'Bradi Pit' (2023). Translation: "Excuse me, can you tell me whether the next stop is the Piazza Mazzini?".
Giuseppe Scapigliati is an Italian art director, collector of original comic art and cartoonist. His comics have appeared in magazines like Il Mago and Comix, as well as the Smemoranda agendas. Since 2012, he has been creating comics with the sloth 'Bradi Pit', whose easygoing adventures have been collected in book format by RED and Barta Edizioni.
Early life
Born in 1958 in the Tuscan city of Arezzo, Giuseppe Scapigliati started drawing comics around the age of 15. He was an avid reader of the 'Alan Ford' comics and began by copying the work of Magnus. Later, he developed a lasting passion for American comic strips, most notably Charles Schulz's 'Peanuts', Johnny Hart's 'B.C.', and Brant Parker and Johnny Hart's 'Wizard of Id'. As a comic creator, Scapigliati's main references are Benito Jacovitti for his unique page compositions, Tom K. Ryan for his clean lines and hilarious dialogues, and George Herriman for the poetry and magic of 'Krazy Kat'.
'Téo'.
Comics
In 1979, Scapigliati tied for first place in the national comic competition of the Paese Sera newspaper, and during the same period, his comic strips were published in an issue of Mondadori's Il Mago magazine. Unfortunately, he discovered it was difficult in his home country to make a living solely from comics. So for forty years, his day job was working as art director in an advertising agency, while making the occasional comic on the side.
In 1990, Giuseppe Scapigliati created the character of 'Teo', who made its first appearance in issue #10 of Comix magazine, published by Cosimo Panini Editore. Concurrently, he began collaborating as a cartoonist with the Smemoranda agendas. In 2004, he started using the computer as a drawing tool and created 'Vincenzina', a pantomime comic strip about a sweet little girl, published in book format by the RED publishing house from Bologna.
'Vincenzina'.
Bradi Pit
In 2012, Scapigliati launched a new strip titled 'Bradi Pit il Bradipo', about a sloth whose one purpose in life is to stand still and do nothing. This makes him a metaphor for people who've decided to take it slow and just hang around without taking initiative. The mammal's name is a pun on Hollywood actor Brad Pitt. While the comic is essentially a humorous comic strip, Scapigliati also uses his strip to express his views on ecology, universal love and social issues. In 2013, RED released the first 'Bradi Pit' collection, 'Lentezza fa Bellezza' (2013). Since 2019, the adventures of Bradi Pit have been picked up by Barta Edizioni, who released the collections 'Seguimi, non vado da nessuna parte' ("Come on, I'm Not Going Anywhere", 2019) and 'Mantieni La Calma e Bradipa' ("Keep Calm and Sloth", 2023).
Comic collector
Besides being a comic creator, Scapigliati is also an avid collector of original comic art, and an organizer of comic exhibitions. Together with his companion Massimo Olla, he created the 'Balloons' blog, an Italian point of reference on newspaper comic strips.
'Bradi Pit'.