Attilio Micheluzzi was born in Umago, Istria, in a family of militaries. He spent most of his childhood living alternatively in Italy and Africa. He held the profession of architect for many years, and worked for the royal family of Libia, before being chased back to Italy by Khadafi. He settled in Naples and began a career in illustration and comics.
Petra Chérie - Spie a Venezia (Il Giornalino #10, 5/3/1978)
Using the pseudonym of Igor Arzt Bajeff (after his grandmother's Yugoslavian family) he started writing and drawing short historical stories and biographies. In 1974, he created 'Johnny Focus' for the weekly magazine Corriere dei Ragazzi. Two years later, he took over 'Capitan Erik' from Giovannini and writer Claudio Nizzi. In 1977, for Alter magazine, he created 'Petra Chèrie', about a female pilot fighting the Germans during World War I, as well as 'Simon Flash' in Scorpio.
Apart from adapting literary stories for comics, such as 'The Prince and the Pauper', he created his own historical graphic novels 'L'Uomo del Tanganyka' (1978) and 'L'Uomo del Khyber' (1980). 1980 also was the year his 'Marcel Labrume' appeared in Alter, and in 1982 he illustrated 'Molly Manderling', by writer Milo Milani. He continued with series and stories like 'Rosso Stenton', 'Air Mail' (in Linus and Sgt Kirk), 'Bab El Mandeb' (in Corto Maltese), 'Roy Mann' (in Comic Art) and 'Dylan Dog' (for Bonelli), published all through the 1980s. His latest work, 'Afghanistan', was published posthumously in 1990.
Micheluzzi, with his vast linguistic and historical knowledge, as well as his polished graphic style, received many prizes for his work, including an Alfred in Angoulême and a Yellow Kid in Lucca.
