Reviews
  
  



WHAT HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT TEX



























































TEX, FORTY YEARS ON THE TROT RIDING AFTER THE MYTH OF THE OLD WEST. An article by Piero Zanotto, appearing in “Il Gazzettino”, 6 March 2004: “Fifty-six years of uninterrupted riding along the trails of the West. Tex Willer is the most long-lasting figure Italian comics have ever succeeded in creating; long may he continue to live today in the imagination of the young and ex-young with the same virginal emotion as in his first appearance, dating from 1948…”.

ON THE TRACKS OF TEX, A WESTERN MYTH ON PAPER. An article bearing the initials I. M., appearing in “Corriere del Veneto” (Verona and Vicenza edition), 5 March 2004: “When talking of Tex, one cannot help talking about art. There’s art in the quality of the structuring of the text and, above all, in the artwork itself… Tex as a character is multifaceted – adds Hüllweck (mayor of Vicenza, ed. note) – he thinks like a European, but he has the strength, courage and potential for action typical of an American. He experiences suffering on the personal level, he believes in friendship, he lives with the Indians and even marries an Indian woman at a time when the Indians were still mostly regarded as simply cannon fodder…”

TEX WILLER RIDES INTO THE BASILICA. An article by Silvia Maria Dubois, appearing in “Il Giornale di Vicenza”, 5 March 2004: “ Some people swear that he’s come back to ride his old Dinamite, others whisper that he’s gone racing off in the company of Tiger Jack for the umpteenth squaring of accounts in favor of the Navajos…”

TEX WILLER EVERGREEN HERO OF COMICS. An article by Gianni Brunoro, appearing in “La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre Calle al Ponte”, 2 March 2004: “If the force of comic-book characters are measured, as is natural, by their capacity to survive their authors, then Tex Willer should be awarded a stature that virtually makes him… a superhero. However mysterious and unfathomable the reasons that enable a fantasy character to take hold in popular imagination, the facts themselves speak loud and clear, and are concrete and undeniable. Therefore, whatever the explanation may be, the evidence shows that Tex Willer is now a cult hero embedded in our imagination … a monument to our culture, our social set-up, not to mention our everyday way of life…”

“APACHE KID: A TRUE STORY FOR TEX”. An article by Filippo Mazzarella, appearing in “Corriere della Sera”, 28 December 2003: “This year the honor of the sumptuous reprint is to go to a 1974 saga. With ‘Apache Kid’ (Mondadori), Gianluigi Bonelli slotted a lesser known figure and event of the great epic of the West into the continuity of Tex: the true story of a young indian orphan, who was brought up by a USA officer and then became a scout in the army, but eventually had to flee after a murder committed to avenge his father’s death… This historical outline turned into a stark and epic adventure, paced like a genuine classical Hollywood western, served by the sober and magnificent artwork of Erio Nicolò…”.

BONELLI: TEXTS, STORIES AND CHARACTERS. EVERYBODY’S QUEUING UP RIGHT AWAY FOR TEX’S “DAD”. Editorial article appearing in “Il Giornale”, 19 October 2003: “Throngs of visitors to the exhibition at Villa Burba in Rho, dedicated to Tex Willer’s ‘dad’, who created the famous comic-book character… And right away, within the first three days, the texts, images and original strips by Giovanni Luigi Bonelli attracted over two thousand visitors…”

RHO IS THE VENUE FOR THE LEGEND OF TEX’S DAD. Editorial article appearing in “La Cronaca di Cremona, Crema, Casalmaggiore”, 19 October 2003: “The long artistic evolution charted by Tex’s creator in the world of literature and comics is celebrated in an exhibition entitled ‘G. L. Bonelli dal Vittorioso a Tex’…”.

TEX IS RIGHT THERE AT THE JULY FAIR. An article bearing the initials N. C., appearing in “Gazzetta di Modena”, 24 July 2003: “Among the activities set up for the July Fair, the Bilancia Museum is presenting an exhibition on the Tex Willer comics taken from the Bazzani-Gabbolini-Guarnieri private collection, of Campogalliano. the three aficionados have Tex Willer comics of a wide variety of formats and eras in their collections…”

MANFRED SOMMER FOR TEX GIGANTE 2003 An editorial, unsigned, in La Cronaca di Cremona, Crema, Casalmaggiore, 1 June 2003: “Once again the special Aquila della Notte album will most definitely cause a stir. First and foremost, because of the number : 17. There is only a tiny handful of comics that can boast such an enduring tradition. And also, because of the author who was commissioned to create the plates. Once again, Sergio Bonelli has done things in grand style, calling on a top-ranking illustrator for the creation of an album of such paramount importance. The script is entrusted to the evergreen figure of Claudio Nizzi, an author who has achieved enormous acclaim…”

THE SUCCESS OF TEX IS STILL A MYSTERY. An article by Antonio Casa, La Sicilia, 27 April 2003: “ It’s the only homegrown Italian comic that’s endured since 1948, and no-one has yet quite figured out the secret of his longevity. Tex Willer, born an outlaw by the decision of Gianluigi Bonelli, whose aim was to exploit this ploy in order to differentiate Tex from other westerns… is actually a mystery in the world of publishing. For the last fifty-five years, the unsullied and fearless ranger has been churned out in something approaching 350 thousand copies a month, without mentioning the special albums and the reprints, involving three generations of readers…”

ALL SOLD OUT FOR TEX WILLER. An editorial article, la Repubblica, 1 March 2003: “A boom of five hundred thousand copies for Tex Willer and his adventures. Yesterday the success of the second volume of the Grandi Classici del Fumetto di Repubblica [Repubblica’s Great Comics Classics] did it again – another excellent result, echoing the first issue of the series, dedicated to Corto Maltese…”

TEX WILLER AND DYLAN DOG IN THE UNIVERSITY LECTURE HALL. An agency article, Il Cittadino, 26 February 2003: “Comics are bursting onto the Italian university scene for the first time, with a course designed for students who are specializing in mass media. And in particular, the theme of the course will focus on Tex Willer, the most successful Italian comic…”

THE FIRST SEVENTY YEARS OF MISTER COMICS. Interview with Sergio Bonelli by Cesare Fiumi in “Sette”, supplement to Corriere della Sera, 28 November 2002: “Tex had grown up just fine. He already had all his pards around him, because my father, who was a romantic and adored ‘feuilletons’, constantly had Dumas and the four musketeers in his head. And with Tex - pistols replacing the swords - he did a great job, placing Carson, his son Kit and Tiger Jack beside him…”.

THE MAN FROM AREZZO WITH TEX IN HIS HAND, by Nadia Frulli. Interview with the illustrator Fabio Civitelli, appearing in Corriere di Arezzo e della Provincia, 10 November 2002: “Who is Tex? A character who’s absolutely spot-on. At the age of 54 he continues to be loved and continues to be absolutely in tune with the times. He embodies fundamental values…”

LUCCA, THE COMICS ARE HERE AND TEX “IS INVADING” THE NEW MUSEUM. An article by Massimo di Grazia, Il Giornale della Toscana, 26 October 2002. “What’s set to inaugurate the museum, a veritable “event within the event”, is “Tex 500”, a grand exhibition devoted to the five hundred issues of the hero created by Gianluigi Bonelli andAurelio Galleppini fifty-four years ago…”

BUT BEHIND THE TWO BIG SHOTS COMICS ARE STRUGGLING, by Roberto D. Papini. An article appearing in La Nazione, 24 October 2002: “And so you see that the recipe created in 1948 by Gianluigi Bonelli and Aurelio Galleppini, with a highly innovative western (Tex Willer, a ranger and man of the law, sides with the Indians in a period when the world of movies almost always portrayed “redskins” as wild men )… withstands the impact of time without the slightest difficulty…”

KNEELING BEFORE TEX, by Emiliana Farina. An article appearing in L’Unione Sarda, 6 September 2002: “Despite the fact that the stories of the legendary Wild West emblazoned with the Stars and Stripes have almost completely disappeared from popular imagination, Tex still endures. And he doesn’t even have to make any great effort…”

THE SECRETS OF THOSE WHO BREATHE LIFE INTO GREAT TEX. An initialled article, La Provincia, 21 July 2002: “The success of Tex is truly international and extends through all walks of society, emerging from the foibles of fashion and the changing tastes of different generations quite unscathed…”

TEX AND KIT, TWO RATHER SPECIAL PHILOSOPHERS. An article by Giulio Giorello, Corriere della Sera, s.d. … “What we have here are two rather special philosophers, the kind that would have appealed to the Irishman John Mitchell who dreamed (1954) of “smashing to the ground and sweeping away” the castles erected by any imperial power whatsoever… And in this adventure too (‘In the green inferno’), Willer and his son never cease to demonstrate that the ‘canna of a gun is a really clear piece of reasoning in all the countries of the world”… Yet this time, Tex and Kit shoot the Bravos indios almost reluctantly when they find out that the natives are threatening an expedition of engineers and marines who’ve been given the task of designing what in later years is destined to become the Panama Canal…”

TEX MEETS THE DETESTED MEFISTO AGAIN An article by Francesco Specchia, which appeared in Libero, 13 July 2002: “The story is a shining example of popular story-telling worthy of the esoteric novels of Conan Doyle or the adventure stories of Du Terrail...”

TEX CELEBRATES THE GRAND TOTAL OF 500 AMONG THE NAVAJOS, by Andrea Cavalcanti. An article that appeared in La Provincia di Como, 8 June 2002: “On reaching the target of 500 issues, Tex, a character created back in ’48 by Gian Luigi Bonelli and Aurelio Galleppini, is confirmed as the adventure comic strip best loved by the Italians”.

HIS SECRET? HE MAKES TIME STAND STILL AND HE’S A VERITABLE GOLDMINE OF EXCITEMENT, by Piero Vailati. An article that appeared in L’Eco di Bergamo, 8 June 2002: “Tex is Tex, period. It comes straight from the heart, not from the head. It’s a western comic which, in an era when comics are going into a decline, is capable of mobilizing silent mass pilgrimages to the news-stands in every corner of the world”.

TEX, AN ARCH-ITALIAN IN 500 STORIES, by Vittorio Macioce. An article that appeared in Il Giornale, 6 June 2002: “If the legend of Tex is the projection of an America of popular literature, which harks back Stagecoach and Gunfight at the OK Corral, its history is here, in Italy, in the memories of fathers who have become grandfathers, in the mass culture that releases these strips and turns them into a collective heritage”.

TEX: 500 BLOWS AGAINST THE RECESSION, by Michela Giordano. An article that appeared in Avvenire, 5 June 2002: “Cult idol and legend are terms that are frequently used to excess. Not when the subject is Tex, created in 1948 by Gian Luigi Bonelli: Tex is the most long-lived character of Italian comics, one of the most enduring in the world together with Superman and Batman”.

TEX SHIFTS TO COLOR WITH ALBUM NUMBER 500, by Stefano Pallaroni. An article that appeared in La Provincia Pavese, 5 June 2002: “Sketched for the first time by the pen of Aurelio Galleppini in the image and likeness of Gary Cooper, over time Tex has taken on the square jaw and tough features of a Charlton Heston, but without losing any of his fascination. Quite the opposite: his appeal has grown hand in hand with ever more carefully devised plots and increased precision in the descriptions of the environments and the psychological profiles of the characters”.

TEX GETS TO THE GRAND TOTAL OF FIVE HUNDRED ISSUES, Editorial that appeared in Il Mattino, 5 June 2002: “50 years on, the legendary ranger does not seem to show any sign of losing his grip. And this is not all: number 500 on sale at news-stands on June 8 heralds a sensational return in the story written by Claudio Nizzi and illustrated by Claudio Villa. Mefisto will rise again – Tex’s most indomitable enemy (but also the most popular among readers) – to claim his revenge at last”.

THE RETURN OF MEFISTO An article by Claudio Paglieri, which appeared in Il secolo XIX, 26 April 2002. “These are stories that were the source of more than one sleepless night for teenagers who at the time were thirteen or fourteen years old (and perhaps also for adult readers not yet jaded by the horror images of cinema and television, and still unversed in black magic, satanic sects and similar): the scene in which a zombie is awakened in order to kill Tex, and Yama’s descent in to the abyss, still send shivers down one’s back...”

TRIBUTE TO G. L. BONELLI by Claudio Paglieri. Feature article appearing in Il Secolo XIX in the column “Segnali di Fumetto”, 31 January 2002: “With the Almanacco del West 2002, which has just arrived on the news-stands, Tex readers will find a surprise: the album `Sotto il segno dell’Avventura´ [Under the sign of adventure], entirely dedicated to the figure of Giovanni Luigi Bonelli, the creator of the ranger, who passed away one year ago… A wealth of illustrations and curiosities on his lesser known personalities”.

BONELLI, LIFE (AND ADVENTURE) IS A DREAM by Renato Pallavicini. An article appearing in L’Unità, 29 gennaio 2002: “If Flaubert proudly stated `Madame Bovary c’est moi´, Bonelli could equally well come back with the repartee `Tex c’est moi´. Identification with a temperament and a moral outlook rather than with the character himself, but above all, identification with an adventure epic made of upstanding and courageous heroes”.

GIANLUIGI BONELLI, A ROMANTIC HERO by Filippo Mazzarella. An article appearing in Corriere della Sera, 29 January 2002: “The philosophy of Aquila della Notte coincides ‘Flaubertianly’ with that of Bonelli. Tex conquers readers whose passions are in tune with the mood of an author who, in turn, senses the public’s desire for novelty: thus the reading public is irresistibly drawn into the amazing exploits of a ranger who sides with a people, the Native Americans, previously depicted as meat for the slaughter-house”.

TEX, DUEL IN THE SUN AGAINST THE MANGA by Tommaso Cevoli. An article appearing in Avvenire, 11 January 2002: “With their unmistakable style and “exercise book” shape, the albums of Bonelli’s ranger have inaugurated a new way of composing comics, influencing generations of authors and readers”.

THERE’S NO MANGA THAT CAN GET ANYWHERE NEAR HIM. TEX REMAINS THE LORD OF COMICS Editorial appearing in La Prealpina, 13 January 2002: “Gianluigi Bonelli died one year ago, on 12 January but ‘Tex Willer’, his legendary ranger, rides on and with him so do all his readers, who still today purchase over 300 thousand copies of every album”.

MAXI TEX “IN THE NORTH WEST TERRITORIES” unsigned review appearing in Il Mucchio Selvaggio, in the column “Comics - megafono", 30 Oct./5 Nov. 2001: Freshness, narrative agility, suspense and tradition, all well mixed characteristics that Boselli deftly and neatly manages to infuse into a monument like Tex. The artwork is the creation of the Spaniard Alfonso Font, who shows great professional competence and very careful interpretation of a story rich in scenic stage-sets and unexpected developments… An amusing reading opportunity for classic entertainment”.

“TEX WILLER”: THE RADIO-TWO COMIC STRIP IS CAPTIVATING by Alfredo Cattabiani. An article appearing in il Giornale, 4 November 2001: “After the success of the adaptation of Diabolik in the form of a radio play, broadcast last year, Armando Traverso has devised a new series based on another celebrated comic strip character, Tex Willer. As all his readers know, Tex is an Italian product because he was created in 1948 by the pen of Gian Luigi Bonelli and the crayons of Aurelio Galleppini, and he has accompanied the history of our country”.

BIRTH OF A PRIZE TO REMEMBER TEX’S POP by Andrea Cavalcanti. An article appearing in Il Cittadino, 1 November 2001: “The world of Italian comics renders tribute to Tex’s “pop”; a new prize has been set up, the ‘Gian Luigi Bonelli’ award for creative writing”.

IN THE NAME OF TEX AND HISTORY by Massimo Di Grazia. An article appearing in Il Giornale della Toscana, 31 October 2001: “It’s the talk of the town among aficionados of comics: you’ve surely heard about this idea of Bonelli’s of having Tex Willer – an imaginary character – meet George Armstrong Custer, the famous cavalry commander who really did exist”.

RADIO GALLOP, WITH TEX by Paolo Pasquarelli. An article appearing in Il Resto del Carlino, 29 October 2001: “Tex Willer is not only a comic strip”, comments the director of Radio 2, Sergio Valzania, “it’s literature, a sort of folktale. Always able to say something new…”

TEX RIDES ON THE RADIO WITH THE VOICE OF BRUCE WILLIS by Valeria Braghieri. An article appearing in Libero, 26 October 2001: “What a fabulous challenge it is to bestow on Tex, the king of images, a world of sounds. ‘What comics lack is movement, which the user compensates through the act of reading, but they also lack sound. On the radio you have nothing other than that available, and it is an immense universe’, explains Traverso, the author and deviser of the project, who in the past even made a dramatic adaptation (as a radio play, editor’s note) of Diabolik”.

TEX WILLER GOES ON THE RADIO by Ornella Tommasi. An article appearing in Il Nuovo Giornale di Bergamo, 26 October 2001: “Without the help of images, how is one to render the hissing of a flaming arrow or the water lapping around a boat off the coast of Florida… This is the latest challenge of fiction on Radio 2 after the success of Diabolik and it also signals the triumphant entry into radio frequencies of the most celebrated heroes in the mythology of comics…”

AQUILA DELLA NOTTE IS BACK FOR THE SUMMER IN THE "TEXONE" by Piero Zanotto. An article that appeared in Il Gazzettino 28 June 2001: “Kubert makes detail crucial. His sequences unfold through a frenetic montage that has a cinematographic feel to it. As he himself says, he drew his inspiration for the most unusual character of Tex both from Clint Eastwood and Gary Cooper. And his strokes have a crisp command of the subject with a realistic touch”.

THE REVENGE OF THE LONE RIDER, by Renato Pallavicini. An article that appeared in L’Unità, 19 June 2001: "Kubert masterfully depicts the characters and the landscapes, reviving the powerful aura of fascination of western iconography. His Tex has something of Gary Cooper and something of Clint Eastwood: he has just the right face for this enterprise”.

TEX AS AN AMERICAN, by Gian Emilio Mazzoleni. An interview with Joe Kubert that appeared in Carnet, June 2001. “I asked script-writer Claudio Nizzi to have Tex setting off on long journeys, in wide open spaces, and I wanted there to be innumerable changes of climate: rain, wind, desert and storms to create a good rhythm for the whole story. Nizzi brilliantly grasped my strong and weak points, and creating the artwork for his text was a real pleasure”.

ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS THE WEST by Marc de’ Pasquali. An article that appeared in La Gazzetta di Parma, 12 April 2001: "Tex goes on and on, with his face that reminds you somewhat of Gary Cooper, somewhat of John Wayne, his broad-rimmed hat, a black kerchief round his neck, yellow shirt and bandana, Colt, boots - and he represents exactly the kind of father, buddy, friend, proud protector, embodiment of tradition and pillar of righteousness you’d always like to have close at hand, generation after generation, right, left and center!”

TEX, PALE RIDER, by Mauro Pianta. An article that appeared in Il Giornale del Piemonte, 7 April 2001: "(Tex) remains an optimistic chief and sufficiently self-ironizing to recognize the difference between the law and justice; he’s one of those who ‘prefer to hold a Colt in their hands rather than a pen’. And that’s one of the reasons why we’re grateful to that “hell-raiser”. That’s one of the reasons why, as the old people used to say, Tes Viler is still one of us”.

HASTA LUEGO, BONELLI!, by Antonio Tentori. An article that appeared in Area, February 2001: “So thanks to the senior master for having presented us with the gift of a character such as Tex, a paper hero yet one who’s ‘real’, capable of confidently triumphing over the most incredible obstacles during his hair-raising adventures, just as in the real world of publishing he endures beyond any transient fashions and seasons”.

DEAR BONELLI YOUR TEX WAS LIKE YOU, by Stefano Gorla. An article that appeared in Letture, February 2001: "Tex has been a companion to generations of readers. A maverick character, genuinely innovative. Action-packed stories, harsh stories, about a world in which violence and physical strength, courage and extreme disregard for any danger were indispensable ingredients. He was light years ahead of the rejection of the hackneyed equation of Indians equals the baddies. Tex hates arrogance and defends that which is right and just by getting his hands dirty. Essentially, Gian Luigi Bonelli was Tex Willer.”

CALL ME TEX KILLER, by Marco Giovannini. An article that appeared in Panorama, 15 February 2001: "Physically the new edition of the old hero sort of goes back to the origins, when Tex was called Killer and not Willer and was rather more frightening. ‘Psychologically he reminds one of Clint Eastwood, a rugged face that seems to reflect the ruggedness of the rocks and the same inner strength’, says Kubert. ‘In my view he looks like Charlton Heston, big bones, the right cheek bones and jaw, an ominously threatening serpent’s eye’, Bonelli amends.

REQUIEM FOR THE FATHER OF THE COW-BOY, by Toni Zanette. An article that appeared in Il Popolo, 28 January 2001: "If there is such a thing as a paradise of the West, I like to imagine Gianluigi Bonelli sitting by a campfire with his heroes, John Ford, John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, the drunken doctor with a heart of gold in ‘Stagecoach’. It all takes place against the backdrop of Monument Valley and Fort Apache, while at sunset the sound of Morricone’s trumpet rings out and the stagecoach looms into appearance in the distance”.

TEX USED TO READ BOBBIO, by Maurizio Viroli. An article that appeared in La Stampa, 20 January 2001: "His dual identity often causes him to experience severe moral conflicts and excruciating suffering (the number of times he’s been ashamed to be white!). This is really not bad at all, especially for a comic strip that was launched at the height of the cold war when the divisions between ideologies and culture were, to use a classic phrase, veritable iron curtains”.

FAREWELL TO BONELLI, BUT TEX WILLER LIVES ON, by Piero Zanotto. An article that appeared in Il Gazzettino, 13 January 2001: "He’s a figure, is Tex, who by the ‘patriarch’ Bonelli’s own admission bore a strong similarity to his creator. More than once Bonelli had been heard musing aloud that he himself was Tex Willer. Meaning that Tex was a man after his own heart, always proud and strong-minded. Bonelli would tell the Tex stories with all the verve of his own natural power of invention, without ever having been to America for a single day.”

OUR TEX: A HERO OF POPULAR LITERATURE, by Filippo De Bortoli. Interview with Sergio Bonelli appearing in La Prealpina, 24th June 2000: "The last great Tex confirms once again that my long-held belief was right: it is possible to educate the reading public to appreciate very diversified styles and genres of graphics and artwork".

TEA BONELLI, TEX & COMPANY’S MOM, by Roberto Davide Papini. An article that appeared in Il Giorno, 20 April 2000: "In a world that is almost exclusively male, the ‘fair’ touch contributed by Tea Bonelli has been of notable importance and quality. Not bad for a woman who claimed to consider herself ‘a very amateurish self-taught publisher, and moreover one without any past as a reader of comics’. But, first and foremost, a publisher with loads of courage, including that of modesty”.

TRULY A TEX IN GIANT FORMAT, by Filippo de Bortoli. An article that appeared in La Prealpina, 25 June 1999: "The thirteenth of this favorably blessed breed of rendez-vous with Adventure with a capital A, Milazzo’s Texone signals a return to the register of narration in the most classical western manner, once more making use of the language of parable and metaphor to focus attention on facts, situations, feelings and choices we so often come across at every turning of our daily path.”

THE INVINCIBLE TEX WILLER, by Michele Giordano. Interview with Sergio Bonelli appearing in Chi, 24th December 1998: "My father had good intuition, he embarked on an operation of revisionism in relations between Whites and Native Americans and this was even before "Soldier Blue".

TEX, A HANDSOME FIFTY-YEAR-OLD BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES OF FASHION, by Dario Campione. Interview with Claudio Villa appearing in Il Corriere di Como, 4th November 1998: "I was born ten years after Tex, to me he’s like an elder brother to follow and love as if he were an ideal; working with him is both an honour and a passion. He represents an anchorage and expresses values that may not be the latest fashion but are part of modernity".

TEX, A 15 LIRA HERO, An article that appeared in Famiglia Cristiana, 11 October 1998: "For those kids, the Western was an eagerness to discover not just Steinbeck, Dos Passos, Hemingway and Francis Scott Fitzgerald, but also boogie-woogie and chewing-gum as well as that legendary world across the ocean that had sent us the marines, Gilda, Sun Valley Serenade and, most beloved of all, John Wayne, the hero of the prairies, with his legendary Stetson hat, his kerchief round his neck, and his Winchester 73 repeating rifle”.

JOHN WAYNE IN PENCIL, by Massimiliano Mazzanti. An article appearing in Il Secolo d’Italia, 20th September 1998: "Tex is a contradictory character just as the very history of the West is full of contradictions (we still do not know whether Wyatt Earp was a sheriff or a gangster), but Bonelli Senior has given an extremely original interpretation and I believe this underlies his extraordinary success".

TEX’S LONG RIDE, by Francesco Specchia. An article that appeared in L’Arena, 21 April 1998: "Tex is a necromantic act, a paper ghost suckled on druidic formulae, a dream laced with the elixir of long life. For proof, you need look no further than the constant stream of exhibitions, books, events throughout Italy, all commemorating his genethliac”.

TEX, THE ALL-ITALIAN SYMBOL OF THE EPIC WEST IS TURNING FIFTY, by Edoardo Rosati. An article appearing in Oggi, 1st April 1998: "Texophile fever is overflowing and spreading into newspaper’ pages, and it has ended up infecting intellectuals, sociologists and opinion makers, who are trying as hard as they can to explain the lure of Gianluigi Bonelli’s creature".

GENTLEMAN RANGER, by Alberto Campo. An article appearing in Musica Rock & Altro, supplement to La Repubblica, 26th March 1998: "Many authoritative exegetes have addressed the case of Tex, such as Umberto Eco, Oreste del Buono, Roberto Benigni, Sergio Cofferati, Francesco Guccini, Alberto Abruzzese, Gino & Michele and so on".

"AQUILA DELLA NOTTE" IS NOW FIFTY, by Guido Tiberga. An article appearing in Torino Sette, supplement to La Stampa, 20th March 1998: "In fifty years, the popular comic has changed its medium, from the small strip designed to be hidden amid the pages of a schoolbook, to the "big Tex" sold in book shops".

TEX WILLER, HIS FIRST FIFTY YEARS, by Emanuele Rebuffini. An article appearing in Avvenimenti, 18th March 1998: "If Tex’s success has endured intact for half a century, the merit is undoubtedly to be attributed to the easily recognizable plot and the fascinating setting of the Old West".

AN AMERICAN RANGER FOR AN ITALIAN MIRACLE, by Sergio Sotgiu. An article appearing in Il Giornale, 28th February 1998: "Tex, the Italian miracle, enjoys good health for one very simple reason, an excellent reason: he is a constant presence in Italians’ dreams; dreams of justice, above all: this is the deep-set desire that breathes life into Tex".

AQUILA DELLA NOTTE, HE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO IS FOREVER YOUNG, by Sergio Cofferati. An article appearing in Il Messaggero, 29th January 1998: "Moreover, today the plots are even more refined, with very accurate environmental descriptions and noticeable psychological implications even in minor and secondary figures. Don’t you think this is a considerable achievement, in a period in which literature often abandons adventure and boasts avoidance of feeling and character?".

WHAT A PEST! TEX IS DRIVIMG ME TO DISTRACTION, by Edoardo Rosati and Andrea Plazzi. Interview with Magnus that appeared in Sette, the supplement to Corriere della Sera 22 June 1995: “For no less than seven years now, Bonelli has played the waiting game while Magnus, going absolutely crazy with a delirium of finickiness, has drawn and scratched out and chiselled the 224 plates that make up the Tex adventure, scripted by Claudio Nizzi. To enhance his creative powers, Magnus has even left his family and his city – Bologna – to retreat into solitude far from the madding crowd”.

HOW COOL IS THAT TEX! An article by Alberto Abruzzese. An article appearing in L’Espresso, 20th November 1998: "Tex is a long-lasting formula that has endured more perhaps than any other fashion, any other character and any other way of life. With his simplicity but also with his visceral, olfactive and visual enjoyment of a good steak with chips".

TEX AND HIS BROTHERS, by Roberto Barbolini. An article appearing in Panorama 20th November 1998: "Certainly, there’s the whole background of the golden period of the American western, a repository of memorable scenes. But Tex is now a character with a sufficiently consolidated physiognomy of his own to withstand any comparison with his antecedents, and this highlights not only the undeniable debts but also the special features that have made him a veritable cult idol, and not merely in Italy".

HIGH NOON WITH TEX, by Claudia Guasco. An article appearing in Il Messaggero, 17th November 1988: "The vigour, friendliness and charm of Tex Willer have contributed to his success, together with the detailed and realistic artwork by Aurelio Galleppini, now accompanied by other illustrators such as Ferdinando Fusco, Guglielmo Letteri, Giovanni Ticci, Claudio Villa, Vincenzo Monti".

THE SOUND OF DISTANT DRUMS, by Diego Gabutti. An article appearing in Il Giorno, 15th November 1988: "Tex Willer, cast in the role of an all-American hero, is to all effects and purposes a classic Italian stock-character like Harlequin or Punchinello. The extraordinary fact that one of our most important national-popular characters was born in Arizona, is called Tex Willer, lives on an Indian reservation, fought in the War of Secession and wanders around the West displaying his badge as a Nevada ranger - this is something that not even Antonio Gramsci could have foreseen!".

TEX, THE PROPHET, by Antonio Faeti. An article appearing in Comic Art, September 1987: “Tex’s most profound vocation is that expressed in the much-emphasized relation between fixity and flexibility. As a comic strip character, Tex is hard and fearless, like the other legendary characters belonging to the history of this medium. However, he is so open-minded that he wouldn’t deny any fiction (western or eastern) the right to enter into his home”.