What makes a child fall in love with a Superhero?
We asked Carmine Di Giandomenico, the cartoonist from Teramo. He started out in the world of comics really young, when he drew the mini-series “Examen”, written by Daniele Brolli. After several other publications in Italy, he published the two-volume work “Oudeis” in Italy in the period 2004-2005, which he wrote himself. In 2005, he began to collaborate with Marvel Comics, drawing several mini-series starring some of the most important comic figures. In 2016, his collaboration with DC Comics began too, dedicating his work to cult figures like “The Flash”, “Batman” and “Cat Woman”.
During our chat, the artist says that he feels a deep connection to Superman, one of the DC universe’s favourite characters, the superhero who has been a part of so many of our lives.
Not just a cape.
“I love the alien brought up by a simple, yet wise and kind man”. Jonathan Kent, Clark’s father, marks the hero’s first failure. It is his death, in Donner’s film, that lights the fuse of that feeling to protect every human life, because with all his special powers, Superman couldn’t get one man’s heart going again. “This has always made me love this character, who lives and moves like a hero and superhero, not so that he doesn’t come across as invincible, but to escape his helplessness when faced with natural death”.
Another character he feels a connection with is “Batman”, the world-famous icon of the superhero world.
A project that he co-wrote, together with Chip Zdarsky, when developing the character’s official pre-origins. A new story focusing on the life of Bruce Wayne, and not on his masked alter-ego. During a trip through Europe and Asia, the comic book artist was working with great care on the superhero’s facial expressions in his everyday life, using the shadows of his face, projecting the bat symbol into the corners of his eyebrows, which are an important element that can convey the character’s state of mind. “Even though we will never see Bruce Wayne in a vigilante’s costume”, he told us, “I transferred anger and the essence of revenge onto him”. These are the very sentiments that the work focuses on, a feeling that Carmine can understand, as he lost someone in his family too, during the pandemic. “Today, whenever I draw Batman, I don’t think about the charismatic character. Instead I focus on the emptiness he must feel from the loss he suffered, that can never be filled. The void that he tries to fill with anger”.
Two prerogatives of many superheroes are modesty and willingness, and Carmine Di Giandomenico was just the same. As well as giving us some of his time, he also allowed us to use the images that appear in this article, and told us about some of his important opinions about the various characters.
We are proud to dedicate a page of our blog and our journey “between the walls” to Carmine. These are the times when Quinta Parete can best express itself: creating synergies to optimise our local area using beauty, wonders and talent, and being able to convey all this to our readers, to arouse their interest to go and discover it all for themselves.
