Telling the story of the 'beautiful game' is a complex task, one that over time has been attempted by great writers, great photographers, as well as great cartoonists - something that is reflected in the exhibition - "Gulp! Goal! Ciak. Calcio e Fumetti", which is dedicated to the world of football in comics. The display was inaugurated today at the Juventus Museum and will be open to the public from tomorrow until 20 May.
The new exhibition created at Juventus Museum, curated by Luca Raffaelli, will have a "twin" exhibition at the Museo del Cinema in Turin, dedicated to the parallel between comic strip and film camera. With the key question of the exhibit - "How can the story of the passion for football be expressed in this particular narrative in different ways and styles?"
The result is a unique story, because the comic has the ability to stop time, and to tell everything in a particular way. The exhibition aims to tell as much as possible about the relationship between football and comics, and is organised according to different chapters:
The first, "Hero Footballers", explores famous characters, such as the English - "Roy of the Rovers" by Walter Booth, the French comic - "Eric Castel" by Raymond Reding and the famous "Capitan Tsubasa" by Japanese cartoonist, Yoichi Takahashi.
"Footballers by chance" is the chapter dedicated to famous cartoon characters who occasionally found themselves struggling with a ball (from The Simpsons to Peppa Pig and from Asterix to Andy Capp) or with events related to soccer (Diabolik). With a section devoted to the "Disney World with the Ball", revisited through the many panels and episodes in which the Disney characters have encountered the world of football. Finally, it closes with "The round noses of Mordillo", which explains how the great Argentine author was able to tell the story of football through his brightly coloured cartoons.
And that's not all! The exhibition continues with comics novels that tell stories related to football, (for example, "Morti di sonno" of David Reviati or "The Years of Sputnik" by Baru) in the sections called "The little pitches in comic novels", "The great stories of football", that chronicle footballing events (such as, the World Cup, the great matches, the champions), and the stories of the various soccer teams told in comic book strips, with "Super-caricatures" of the champions and drawings that illustrate great goals.
There is also space for the great cartoonists ("The vignettes: A rectangle of play"), in a selection that includes the works of names like Carlin, Forattini, Giannelli Giuliano, with the extraordinary presence of Silver, the creator of "Lupo Alberto". A further chapter: "The cartoons of the ball" - how the world of animation has told the story of football, for example in the film "I primitivi" and in the TV series "La compagnia dei celestini", or in that of "Capitan Tsubasa." Last, but not least, there is the section dedicated to Jay, the official mascot of Juventus.