Culture
the video interview •
A pencil passed from hand to hand: the future of comics according to Claudio Castellini
He was the first Italian illustrator to work for Marvel overseas; the creator of the poster marking the 60th anniversary of Lucca Comics & Games discusses passing the baton to the next generation and the use of AI: technology can be a tool, but it must not obscure the creative touch and the story of those who create.
A pencil passes from the hands of an elderly superhero to those of a little girl. It is a legacy made up of stories, imagination, but above all of a single act: drawing. In the poster designed by Claudio Castellini to mark the 60th anniversary of Lucca Comics & Games, the future of comics begins with this simple handover. And in an interview conducted during the festival, the artist explains its meaning: to preserve the human element of creation, in an age that seems increasingly concerned with the end result and less and less with the journey required to achieve it.
From his early days on Dylan Dog to the graphic design of Nathan Never, right through to his work with Marvel and DC, Castellini helped to blaze a trail that seemed impassable to many Italian artists, harking back to an era when the European, Japanese and American schools of art appeared to be separate worlds. Crossing those boundaries – as the first Italian to have worked overseas for Marvel – was first and foremost a personal achievement, of course, but also proof, for those who would follow, that such ambition could become a career.
An art form characterised by meticulous attention to detail, which, with echoes of Michelangelo, still invites us today to slow down. ‘Art is not just the end result,’ he observes, ‘within a drawing lie the experiences, joys and sorrows of the person who has learnt to create it.’ It is from this conviction that his stance on artificial intelligence also stems: no absolute opposition, but a call to clearly distinguish between images generated by AI and works drawn by a person, even when using digital tools.
This sense of responsibility is also reflected in his favourite character, the Silver Surfer: immensely powerful, yet capable of not abusing his strength, guided by respect for life and for the greater good. The hope for future generations is that they, too, will continue to wield this power: so that in the comics of tomorrow, the most human experiences of every artist who puts their creations down on paper will always remain recognisable.