Dalla tavola al touch (e ritorno). Rimediazioni tra fumetto cartaceo e digitale in Leo Ortolani = From paper page to touchscreen (and back). Remediations between printed and digital comics in Leo Ortolani

Abstract

On the basis of Bolter and Grusin's definition of 'remediation' as 'the representation of one medium in another', this paper analyses the various ways in which digital comics have tried to rethink the comics 'grid' for computers and smaller devices, following three main approaches: digitalized comic, 'infinite canvas' and 'panel delivery'. In particular, this study discusses the problems that may arise when comics created for the screen are published on paper (an issue which is much less explored in the literature). The analysis focuses on the interactions between 'traditional' and digital comics in the latest works of Italian cartoonist Leo Ortolani. Over the last few years this author, despite being famous mostly for having created the popular superhero parody Rat-man, has experimented a variety of different approaches on e-comics. Most recently, Ortolani worked on a series of 'mobile comics' in which he chronicled the developing of Covid's first wave in the Spring of 2020. This series was later published in a volume titled Andrà tutto bene ('Everything will be fine'), which imitates the original 'panel delivery' format by printing one panel per page. This peculiar typographical choice, which seems to embody the very idea of 'remediation', muddles the separation between 'traditional' paper comics and e-comics. Furthermore, by trying to preserve the 'mobile comic' layout, Ortolani seems to legitimize the peculiarity of e-comics as an independent medium with its own potentialities.