Boundless alien worlds. Interview with Roberto Bonadimani

Interview by di A. Wilk and E. Del Medico

Veronese artist, craftsman, self-taught, science fiction author, Roberto Bonadimani (b. 1945) is among the few Italian comic book artists to have dedicated the entirety of his artistic production (books, short stories, illustrations for magazines) to science fiction and fantasy. His stories blend dreamlike, surreal and baroque elements into one. Amongst connoisseurs, Bonadimani is highly regarded and has received numerous awards, such as the 1998 lifetime achievement award at Lucca Comics. With his solo exhibition, Cosmopoietica. The worlds of Roberto Bonadimani, opening at Verona’s Biblioteca Civica on Friday 14 March 2025, as part of the fourth EXTRA sci-fi festival Verona, we had the pleasure of interviewing him in his home, amidst science fiction memorabilia and enviable collections of books, magazines and DVDs.

A special thanks to Claudio Gallo and Riccardo Pagliarini, curators of the exhibition.

 

Let’s start with a direct question, without preamble: Roberto, when, how and why did you start drawing?

I am a very reserved person, that even as a child I did not have many friends. I loved going to the cinema, reading comics and books. So I developed a whole inner, fantastic world of my own. By virtue of reading novels and watching films, at a certain point I came to create… alternative endings to the ones I found. It was my own fantasy, which I think I then used to make my first scripts. Why do I write and draw science fiction stories? Because I wanted to tell stories. But mostly because I didn’t know how to draw horses… otherwise I would have done westerns.

So you started drawing at a very early age?

Yes, as a child. I’d say ten years old, maybe even earlier.

How did you get into science fiction?

I came to it slowly. The film that probably triggered my desire to draw and narrate through science fiction was ‘Forbidden Planet’ (1956). Before seeing it I had read the novel. I had no money to go to the cinema, so I asked my dad to buy me the book, it was a Urania edition. He worked at the Mondadori graphics department at the time, as I would later do, and I don’t know if he actually bought it for me or if he stole it… It was one of the first science fiction novels I read, and it was love at first sight! The film is one of the greatest films of the genre.

What were your first published works?

Those for ‘Cosmo informatore’ (a magazine printed by Editrice Nord from 1971 to 1982 that was delivered to subscribers to keep science fiction fans informed with news from the publishing house, trivia, short stories and comics). I used to buy Editrice Nord books, they were quite ‘evolved’ compared to the Urania series. Then one day I decided I wanted to get to know the publisher and I brought some of my pencil and ink stories with me. I didn’t have a plan in mind, I just wanted to go to him and say: look, I’m so passionate about science fiction that I did these stories. He looked at them and said: I’ll publish them in ‘Cosmo Informer’. I was over the moon… I don’t know if it was out of curiosity or fun or because he saw something in them, the fact is that the publisher actually published them.
After about a year of my prints being published monthly, he said: let’s make a book.

And when did it come out?

In 1977, it was entitled ‘Citizens of Space’.

What are the main ingredients for a good science fiction comic?

To have a story that is as original as possible, that I would say is fundamental. Before I write anything down I try to imagine the narrative, be it long or short, constructing it in my mind. When I think I have crafted the story enough, I start to write it. Putting it down on paper also entails redoing it two or three times because correcting, adding, taking away, takes quite some time. Perhaps longer than it takes to imagine it. Then in theory I have everything ready to start drawing. The illustrations are obviously done in pencil first and then coloured in. It has happened that the story has even been changed during the course of the work because perhaps in preparing the script I did not imagine the drawings, and if the drawings come out in a particular way, with new elements added, I might need to change the story. And since I am the guardian of the idea, the script and the drawings… I claim the right to change whatever I like!

Have you always written all your stories?

Apart from a couple of things written for a friend in Milan, everything else is my own work.

Which authors have been a source of inspiration for you?

Alex Raymond, author of Flash Gordon, was certainly an inspiration… perhaps even before him Dan Barry, another Flash Gordon cartoonist. I also liked the characters in ‘Adventures of Tomorrow!’ (a fortnightly comic book magazine that ran from 1957 for 50 issues), Rick Random’s among them, even though the authors’ names were often not mentioned. I particularly enjoyed this magazine because it was perhaps closer than many others to what I thought the essence of a science fiction comic should be, with a focus on imagining the technological future. In terms of the Italian scene, the greatest science fiction illustrator in my opinion was Kurt Caesar, the first cover artist of ‘Urania’. He did not invent anything new, but merged various elements and references, thus still creating something original. Amongst the artists working on the same series, I also met Karel Thole, whom I held in high esteem. He called himself ‘the greatest blind illustrator’ because he was losing his sight.

 

What about novels? Is there a particular writer you love?

I would say no. Let’s put it this way, the first hundred Urania novels are the ones that inspired me, they made me want to expand my ideas, to invent stories. Novels about aliens, spaceships, technology… What a paradox: despite hating technology, I became a science fiction author.

Your landscapes are really very detailed, almost obsessive in their realisation. What role do they play in the narrative context?

Well, they are fundamental. Because if there were no landscapes, my stories simply wouldn’t exist. Let me say another thing: I have difficulty drawing human figures. So I try to divert attention away from the bodies by doing a lot of ‘side’ illustrations. That is perhaps the trick I use to enrich my images. If it’s an alien plant environment, I don’t copy leaves, trees or plants, maybe I take inspiration from the real thing but it’s all in my mind.

Can you describe your creative process?

It is more instinctive than thought-out. First, I write the narrative, then I do pencil sketches. Lately I’ve been sketching on tracing paper so that I don’t have to stand there erasing, making corrections… from the first sheet I’d put another sheet on top and I’d trace and correct the various errors. If I was happy with the second one, it was done, otherwise, I would do eight or nine sheets, one on top of the other until I got to the one I thought was best. Then I would put the paper behind the tracing paper, which is generally 110 grams, so it is almost transparent and I would place it on a light-box and trace the final part of the creative process. The first images I make are usually a complete picture of the world in which the story takes place. I try to keep any close-up illustrations simple. I avoid frills and backgrounds that can make the image difficult. I always create these larger pictures, because I want to fully describe where the adventure takes place.

So everything is done strictly by hand… you’ve never tried to use digital media?

No, because I’m not so much against the computer as it is against me! I trace plastic squares for the technological parts in my illustrations.

Are you completely self-taught, never attended courses or a school?

Until retirement I worked a half day at Mondadori (publishing house), the other half I was drawing. In Verona, at the time, there were no courses. I only attended one year of art school at the Accademia Cignaroli, but I didn’t learn much… I learnt more by copying.
What I tell many people who ask me how to learn to draw: copy, copy and copy. Until you reach a point where you are better than the thing you copied. And, in the meantime, you’ll find that you’ve developed your own style.

Which work are you most fond of?

For the difficulty in realising it, ‘Nightmare. Hynn-phaer’ (Dada Editore, 2008). Ten years to finish it. Three or four times I started stories, mostly fantasy, which I then abandoned to devote myself to something more challenging… I eventually picked them up again but after thirty or even forty years.

In forty years your style will certainly have changed a bit, though…

Yes, but I am clever. I draw a preface and an afterword with the same stroke and then I justify the difference in style within the narrative with the expedient of a character who talks about his past, which is drawn in a different way… With this formula, I am able to carry on with projects that had been abandoned because I had lost enthusiasm, which I later found again.

Do you still read comics? Is there anything you like today from the contemporary comic book scene?

No, I’ve kind of let go… even novels I hardly read any more. Maybe it’s because I’m a bit tired, it’s not my time anymore. In the 50s and 60s I used to follow more, now technology has evolved too much and I can’t keep up with it any more…

Is it your choice to self-produce your work now?

It is an obligation. If it takes me ten years to finish a work, it’s hard to find such a patient publisher… So the only solution I had was to publish thanks to my friend Luca Pozza who takes care of the layout and printing process. I make 50 copies, I distribute them to my relatives and the ones I have left over I try to sell, at least to cover my expenses a little.

William Gibson once said that in the 20th century people were always talking about the 21st century, but today we hardly hear about the 22nd century. In your opinion, does science fiction still have a future?

Yes, because science fiction still tries to predict the future in some way. I am passionate about cinema, if you think about it, Western films are all the same. It is the skill of the director and the actors that make them unique works. Science fiction is more or less the same: sometimes the subjects are very similar, but it is up to the author to say something from a different angle, to give it another form.

What advice would you give to a young comic book author?

Not to make them! I’m joking, but to a point, because, at least in my experience, it was quite difficult. I started from scratch, I learned things slowly.

Are you currently working on anything new?

I have finished a fantasy story that I started precisely forty years ago, entitled ‘The Two Lives of Jadah’.

Since we are organising a sci-fi film festival, the question has to be asked: if you had to choose just one sci-fi film, what would it be?

Tough choice. I would probably say Blade Runner.

La mostra, Cosmopoietica: I mondi di Roberto Bonadimani sarà alla Biblioteca Civica di Verona, dal 14 marzo al 5 aprile. Cliccate qui per ulteriori informazioni.

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