Nick Carter is an
Italiancomic strip created in 1972 as a semi-animated
cartoon, for Gulp!, one of the most popular Italian TV shows of that decade. The creators were
Guido De Maria, as director and writer, and
Franco Bonvicini ("Bonvi"), as co-writer and artist.[1] The first run comprised 11 stories, later reissued, as print comic strips for Il Corriere dei Ragazzi, and then in numerous other magazines and books.
In 1977, the character was revamped for the follow-on TV series SuperGulp!, with 17 further episodes. The Nick Carter episodes number some 80, including those created for TV and later adapted for comic-strip magazines. Several stories were drawn by
Silver (Guido Silvestri) and Clod (
Claudio Onesti).
Characters
Nick Carter, whose name is inspired to that of the
homonymous pulp-novel detective, is a short, old-fashioned detective, usually called by other authorities or by private parties, to solve intricate cases. These are normally occasions to satirize famous movies, comics characters or real-world celebrities. Parodies of
horror and
science fiction themes sometimes appear. The stories are generally set in the
United States of the 1910s and '20s, but Carter and his colleagues take part in several missions in
World War I's front lines or in the
Russian Revolution, as well.
Patsy is Carter's tall, sturdy and clumsy assistant, whose main abilities involve fists and weapons. Each stories usually ends with Patsy commenting: "And the last one repairs the damage" or "The last one closes."[vague]
Ten is a Japanese detective who expresses himself only in rhyme, citing ironic versions of Japanese philosophy.
O'Callaghan is a N.Y. City police official whose inability to solve a challenging case usually requires consulting Carter.
Stanislao Moulinsky is a recurring villain Moulinsky is an alleged "master criminal" using astute disguises: the most incredible ones includes impersonating three people at once, a television, an airship and a fog.[vague] He is, however, invariably unmasked by Carter in the last panel of each story, with the signature exchange: (Nick Carter:) "No! This is not ___, but Stanislao Moulinsky in one of his best disguises!" (Stanislao Moulinsky, taking off his mask and with a strong Russian accent:) "Well yes, damned Carter, you have won again!"[vague]
Parodies
Nick Carter stories feature a great number of parodies of famous themes and characters of literature, film, TV and history. An incomplete list includes:
Marlon Brando, satirized two times: as the
mafiosoBabbino ("Little Daddy"), after the main character of The Godfather film; and as Merlon, a trade union leader in a story inspired to the film On the Waterfront. Note that in
Italian "Merlone" is the
augmentative form of "merlo" ("blackbird"), which also is a colloquial term for a fool.
Nick Carter is an
Italiancomic strip created in 1972 as a semi-animated
cartoon, for Gulp!, one of the most popular Italian TV shows of that decade. The creators were
Guido De Maria, as director and writer, and
Franco Bonvicini ("Bonvi"), as co-writer and artist.[1] The first run comprised 11 stories, later reissued, as print comic strips for Il Corriere dei Ragazzi, and then in numerous other magazines and books.
In 1977, the character was revamped for the follow-on TV series SuperGulp!, with 17 further episodes. The Nick Carter episodes number some 80, including those created for TV and later adapted for comic-strip magazines. Several stories were drawn by
Silver (Guido Silvestri) and Clod (
Claudio Onesti).
Characters
Nick Carter, whose name is inspired to that of the
homonymous pulp-novel detective, is a short, old-fashioned detective, usually called by other authorities or by private parties, to solve intricate cases. These are normally occasions to satirize famous movies, comics characters or real-world celebrities. Parodies of
horror and
science fiction themes sometimes appear. The stories are generally set in the
United States of the 1910s and '20s, but Carter and his colleagues take part in several missions in
World War I's front lines or in the
Russian Revolution, as well.
Patsy is Carter's tall, sturdy and clumsy assistant, whose main abilities involve fists and weapons. Each stories usually ends with Patsy commenting: "And the last one repairs the damage" or "The last one closes."[vague]
Ten is a Japanese detective who expresses himself only in rhyme, citing ironic versions of Japanese philosophy.
O'Callaghan is a N.Y. City police official whose inability to solve a challenging case usually requires consulting Carter.
Stanislao Moulinsky is a recurring villain Moulinsky is an alleged "master criminal" using astute disguises: the most incredible ones includes impersonating three people at once, a television, an airship and a fog.[vague] He is, however, invariably unmasked by Carter in the last panel of each story, with the signature exchange: (Nick Carter:) "No! This is not ___, but Stanislao Moulinsky in one of his best disguises!" (Stanislao Moulinsky, taking off his mask and with a strong Russian accent:) "Well yes, damned Carter, you have won again!"[vague]
Parodies
Nick Carter stories feature a great number of parodies of famous themes and characters of literature, film, TV and history. An incomplete list includes:
Marlon Brando, satirized two times: as the
mafiosoBabbino ("Little Daddy"), after the main character of The Godfather film; and as Merlon, a trade union leader in a story inspired to the film On the Waterfront. Note that in
Italian "Merlone" is the
augmentative form of "merlo" ("blackbird"), which also is a colloquial term for a fool.