices at the secondary market and are hard to find in prestine condition. The photo of Marisa Mell is a promotional still used to promote her movie "...dopo di che uccide il maschio e lo divora" starring Stephen Boyd as her counterpart.

Lucifera (Fumetti per Adulti)

In the past I have written on this blog about a known fact that Marisa Mell was used as a model for the Chilian erotic spy comic Satanka. So one day while researching the life and work of Marisa Mell for possible entries for this blog I saw this picture of Marisa Mell in a Catholic nuns habit while smoking a cigarette. The picture is a publicity photo from her 1964 only British movie "French Dressing". I archieved the picture for later reference and possible usage on the blog! Months passed. Untill last summer I was reading the dark Italian erotic fumetti "Lucifera" and saw these next two pictures in the comic book.

In this story the devilish Lucifera is trying to steal as a Catholic nun the Holy Grail as a token of her loyality to her master and lover in hell the Devil. And nothing ever goes as planned with Lucifera so troubles arise on the horizon and Lucifera has to master them in her own special way to achieve her goals, meaning a lot of seduction and sex! But that is another story!

While reading this story it hit me! Before my eyes appeared the Marisa Mell picture in her Catholic nuns habit. And the resemblance of both pictures and the drawn Lucifera was remarkable. The features of Lucifera like the shape of her eye brows, eye lashes and lips of her mouth were very Marisa Mell-like! So the question popped up in my head: Could it be that Marisa Mell had been the template for the dark Italian fumetti heroine "Lucifera"? Although it might seem far fetched in reality it was not in my opinion. Why? 

 During the height of the dark Italian fumetti in the 60's and 70's like Lucifera, Jacula, Maghella, Biancaneve, Sukia, Jolanda and their male counterparts the publishers were always trying to make their comic book heroes appealing by giving them often faces of well known people at that moment in time. The classic examples are French actor Alain Delon as the private detective "Playcolt" or again French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo as again private detective "Goldrake". 

So if the Italian comic book artists took well known populair actors as a role model for their heroes, why shouldn't they have taken the face of Marisa Mell as a template for the face of she-devil Lucifera?

Lucifera was published from 1971 to 1980 by Italian comic publishing house "Ediperiodici" running for 170 issues. A French edition of the comic ran from 1972 to 1980 for 99 issues and was pubished by Elvifrance. Some very famous Italian comic book artists worked on the comic like Edoardo Morricone, Tito Marchioro and the best known of them all, Leone Frollo, who created the heroine and gave her, her distinguised looks like her almond shaped eyes, thick eye lashes, the curved eye brows and above all the thick flowing hair split in the middle above her eyes by a triangular pony. In fact, you can regard the she-devil Lucifera as the male version of the other dark fumetti hero "Diabolik". He also has the same almond shaped eyes, thick eye lashes and the curved eye brows.

Marisa Mell came to Rome, Italy in the year 1965 and was a major star in the movies and the yellow press in 1971, the year that Lucifera was created, just after the much publisized romance with film producer and club owner Pier Luigi Torri and his notorius club "Number One", hangout for everybody rich and famous, stars and starlets in 60's Rome. So Leone Frollo was quite familiar with the face and body of Marisa Mell and probably found in her the perfect model for his next creation: Lucifera. And he was not wrong about that. Lucifera became an instand hit among erotic fumetti lovers untill this day and age. Complete collections of Lucifera comic books in prestine condition fetch top money at the moment around 5000 euros. And thanks to the modern means of communications like Ipad and tablets Lucifera or Marisa Mell will live on for generations to come, even in color.

"Agente Kim" by Carlos R. Martinez

Marisa Mell was during the height of her movie career not only popular in Europe but also in almost all the latino countries in the world, especially South America. Due to this popularity she became among others model for the Argentinian comic heroine or secret agent "Satanka." as mentioned in a previous entry. But that is not enough, it seems. Argentinian journalist, comic book artist and collector Carlos R. Martinez tells us more about the other adventures of Marisa Mell in comic book land. "Otro personaje de comic inspirado en la figura de Marisa Mell"

by Carlos R. Martinez.

Básicamente el cine pero también la televisión, la prensa gráfica y la fotonovela fueron en su momento los principales vehículos de difusión de la belleza y la sensualidad de Marisa Mell. A esa lista habría que sumar otro medio considerado “menor” que también se inspiró en ella para algunas de sus creaciones y, de alguna manera, ha contribuido a perpetuar su recuerdo. Hablamos del comic, palabra que poco a poco va desplazando al término que inicialmente se usó en muchos países de habla hispana: historieta. Los seguidores de este blog habrán leído seguramente el post dedicado a la historieta “Satanka”, una parodia de las películas de espías y agentes especiales que se publicó en la revista chilena El pingüino en 1966 con guiones del argentino Héctor Oesterheld y dibujos de un compatriota suyo, Angel Alberto Fernandez. Las imágenes de dicha historieta no dejan lugar a ninguna duda de que el rostro de “Satanka” está inspirado en Marisa Mell.

Hay sin embargo otro antecedente al respecto, el de un comic (o fumetti) italiano aparecido casi veinte años después del cual brindaremos algunos detalles en base al ejemplar que poseemos en nuestro archivo y los escasos datos disponibles en Internet. KIM, LA COMPAÑERA DE KONDOR La editorial italiana Edifumetto, especializada en comics para adultos, publicó a inicios de los años ochenta una línea de revistas cuya particularidad consistía en que los rostros de los personajes protagónicos correspondían a los de conocidos actores de cine y televisión, tales los casos de Tom Selleck (Magnum), Silvester Stallone y Alain Delón. En los casos de Delón y Stallone los personajes de ficción eran “Yambo” y “Chacal” respectivamente (al menos en su versión española), mientras que el protagonizado por el símil de Selleck era Jody J. Baldwin conocido como 4-4. Pero existió un cuarto actor cuyos rasgos fueron utilizados para dicha colección y es el que nos interesa a los efectos de esta nota. Ese actor era Telly Savalas -el intérprete de la serie Kojak- y el personaje para el cual se utilizaban sus rasgos se llamó en su versión original “Kondor”, mientras que para la edición española pasó a llamarse “O’Jack”. Además del parecido de los actores, algunas de las historietas que estamos recordando mantenían los elementos principales de las series o películas que éstos habían protagonizado. Así el protagonista de Mágnum 44 seguía siendo un detective privado mientras que Kondor-O’Jack era también un teniente de la policía metropolitana de Nueva York a quien en sus diferentes aventuras acompañaba la agente Kim, co-protagonista de la serie y cuyos rasgos eran precisamente los de Marisa Mell. Hasta aquí los pocos datos de que disponemos sobre la versión italiana de esta serie, lo que lamentablemente nos impide brindar información sobre su dibujante, de cuyo trabajo destacan una muy detallada ambientación de exteriores e interiores, trazo vigoroso y seguro y un prolijo pasado a tinta. LA VERSION ESPAÑOLA En España las revistas de Edifumetto fueron publicadas por Ediciones Zinco, entre ellas Mágnum 44, Sukia, Azafatas y Flamingo Street. A diferencia de lo que sucedía en Italia donde tenía su propio título, en la versión española el personaje rebautizado ahora como O’Jack formaba parte de Mágnum 44, compartiendo en partes iguales las 64 páginas que conformaban cada número. Según el completo catálogo de la página especializada Tebeosfera, en España se editaron en total 13 números de Mágnum 44 entre 1985 y 1986 (1983-1984 en Italia). Más detalle de esta catalogación pueden verse en

http://www.tebeosfera.com/obras/series/o%60jack.html

SOMBRA EJECUTORA El material gráfico que acompaña esta nota pertenece al episodio “Sombra ejecutora” que con un total de 32 páginas integró el Nº 2 de Mágnum 44, historia cuyo “plot” podría sintetizarse así:

Harto de las argucias legales mediante las cuales quedan libres los de lincuentes que el captura, O’Jack renuncia al cargo pero su jefe lo convence que se tome unas breves vacaciones. Enterado de ello Kim promete que se le unirá luego. El policía viaja a Montana y en el hotel donde se hospeda conoce a Helga, una hermosa alemana con la cual de inmediato mantiene un fogoso encuentro sexual. Posteriormente O’Jack sorprende a un hombre que ha estado siguiendo sus movimientos y que resulta ser un colega suyo ya jubilado, quien le informa que la mujer ha sido utilizada para entrar a Estados Unidos un poderoso explosivo, aunque ella ignora el contenido del bolso que transporta. Ambos acuerdan vigilarla para descubrir quien retirará el peligroso elemento y así desbaratar un posible atentado. En el ínterin llega Kim pero O’Jack la despacha hacia otro hotel, lo que provoca la furia de aquella. Luego de un nuevo encuentro amoroso Helga acude a la cita con el hombre al que debe entregar el bolso, quien la asesina y parte hacia una central nuclear cercana con el propósito de sabotearla. Pero el trío O’Jack, Kim y el policía retirado están ya tras sus pasos y luego de una persecución logran matar al terrorista cuando este había ingresado ya a su objetivo. Si bien se trata de historietas eróticas la proporción de escenas de sexo es reducida, en este caso apenas seis paginas sobre algo más de treinta. Tal en síntesis algunas de las características de esta serie que en los años ochenta convirtió a nuestra recordada actriz en involuntaria protagonista de estas aventuras para adultos. La carencia de material que ya hemos apuntado nos impide saber si finalmente el calvo policía reparaba en los encantos de su compañera o seguía prefiriendo la compañía de las ardientes mujeres que condimentaban cada episodio de la saga, aunque en definitiva lo realmente importante es haber recordado este nuevo tributo que el comic rindió a la belleza de Marisa Mell. Carlos R. Martinez* (*) Diseñador gráfico, periodista y coleccionista. Ha colaborado en distintas páginas sobre historietas y actualmente está a cargo de TOP COMICS, Blog dedicado al estudio de la historieta argentina. "

Thanks Carlos for this entry! It is highly appreciated!

If you would like to read more about comics in Argentina, Carlos R. Martinez has an excellent blog called

TOP-COMICS

http://luisalberto941.wordpress.com/

SATANKA.

During the height of the Spy Craze in the 60's around the world ignited by the monstrous success of the James Bond movies and franchise a new genre of movies surfaced build around the concept of the secret agent. Very quick in all segments of the media like television, books,... the secret agent appeared to save the world. The secret agent was not only restricted to the male agent but also the sexy female secret agents started to mingle in the deadly game to save the world. Best known from the 60's are "Honey West" played by Anne Francis, "Fathom Harvill" played by Raquel Welch or "Irma Eckman" played by Elke Summer.

Everybody tried to cash in on this money making machine so comics could not stay behind and soon the James Bond novels written by Ian Fleming were adapted into comics for news papers. Even in this medium, the secret agent concept wrecked havoc and was a run of the mill success. All over the world, secret agent comics were popping up. South America was no execption.

And where something in pop culture is a success, making fun of it soon follows so in 1968 a comic magazine in the style of the American magazine "Mad" under the name of "El Pingüino" based in Chili wanted a spoof comic making fun of the sexy female secret agent. Hence secret agent SATANKA. was born.

Satanka. is the sexy top secret agent working for an organisation called "C.I.D.R.A". In her quest to save the world from the evil organisation "SRONIA" she is helped by two other female agents known as "Rock" and "Roll".

Satanka. is the brain child of the Argentinian creator Hector German Oesterheld with the help of fellow Argentinian artist Angel "Lito" Fernandez. Herctor German Oesterheld or also known as "HGO" was one of Argentina's top comic book script writers. He was member of the Venice group who's members were also Mario Faustinelli, creator of "Kolosso", Hugo Pratt, creator of "Corto Maltesse" or Dino Battaglia, creator of "Ispettore Coke".

The sexy secret agent Satanka. was quite a succes in South America. So one day a journalist asked the creator Hector German Oesterheld where his inspiration came from to create his heroine. HGO answered that his femme fatale was modeled after the Austrian actress Marisa Mell. He told that Marisa Mell embodied physically everything that a secret agent should have and be to save the world. So Marisa Mell became Satanka. in the comics of the comic magazine "Pengüino". And this is not strange. Not many people in Europe and even the rest of world know that Marisa Mell in the 60's was a big star in South America. Her movies like "Danger: Diabolik!" or "Le Dolci Signori" were big hits in countries like Argentina and Chili. Her face and name were house hold. Like in Spain at that moment in time, she appeared almost every week on the cover of a magazine or in articles in the yellow press. Probably the 1965 movie "Masquerade" made quite an impression on HGO because in this movie Marisa Mell was the template for Satanka. as seen on the photo above.

And here this entry should have ended! Unfortunately it does not! Next to his profession as a comic book scripter, Hector German Oesterheld was also a critical journalist in Argentina situated on the left hand side of politics. In that capacity he wrote among others one of the best biographies of "Ernesto 'Che' Guevarra" also in 1968, the year that he created Satanka. or one of the most critical biographies of Evita Perron in 1970 making an end to the pop cultural idolization of her life. During the 70's, it is believed that HGO and his four adult daughters joined the leftish political organisation "Montoneros".

In 1976 Oesterheld disappeared to be never seen again. A year later his daughters, Diana (21), Beatriz (19), Estela (25) and Marina (18), were arrested by the Argentine armed forces in La Plata, and were also never seen again. Next his daughters' husbands were also among those that vanished. The dictorship in Argentina removed each and everyone against them. Only a grandson, Martín, born in captivity and recovered from the government by Oesterheld's widow, Elsa Sánchez, was rescued and raised by her. A second grandson, Fernando, born earlier, was raised by his paternal grandparents. When a journalist asked a member of the dictatorship what had happened to Oesterheld he aswered: "We did away with him because he wrote such a great biography of Che Guevara!" (Sigh!). Nobody knows what happened to Oesterheld, how he was tortured and ultimately died a cruel death around 1977-1978 but several other journalists in prison at the same time claim to have seen him alive in january of 1978. After that date all traces dispear in the mists of time! Sadly this is one story of many many many stories in Argentina. In our memories Hector German Oesterheld will always be remembered as a great artist and journalist. And that is something that no political regime can take away how hard and bloody they try to do. R.I.P.

UPDATE - March 8th 2011
In this entry about the comic heroine "Satanka." I mentioned that: "He (HGO) was member of the Venice group who's members were also Mario Faustinelli, creator of "Kolosso", Hugo Pratt, creator of "Corto Maltesse" or Dino Battaglia, creator of "Ispettore Coke"."

I got a nice mail from an Argentinian journalist, comic expert on everything Argentinian comics and artist Carlos R. Martinez telling me that: "Osterheld was not a member of the Venice group. He worked with Hugo Pratt when this artist came to Argentina in 1950." Thanks Carlos for this clarification and info.

Carlos has a great own blog called

"Top-Comics: Blog sobre la historieta argentina y mundial creado por Luis Rosales (1944-2009)"

You can visit his blog at : http://luisalberto941.wordpress.com/

Highly recommended.