Diabolik!

Cartoons in Italy are called fumetto/i. From Wikipedia: “The term fumetto (literally little puff of smoke) refers to the balloon that contains the dialogs.” Very practical name.

We are starting off with a volume of Diabolik stories. The character Diabolik was created by two sisters, Angelo and Luciana Giussani in 1962. Diabolik is a character who robs robbers to put it simply. So far, the series has a very 1950/1960s TV detective feel to it. In the opening pages we learned immediately: “Se fate una mossa sparo!” – if you (all) make a move, I shoot. It could come in handy in the future, you never know. It’s all in support of learning the language. Plus we can act it out – which gets kind of silly but helps. Mark is “ispettore Gingko” or Diabolik and I’m usually the sidekick, or a nurse, or doctor, or anyone it takes to fill the scene out. We usually end up laughing and using the dictionary a lot.