Born in November 1962 from the brilliant minds of Angela and Luciana Giussani, Diabolik is a thief stationed in the imaginary city of Clerville, capital of the homonymous Country.

The Queens of Terror themselves: Angela and Luciana Giussani.

At first a ruthless and vindictive criminal who has no qualm at all in killing whoever stands in his way, he slowly evolved into a more honorable character also thanks to his lover and partner in crime Eva Kant. Still, he remains one of the first protagonists of a comic book series to be an all-negative character (no anti-hero here, just straight out Phantom Blot level criminal 😏).

The name "Diabolik" has a cool origin story. It was inspired by a mysterious killer who terrified the city of Turin a few years before Diabolik's debut, in 1958. A FIAT worker was found stabbed to death on St. Valentine's night and almost immediately the press and police started receiving calls and letters from a mysterious man who called himself "Diabolich" claiming to be the killer and boasting about "his prefect crime"... and he surely had reasons to, since, just like his comics counterpart, he's never been caught.

One of the mysterious letters signed Diabolich.

Inspired by characters such as Arsène Lupin and Fantômas, the success for Diabolik came almost immediately and kicked off a number of noir publications and characters all marked out by a "K" in the name; we're talking about Kriminal, Satanik, Sadik... and Paperinik! (Thought this was gonna be a non-ducks post? Well think again! 🦆)

From "Paperinik il Diabolico Vendicatore" (1969)

We know how much Guido Martina loved parodies, but aside from the name, Paperinik has little to nothing in common with Clerville's thief. Though in his original version he's everything but an up-holder of the law, he's more akin to characters such as Zorro or Batman. Yet, having a character named after him on Topolino just speaks volumes about Diabolik's cultural phenomenon.

There's one thing Paperinik does have in common with Diabolik, though: the love for technological devices and rubber masks, gadgets he inherits from the real Duckburg's Diabolik: Fantomius (but I'll talk about him in part 2).

Diabolik's masks are as legendary as the "swisss" of his knife. Made of a very thin layer of rubber, they allow him to basically take the appearance of anyone, so much so that the Clerville police adopted the precaution of always and constantly check the face of whomever is involved in a case.

Diabolik from "Tutto ha una fine" (year LXI n.11) and Donald from "Paperinik e la Bella Addormentata"

Unlike Paperinik and Fantomius, who rely on Gearloose family members to create their technological devilries, Diabolik is a genius inventor and engineer on his own. He has a deep knowledge of chemistry, computer science and mechanical engineering and all of his techs, from the narcotic gasses to the laser he uses to melt safes and armored doors, from the the truth serum "penthotal" to the hipnotic drug "scopolamina", all of them are of his own creation.

Not only that, much like James Bond and his Aston Martin, Diabolik drives a 60s black E-Type Jaguar endowed with all sorts of optionals and gimmicks to give the slip to the Clerville police.

Donald's 313-X ain't no Jaguar E-Type... it's better! :D

Fun fact: in 1963 the Giussani sisters were sued for "leading the youth astray" since they had the brilliant idea of handing out Diabolik's third adventure "L'arresto di Diabolik" for free to middle school kids. Outlaw the character, scoundrels the authors! XD They where discharged, of course 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Aside from being a "subversive" reading, the main characteristic of Diabolik is its immobility. In a good way. Since 1962 it never changed, he never evolved if not a little bit: you open a 2022 issue and get the exact same feelings as a 1962 one. The same pace, the same art, the same tropes... and yet, it doesn't feel old. It's outstanding.

Diabolik portrayed by Giacomo Gianniotti in 2022 "Diabolik: Ginko all'attacco!"

With more than 900 adventures across 60 years, 150 million copies sold worldwide and three inspired live action movies (plus one in the making), Diabolik is on the top of the italian comics' food chain with Topolino and other cult characters such as Bonelli's Tex and Dylan Dog.

And talking about Topolino, do you know who actually writes like 90% of Diabolik's stories nowadays? Tito Faraci! 😃 (He's a very busy man... that's probably why he doesn't write for Topolino very frequently ^^)

Cover of the first issue of "Diabolik" published on 1st November 1962