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LUCCA: Dylan Dog 40th Anniversary Announcements For 2027 And Beyond
Dylan Dog 40th Anniversary announcements for 2027 and beyond, made by Sergio Bonelli Editore at the Lucca Comics And Games panel
Article Summary
- Dylan Dog 40th anniversary plans unveiled at Lucca, from new comics and specials to theatre and more multimedia projects.
- Barbara Baraldi revealed Tiziano Sclavi changed Dylan Dog #481’s ending, confirming he still reads every script.
- Upcoming Dylan Dog stories include Old Boy 2, ColorFest, Horror Stories, and experimental tales by top Bonelli creators.
- Lucca also celebrated Dylan Dog with a zombie parade, a new Italian stamp issue, and a deluxe reprint of issue #1.
It’s not just Frank Miller pushing 40th anniversaries at Lucca Comics and Games. The more local “nightmare investigator” Dylan Dog is marking the territory of his 40th year in the only way that makes sense, with the lampposts of Lucca turning Lucca Comics & Games into a temporary extension of his famous street address, 7 Craven Road in London. Dylan Dog is an Italian comic-book character, created by writer Tiziano Sclavi and published by Sergio Bonelli Editore since 1986. The series has remained one of Italy’s most popular and longest-running comics. Dylan is a British private investigator who specialises in the supernatural: ghosts, vampires, werewolves, demons, and other paranormal phenomena. And yesterday, publisher Sergio Bonelli Editore ran a dedicated Dylan Dog panel, followed by a public zombie parade through the streets of Lucca, along with a string of related announcements.
Yesterday’s News From The World Of Dylan Dog panel at the Auditorium del Suffragio, saw editorial director Michele Masiero, series curator Barbara Baraldi, and Franco Busatta discussing the character’s current status and upcoming plans, before a celebratory zombie parade.
The Dylan Dog Horror Show, the first theatrical production from Sergio Bonelli Editore written by Tiziano Sclavi and Nicola Russo and directed by Valter Malosti, opened on the 28th October at Rome’s Teatro Eliseo and sold out its opening night, and is now extended to continue through to the 6th December. The production features Gabriele Graham Gasco as Dylan Dog and Loris Fabiani as Groucho, with supporting roles for Xabaras, Inspector Bloch, Madame Trelkovski, and several of Dylan’s past romantic interests. The foyer has been turned into an immersive “Casa di Dylan Dog” experience, inviting audiences to dress as characters from the series. A QR code at the Bonelli pavilion in Lucca offered a special discount for festival attendees. The company also used the platform to reiterate that several further multimedia projects (including television) are already in development; announcements are promised in the coming months.
Barbara Baraldi also used the panel to reveal something that had not been public, a change made to the ending of the just-published anniversary Dylan Dog #481 by Tiziano Sclavi. In the original version, Dylan remained reading while the other characters arrived in London. Sclavi said Dylan also had to get in the car and be there when they reached “where everything started.” She kept the cross-cut structure but incorporated the note. “This is Tiziano’s paw print,” she told the room. “It is right that you know.” She had held the detail back until after the issue was out so as not to spoil the surprise. The same panel confirmed that Sclavi still reads every new script before production begins.
Dylan Dog #481 Before the Dawn was published at the end of September, the anniversary of the original 1986 debut. Written by Barbara Baraldi, drawn by Davide Furnò with colours by Giulia Brusco, the story centres on Dylan discovering a mysterious diary in his library that he does not remember writing, pulling him into a tale involving memory, destiny, and Death. The issue was published entirely in colour at the standard price and sold in sealed “blind bag” packaging with four covers, by current series artists Gianluca Cestaro and Raul Cestaro, Claudio Villa (1 in 4), Corrado Roi (1 in 40), and Angelo Stano (1 in 400) and a 100,000 print run.
A separate hardcover bookstore edition reprints the story in black and white at a larger format and adds eight exclusive pages not found in the newsagents version.
A Colour Special dedicated to the late Carlo Ambrosini is due in the next few days. The cover is an old illustration that Ambrosini himself made for Sergio Bonelli’s death.
Inside is the last story he wrote, roughly sixty pages that arrived near the end of his life and was incomplete in places. Three of his former pupils (Ornigotti, Giulio Camagni and Paolo Bacilieri) expanded and redrew it to 94 pages, also adjusting the plotting with additional colour from Francesca Zamborlini (another pupil) and Erica Bellazzoli.
The team presented the whole package as a “family” production he would have appreciated. The slide deck then ran through a series of upcoming stories for Dylan Dog.
- De Feo and Camagni close the year with a mystery timed to the anniversary of Agatha Christie‘s death. A writer who is clearly Christie appears, but cannot be named for the usual legal reasons.
- Trial Of A Nightmare by Aragoni and Fregieri, though they had to remove the full frontal nudity from this image…
- By Barbara Baraldi, Poretti, Mericone and Roi, a “What If” story set in the early twentieth century at an isolated lighthouse (with Bloch) that earned one of Sclavi’s rare “molto” comments when the subject was submitted. Barbara Baraldi noted that such explicit enthusiasm is uncommon.
- Massimiliano Filadoro andPaolo Massagli‘s debut on the regular series, an experimental piece “They Live Among Things” about the fear of objects that come alive, drawn in a dripping black that “embraces” the page…
- Lo Manto drawing, Marzano writing on a story provisionally titled Pain Killer, continuing the experimental page layouts that have become more common under Baraldi.
- Silvia Califano returning with Claudio Chiaverotti (the “Maestro delle Ombre”). The story, Taglia il personale, is openly inspired by Battle Royale and concerns the staff of a company. Baraldi described phone calls in which the two of them kept raising the stakes, culminating in a giant mouse streaking blood through the corridors.
- Bilotta and Sergio Gerasi see a returning character much loved by readers, teased only by door slam…
- The long-awaited sequel to the new-series Old Boy 2 by Allesandro, Bilotta and Ponchione is nearly finished; seven pages remained at the time of the panel.
- A six-handed anniversary ColorFest story by Xella, Gabos, Mignacco, Baralsi, Bondi and Torti
- A delayed story by Poretti, Mericone and Ripoli
- A new story by Gigi Simeoni
- Horror Stories continues at two a year, still with new Angelo Stano covers. The next one is not set in Prague, the location of the previous outing. And this is Black Glasses by Armitano
- The reprinting of the Enciclopedia della Paura now has a fully redesigned Paolo Martinello cover
Franco Busatta recalled buying the first issue on the day of release and reading it in a dentist’s waiting room between appointments. Barbara Baraldi talked about the flood of reader stories that arrived during the anniversary, and first encounters with Dylan that doubled as love stories or friendships that outlasted everything else. And then we had the Dylan Dog zombie parade to follow the panel, open to the public, the route left the Giardino degli Osservanti, passed the Auditorium, and finished in front of the PalaBonelli stand in Piazza Antelminelli…
Earlier in the week, a live Dylan Dog showcase saw artists Davide Furnò and Sergio Gerasi drew for the crowd while Michele Masiero and Barbara Baraldi talked through their approach to the character, with additional input from longtime cover artist Angelo Stano. Multiple Dylan Dog creators are also appearing for signings and sketches at the PalaBonelli throughout the day, including Angelo Stano, Barbara Baraldi, Davide Furnò, and Sergio Gerasi.
The Italian Post Office has also issued an official Dylan Dog as part of its “Eccellenze del Patrimonio culturale italiano” series, designed by Angelo Stano, with first-day-stamped editions available at the Lucca Comics post stand and the central Lucca post office.
The sheet includes 41 stamps plus four illustrated seals reproducing classic covers and images from the series’ history.
Sergio Bonelli Editore launched a deluxe 208-page black-and-white hardcover edition of the original 1986 story L’alba dei morti viventi by Tiziano Sclavi and Angelo Stano at the show. It adds the complete original script by Tiziano Sclavi in an appendix, complete with the writer’s directions to the artist. It goes on sale in bookstores and comic shops from the 3rd of November, with copies available in advance at Lucca Comics & Games. The regular cover is a new illustration by Gigi Cavenago; a variant cover by Angelo Stano is exclusive to Manicomix stores and the Bonelli Store, but has already sold out.
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