issue #2online magazine

Produced by Anonima Fumetti in collaboration with Scuola Cottolengo and Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti

Editing Nico Vassallo and Bonsignori Fr Andrea

CoverArash Eftekhari

Optimization, Graphic Design, EditingStudio Parlapà - Davide G.G. Caci

Artistic AdviceGianfranco Costagliola e Pierpaolo Rovero

Web EditingGianfranco Goria

English TranslationFiorenzo Delle Rupi

Online magazine produced by:

5Scrum at Cottolengo!

Second arc: TigersNico Vassallo Initial Idea

Alberto Arato Story

Andrea Dotta Art & Colors

Studio Parlapà Lettering & Editing

15Bike Ride

Jacopo Maria Vassallo Research and Interviews

Alberto Arato Story

Alice Nicoletti Art, Colors & Lettering

19T-Shirts

Jacopo Maria Vassallo Research and Interviews

Alberto Arato Story

Cristina Carnino Art, Colors & Lettering

THE HIDDEN CITY

We’re back! It has already been a month, and, most important of all, we’re still there. In spite of the exhaustion, the difficulties and the countless daily clues that may inspire us to write a strip or a story, we have reached this second issue.

Honestly, we could not imagine that our first virtual issue would obtain the unexpected number of over 27.000 contacts (and we mean contacts, i. e. different connected computers, not just “clicks”). Anyway, here we are!

A long time ago, in a warm summer evening, a gentleman sipping a glass of white wine told me in a slight Milanese accent how, in the last days of war, he and his friends had recovered some boxes from a freight train, and they had waited the opportune moment to open them and see what prized treasure they might contain.

When one late night they opened those boxes, they were quite disappointed to see that they were just filled of German toothpaste... and not even a mint-flavored version! Yet, as long as their contents had remained a mystery, those boxes had been considered the chest of a fictional treasure, a race car, a drum, and the source of many other intriguing games.

And I sat there, looking at that man with a dreaming gaze. That man looked so tall, so strong, and yet I had to ask him why they were so happy in spite of such disappointment. It was toothpaste, not even candies...! He looked back at me with a joyful gaze, and he answered: “Because even during the war, those boxes allowed us to keep playing... at least for a moment, the war wasn’t there, and the world was beautiful and fantastic”.

There, this is the idea I want to convey in our second issue, as we wonder whether, with all the issues and the “cuts” in our current society, making a comic book is still worth the effort. It is always good to remember heroic or funny moments from a world that actually exists, although sometimes it remains hidden from us.

Your dreams on a field of play are important, whether you are playing rugby, soccer or any other sport. And it is important to see players running, rejoicing, and laboring in the name of a pure ideal, where the only smell is that of the locker room, and not of dirty bets and spoiled boys who stopped pursuing a dream and gave in to the lure of gambling.

No, we will keep dreaming and drawing the finest reality. For if one day we will meet again that gentleman, we will be able to tell him: “We have never stopped playing either, and that wonderful world, if we truly wish it... is already here!”

To Galdino!

Bonsignori Fr Andrea

arc 2: TIGERS

There iT is. iT’s here!

is iT? AT lAsT iT’s ouT

The maTch schedule...

our firsT mATch will be versus The skAssbAll

Tigers.

oh, nooooo!

?

Whoa, come on,

boys... Take iT easy...

iT’s jusT a Team like

all oThers...

lasT year, by The end of The maTch, The opponenTs Were so Tired ThaT only TWo of Them

Were lefT sTanding!

come on! Where’s your

digniTy?

ThaT’s WhaT i AlwAys sAy. We need digniTy. and hard Work.

unyielding WillpoWer leading To our sporTing rise. an ouTsTanding goal

reached Through efforTs and sacrifice. indeed, blah,

blah, blah, blah...

These are The only TeeTh you are lefT WiTh, When you

clash againsT Their prop...

Three ambulances are needed, When you

play againsT Them!

Tigers don’T play... They

soAr!

digniTy Will noT be enough To beaT Them

This Time.We Will folloW a hard

Training schedule. if They soar, We Will learn To soar as Well!

and blah, blah, blah

umph. We can hope To soar WiTh

girls, aT besT.

To lose your digniTy in a maTch, you should firsT have one...

oh, shuT up!

oh, yeAh? you hAve

noThing To TeAch me.

TAke This And leArn To

hAve fun.

oh, And do you?

eh eh!

all Talk abouT digniTy, compeTiTion...

WhaT is compeTiTion? me no undersTand.

come WiTh me!

you didn’T pAss me The bAll!

sorry... i...

hoW can i score a Try if nobody is

passing me The ball?

i said i’m sorry...

hoW can We avoid compleTely sucking in This damned maTch againsT The Tigers

if nobody is playing decenTly?

ehi! you suck. how mAny Tries did you score

in The lAsT mATch?

how cAn i leAd youT TeAm To vicTory if you prevenT me from

mArking A Try?

cuT iT ouT, everybody. ThaT’s WhaT i

Told him.

if we don’T wAnT To look like losers, we need To TrAin, noT

To QuArrel.

whAT did you Tell me?

enoooough!me noT like compeTiTion.

The AcTion is AbouT To begin.here goes The scrum To win

The bAll...

you snooze, you lose!

he’s doing iT,

he’s doing iT...

he slips AwAy, he’s free...

clAw hAs TAckled An

opponenT...

and you, claW... shoW me a liTTle more spiriT.

come on, come on, leT’s go!

you, bacon, Try To run. come on! you musTn’T WaiT

for The ball. go There and caTch iT!

eThel... opponenTs musT be Tackled, noT

crushed.

and noW, leT’s Try a scrum.

if you can’T pass The ball, sTep aside and make Way for Those Who can!

i feel There’s someThing Wrong, isn’T There?

oh, no... iT’s jusT ThaT We have To face The

skassball Tigers...

so?

They are... hoW can i puT iT?... The mosT compeTiTive

Team of all...

again... so?

The boys are afraid To come ouT of iT poorly... you knoW...

The Team’s digniTy...

digniTy, you Were saying, Wrinkle?

er... Well...

heeeeeeeelp!

booohhhh!

i Am A skAssbAll

Tiger!

had i been a True Tiger, you Would be

already dead!

do you plan on Taking a nap on The field of play againsT

The Tigers?

come on, fATso! oTherWise We Wouldn’T

hear The end of iT!

plAy your dAmn mATch And leT me be!

ThAT’s iT, i’ve hAd enough!

WhaT abouT jusT

having fun...?

bacon is righT. ThaT’s enough!

oh, no, iT isn’T. There’s no room for shame in sporT. eiTher you Win,

or you lose WiTh digniTy.

ThAT’s The wAy i wAnT Them! deTermined. aggressive. energic. eager To challenge

The opponenT!

i have a feW doubTs...

can We begin?

you Will begin only when i sAy

so. is ThaT clear?

oh my! iT’s like having garlic and

jam in The same sandWich!

nice shoT!

p f f f f f f f f

ff!

so much for compeTiTion! and

good riddAnce!

There is noT jusT one digniTy. everyone’s

enTiTled To Their oWn personal digniTy.

buT The sporTing digniTy...

Too bad! They Were so moTivaTed...

acTually, They looked quiTe angry

To me...

maybe They Were

jusT a liTTle

disorienTed.

CLAW

My introduction: They call me ClawName: Simone

Family Name: Furgoni Main Features: Red curls, round glassesGirlfriend: Honey (Sara), but she doesn’t know it yet

Best Friends: Jaromir, BaconOccasional Enemies: Thick, Acid

Sworn Enemies: None (so far)Wishes: When my dad brings me to training sessions with his van, I wish he would drop me out of the main gate. No, wait, a little farther would

be better.Thoughts: My father wants me to play rugby so that I can grow strong and sturdy.I don’t care about becoming what he wants me to be. At first I didn’t

want to play rugby, as I thought I would be beaten over and over.

Then I found out that:a) there are girlsb) sometimes you get beaten, but you can also beat them!c) in the and, we are all still good friendsSo, I thought I would give it a try, and I did not regret it. I hope I will make it to the end of the league in one piece!

The Hidden City is a project of:

Scuola Cottolengo

In collaboration with:

Anonima Fumetti association of professional of comics, with the task of enhancing the art of comics also as a chance to read for young people.

Associazione Sportiva GiuCo (Sports Association GiuCo) association that uses Sport as a way of integration. For several years now it play “normal” championships with all di-sadvantaged people according to the principles of St. Joseph Cottolengo.

Movimento Cristiano Lavoratori (‘Christian Workers Movement’) It is an order of a social nature, solidarity and voluntary non-profit organization. M.C.L. wants to pro-mote the affirmation of Christian principles in life, in culture, in the legal, legislation. It works for a renewed social order in which are guaranted, according to justice, the recognition of rights and the satisfaction of the spiritual and material needs of workers.

This work has been supported by:

For info on The Hidden City, contact us.segreteria@anonimafumetti.org