'Le Aventure di Straccetto'.
Liliana Fantoni was one of the earliest female artists working in Italian comics. Her career started off in the late 1930s and 1940s with fairy tale stories for children's papers like Modellina and Giornale dei Ragazzi. After World War II, she began a steady collaboration with her brother Mario Fantoni and father Guido Fantoni, sharing art duties on many comic series for the publishers Tedeschi, Dardo and Anonima Veritas Editrice. Her participation included a prominent role in the production of comic book series like 'James Taylor, Reporter Giramondo' (1952), 'L'Indian Agent Gessy' (1952) and 'Capitan Walter' (1953-1957).
Early life and career
Liliana Fantoni was born in Florence in 1920. Like her younger brother Mario, she followed in the footsteps of her father, Guido Fantoni, and pursued a career in arts. During the 1930s, she debuted as an artist in the pages of Modellina, the children's supplement of the somen's magazine Modella, published by the Neapolitan newspaper Il Mattino. A few years later, she appeared in the pages of the Napolese comics paper Giornale dei Ragazzi with the adventure serials 'Le Avventure di Straccetto' and 'La Banda dagli Speroni d'Argento' (1944-1946).
Fantoni family business
After World War II, the Fantoni family began working closely together on a variety of joint comic productions. In the late 1940s, for instance, the Fantoni siblings Mario and Liliana had already joined their father in his work with Lee Falk's 'The Phantom' for publisher Tedeschi. Over the next couple of years, more assignments came from publishers like Dardo and Anonima Veritas Editrice (AVE). Initially, most of the artwork was handled by father Guido and brother Mario Fantoni, with Liliana inking backgrounds. However, she slowly worked her way up, from pencil duties on backgrounds to full panels and pages, as well as lettering. Her particular specialty in the family business was drawing the female characters. On occasion, Liliana's future husband, the sculptor Giuseppe Madonia, helped out with some translations from English, if necessary. Until the death of father Guido Fantoni in 1957, the team worked in the "American way", sharing art duties on most of the comic pages. After a while, most of the artwork was handled by Liliana and Mario, while Guido took care of the administrative and public relational tasks.
A notable production with a prominent role for Liliana Fantoni was the ten-issue comic book series 'James Taylor, Reporter Giramondo' (1952) for the publisher Dardo. The son of an English lord, the restless and adventurous James Taylor abandoned his family and renounced his wealth and title to devote himself to journalism. Gifted with courage and a healthy dose of resourcefulness, he travels the world to produce sensational reports and inform the public about the political and military situations of the most turbulent countries. Also for publisher Dardo, the Fantoni siblings created ten issues of the Native American 'L'Indian Agent Gessy' (1952). In the early 1950s, Liliana Fantoni also worked with her brother on fairy tale comics for the Dardo publications Chicchirichì and Crì Crì. This included comical adventures with characters like 'Torello Seduto', 'Il Piccolo Indiano', 'Capitan Pappafico', 'Tony e Salacca', 'Bertoldino' and 'Lord Semolino', and probably also her brother's creations 'Robin Perry' and 'Scaramuccia'.
'Gianforte' (1953).
In 1953, Liliana Fantoni solely drew the fairy tale 'Gianforte', scripted by Giuseppe Madonia, and published as volume #4 in the collection Collana del Trifoglio at Bonelli's Casa Editrice Audace. The other volumes in the series were drawn by Guido Zamperoni. Still in 1953, the full Fantoni family team-up fully came to blossom when Liliana and Mario began working with their father on the comic book series about the aviator (and later journalist) 'Capitan Walter' for the Catholic publisher Anonima Veritas Editrice in Rome (227 issues between 1953 and 1957). The stories were written by Mario Basari and Renata Gelardini De Barba. For the same publisher, the team created the stories 'Calcio in Costume' and 'Il Figlio del Gangster' in the magazine Il Vittorioso. In Belgium, the 'Capitan Walter' stories appeared in Fernand Cheneval's Héroïc-Albums comic book (1955-1956).
After the death of father Guido Fantoni in 1957, the 'Capitan Walter' series came to an end. However, Mario and Liliana Fantoni continued their collaboration in the pages of Il Vittorioso with the serials 'Il Sostituto', 'Il Caso Elvy' and '30° Piano'. In the meantime, the 'Capitan Walter' comic book series was replaced by 'Jolly' (1957-1960), a comic book mixing adventure stories with humor features. Among the many contributors, Mario and Liliana Fantoni continued to provide several serials, including 'Hoka Hey' (script by Danilo Forina), 'Le Terre Insagnuinate' (script by Renata De Barba), 'Il Gran Premio Siepi' (script by Piero Salvatico), 'L'Arcipelago della Copra' (with Sandro Cassone) and 'Il Progretto Stella Azzurra' (script by Mario Basari). One of their last known collaborations was the comic feature 'Il Cavallo Volante' in the Dardo comic book Bombolo (1961-1962).
Final years and death
In the early 1960s, Liliana Fantoni retired from the comic industry to focus on her family life. Her brother Mario spent the next ten years working in his family's artistic ceramics workshop, before returning to illustration. In 1985, Liliana Fantoni illustrated Tommaso Landolfi's novel 'Il Principe Infelice'. She passed away on 2 December 2016. Living to the respectable age of 96, she was one of the last remaining veterans of her generation. She goes down in history as the first women to work professionally as an artist in Italian comics, paving the way for future creators like Lina Buffolente, Grazia Nidasio and Cesarima Amoretti Putato.
'La Banda dagli Speroni d'Argento', 20 January 1946.