Dylan+Dog+-+history

Dylan Dog appeared for the first time as a comic in 1986. Twenty-one years have passed, and in the story of this cult comic many things have changed. At beginning, the stories involved often “spectacularly absurd” deaths, violence, and “pulp” scenes. Gory details were often indulged on, like in horror films, and that was part of the appeal of those stories, quite unusual for the Italian audience. With the passing of time, Dylan’s adventures became more melancholy, often tragic and less gory (even if there are some exceptions to this rule, especially when Sclavi and Stano get together). Serious contemporary issues - mingled with supernatural elements - began to be dealt with, in a very moving and interesting way. Some of these themes are, for example, in “Johnny Freak”, the traffic of human organs, heroin addiction in “Il numero 200”, domestic violence in “Verso un mondo lontano”, totalitarian forms of repression in “Necropolis” ( which has been inspired by “1984”). Other serious themes, such as mental illness and the fear of those who are “different”, are recurrent in Dylan’s adventures. Moreover, love is a very important part of these stories, and the way it has been treated has changed too. At the end of the 1980s, it was not unusual for Dylan to have different partners in the same story, sex scenes were rather explicit and frequent. With the passing of time, those scenes became less frequent and less explicit, even if Dylan retained his charm. Feelings and emotions became much more important for the developing of the stories. Dylan grew up, in a way, even if he seems to be perpetually in his mid-thirties, and so his relationships became more complex, and often also more platonic. Because of these changes, the comic has not been turned into a repetitive serial, but it has acquired a cult status in the world of Italian comics.

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