L'Éléphant Sacré (from Quebec newspaper Le Soleil, 1953)
Franco Caprioli was born in Mompeo, in the province of Rieti, in 1912. After a brief career as a painter, he began working as a comic artist for Il Vittorioso in 1936, and remained a contributor to this magazine for the next three decades. His specialty was adventure stories, and his first creation was 'Gino e Piero'. In the years before World War II, he provided stories like 'Il Mistero del Budda di Giada' and 'Pino il Mozzo'. He additionally made illustrations for Argentovivo and several stories for Topolino (a.o. 'L'Isola Gioveda').
from Belgian magazine Kleine Zondagsvriend
Between 1938 and 1941 he also worked for the publishing house Mondadori and in 1943, he began a collaboration with Il Corriere dei Piccoli ('Nel Deserto di Cartagine', 'Nel Marcinese del Sud' and 'Fra i Canchi de Matarega'). After the War, he made 'L'Isola Tabu' for Giramondo, and he returned to the pages of Topolino with 'I Fanti di Picche', 'Nel Mare Cinese del Sud' and 'Le Tigri di Sumatra'.
His production for Il Vittorioso also continued, and between 1948 and 1964, he produced stories like 'Mino Dario e C', 'L'Elefante Sacro', 'Una Strana Avventura', 'Dakota Jim' and 'Yukon Selvaggio'. Caprioli's work also found its way to France, and appeared in the publications of the publishing house Impéria ('Targa, Garry, Super Boy) and L'Épatant.
L'Elefante Sacro (1953)
When his collaboration with Il Vittorioso ended, Caprioli focused on drawing for the British and French markets. In France, he illustrated the series 'La Patrouille Blanche' from scripts by Roger Lécureux for Aventures et Voyages. After that, Caprioli mainly worked for the Italian magazine Il Giornalino, for which illustrated stories and novel adaptations like 'L'Isola Misterioso', 'Michel Strogoff' and 'Figli del Capitano Grant'. Starting in 1971, Franco Caprioli worked for Spada.
