Topolino #2966 cover - Goofy & Pluto

It's no mystery that, among the many Italian Disney artists, Stefano Turconi is one of the ones I love the most, so, when I got the chance to put my hands on this Topolino cover with a Pippo Reporter theme, I didn't think twice.

Pippo Reporter is a series (concluded with its 15th episode published on Topolino #3125 in October 2015) brilliantly written by Teresa Radice and amazingly illustrated by Stefano Turconi, set in New York, USA, in the 20th century's 30s and featuring Goofy, Minnie Mouse, Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, Peg-Leg Pete, and The Phantom Blot.
Goofy is working as a reporter for the "Morning Blot" whose director, a criminal who uses the journal to cover his illegal activities, is Mr. Blackspot (The Phantom Blot). In each episode of the series, Goofy, involuntarily, frustrates Mr. Blackspot's plans, but at the same time writes thrilling and fascinating articles that allow the journal to break sales records (for this very reason, Mr. Blackspot cannot fire his clumsy reporter).

This cover is inspired by the 11th story of the series, "Il fiuto di Pluto", where the hound makes his first appearance in the series and there's a sort of competition for the election of the mayor between Horace Horse and Mr. Blackspot and both of them are trying to build the tallest building (obviously, Mr. Blackspot doesn't play nice). But we already know how it will end, don't we?

Turconi's artwork here almost looks like animation; the characters seem to jump from the page, and you feel he really had fun drawing the action as well as the city landscapes.
I really love this cover that immediately reminded me of a photo (see additional images) titled "Lunch atop a Skyscraper" (September 20, 1932), a staged photograph of eleven ironworkers sitting on a steel beam of the RCA Building, 850 feet (260 meters) above the ground during the construction of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York City.

Thanks, Antonio!


Paper size: 25 x 35 cm