Immediately after the Covid-19 pandemic, we launched a mega-project called Anthropocene, related to climate change, and we revisited the project for a Comics Library in our city and for our city. We also created a scientific committee, a group of friends with expertise in various fields, all related to comics, with whom we could discuss and decide on the Association’s new projects.
One of the first decisions made was to not limit ourselves to local projects, both municipal and/or supra-municipal, but to strengthen the website, ‘offspring’ of the old paper magazine, linked to the association and subsequently to the “new cultural, social, and community entity” that was supposed to be launched in 2022, but is now scheduled for release in 2026.
The old magazine stood out, in its ‘latest incarnation’ (2002-2008), for its single-topic in-depth coverage, and the SITE has been developing precisely in that direction in recent years, with various Special Projects: “DRAGON AGE dal videogame ai fumetti!“ ; “LARA CROFT, the Tomb Raider“; “Dungeons&Dragons 50th Anniversarys”, all three edited by Fabio Ciaramaglia (who will soon return with new and interesting topics); and also with the Special Project “Licence to kill – 70 years of 007“, dedicated to James Bond, the Special “WE CELEBRATE “DOCTOR WHO 60 YEARS” in 2023-24, and this year with the short in-depth feature dedicated to Lucio Dalla (spring 2025) and the extensive Special Project “DAN DARE, Pilota del Futuro“ edited by Daniele Tomasi (whom we also thank for the graphics of the introductory header) and myself.
This long introduction is to say that Fumettomania no longer produces print issues but rather valuable online in-depth features like the one starting today, dedicated to a female character you will love, will intrigue you, and will surely encourage you to read or reread the comic stories featuring her.
Ladies and gentlemen, comic book fans and beyond: welcome to the SPECIAL PROJECT MODESTY BLAISE, conceived and created in 2023 to celebrate the character’s 60th anniversary and which finally will be published starting in December.
Mario Benenati, creator of Fumettomania Factory APS’s cultural projects
Note: this Special Project, like all the others published in this digital magazine, is non-profit and intended solely for educational and informational purposes. The images used are © of their respective owners.
The Italian association FUMETTOMANIA FACTORY – APS, which has been operating nationwide since 1991—while never neglecting the activities carried out within its headquarters in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto (Messina, Sicily)—has the aim of promoting, disseminating, and enhancing themes related to the language of comics.
Fumettomania’s mission is to attract young people of all ages by promoting projects dedicated to them, addressing current and engaging topics, using comics, which emerge as an autonomous art form that embodies the linguistic code of literature (words), its modes of consumption, but also the sequentiality of cinema and the figurative focus of traditional visual arts.
The Association’s commitment—35 years after its foundation (on May 14, 2026)—is to continue spreading comics culture and to continue its cultural and social projects in the area with workshops for young enthusiasts and schools, solo and group exhibitions dedicated to comics, illustration, and related fields, comic book presentations, and meetings with authors.
SPECIALE MODESTY BLAISE
– di Daniele Tomasi –
Fumettomania Factory APS is proud to announce the new SPECIAL PROJECT
SUBJECT of this SPECIAL PROJECT
After science fiction, espionage!
While we’re completing the SPECIAL PROJECT DAN DARE PILOT OF THE FUTURE – using this link https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/speciale-dan-dare-pilota-del-futuro/ you can reach the introductory article presenting the Special Project and the list of its articles, each accessible trough its own link – here at Fumettomania, we’re stepping up our commitments and offering, starting in early December, a new Special Project dedicated to another character created in England, of great importance in the history of world Comic-Art and published several times in Italy.
This too will see the publication of a new contribution on a weekly basis, both in Italian on Mondays and in English on Thursdays.
MODESTY BLAISE is the name of the main character in the namesake comic strip created by English author Peter O’Donnell, which debuted in the London Evening Standard newspaper in 1963. She is an adventurer, a beautiful young woman who, as an orphaned child and unable to remember her real name or age, wandered the deserts of the Middle East and the cities of Europe, with only a former professor as a friend and companion. He was a very old man, and although she was about 12 years old, she protected him from the dangers of wandering and the wickedness of the people, and he reciprocated by giving her an education and a name.
When her mentor died, Modesty continued on her own and ended up as a teenager running a gambling den for a small criminal organization, “the Net“. When the leader was murdered, she kept the gang together and expanded its activities, never involving drug trafficking, prostitution, or any other form of human exploitation.
During this period, she rescued another adventurer, Willie Garvin, whose unconditional trust she gained and who became her “right-hand man”.
The first stories told in the Modesty Blaise strips, however, do not begin in her childhood, but when she was 26, had left “the Net” and was living in England, like her former lieutenant, Willie. The adventures begin with the arrival at her attic of Sir Gerald Tarrant, head of a British government intelligence agency, who asks her for help in solving a problem.
Modesty Blaise was successfully published not only in the London Evening Standard but also in other newspapers around the world, including the West Australian Newspaper in Perth for almost forty years, making it one of the longest-running strips of all time.
Its first, and probably most famous, artist was Jim Holdaway, who died prematurely in 1970 and was replaced by Enrique Romero, followed by John M. Burns, Patrick Wright (for only an episode and a half), and Nevill Colvin. In 1986, Romero returned to the strip, remaining until the final strip, dated April 11, 2001, which was the first to be printed in color.
TOPICS of this SPECIAL PROJECT
Fumettomania’s SPECIAL PROJECT MODESTY BLAISE aims to introduce and captivate you to a classic comic book spy adventure, discussing:
– the personality and world of MODESTY BLAISE;
– the life of its creator and sole writer, Peter O’Donnell;
– the style of its five artists;
– the various adventures told in the comic strips;
– the short stories and novels;
– the English editions and Italian publications;
– the film adaptations;
– and more.
As always, Fumettomania offers the opportunity for all artists, both professional and amateur, to submit a contribution, consisting of a color illustration or a comic strip, as well as for writers who wish to try their hand at writing a short story.
Participate!
Find all the information at the end of this article.
ARTICLES of the SPECIAL PROJECT
The following list will be constantly updated and will include links to all published articles, along with their publication dates:
– article 00 – by Daniele Tomasi – introduction to the SPECIAL PROJECT MODESTY BLAISE (November 9, 2025) ;
– article 01 – by Joe7 – describing the character’s creation (December 8, 2025) – ;
– article 02 – by Joe7 – about …………….. (December 15, 2025) – ;
To follow the Italian version of this Special, start with the article Nuovo progetto di Fumettomania: presentazione dello SPECIALE MODESTY BLAISE, from the following link: …………………………
Daniele Tomasi
EXTRA NOTES
INFORMATIONS TO CONTRIBUTE:
Participation method is the same for all our projects, those that will be published in the ONLINE MAGAZINE as well as the projects on the TERRITORY (the EXHIBITIONS, in other words).
Designers, illustrators, writers, journalists, cultural associations, members of Fumettomania and site contributors are invited to participate freely through newsletter or email.
Articles and drawings (illustrations) will be published on our web magazine, and possibly shown in an exhibition.
The ownership of the work belongs to the artist/writer who created it.
At the end of the exhibition which Fumettomania will possibly organize, each author/owner that have exposed the original artwork will dispose of his work as he wishes: sell it to third parties or donate it to other entities or to the association.
We do not accept works made with AI.
The first deadline to participate in this Special is December 30, 2025.
We will announce more deadlines in the coming weeks.
Writers (or journalists) can participate with a text, i.e. an article, or with a short essay, minimum 600 words (3600 characters, including spaces).
Artists can participate with a single illustration, or with a short comic story of maximum two pages.
All techniques are accepted: pencils, ink, watercolor, oil, acrylic, digital.
Pages size must be A4 or A3.
Each participating artist must send a scan of the illustration or each page of the comic book story as .JPG with 600 dpi resolution.
The following information about the work must be sent via email to info@fumettomaniafactory.net, to be used for the promotion of the project itself and for the collective exhibition:
– size of the pages;
– title of the work and any caption or short text related to the work;
– medium or technique used;
– any copyright notices.
When the project also includes a collective exhibition (as in this case) artists can send even the original artwork or a signed printout of the work to the following address:
“Fumettomania Factory APS” C/O Mario Benenati,
Vicolo Basilicò 6
98051 Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto (Messina) – Italy
The shipping costs will be reimbursed by Fumettomania Factory APS to those who will make request.
Each work must be accompanied by the author’s biography and a recent photo, in order to give maximum visibility to each of you.
For questions, explanations, clarifications and more information, please contact Fumettomania writing to associazione.fumettomania@gmail.com
Who’s who:
DANIELE TOMASI is a multifaceted creative in the field of ComicArt, acting as artist, letterer, colorist, editor.
With the DTE brand, “the smallest publishing house in the world”, he edited and published three volumes of the “DebbieDillinger” series (where he is even the artist), the first number of “TetroTeatro” magazine (author of texts and drawings), the digital magazine “Continua…” (a free-distribution magazine with comics of various genres and authors, seven issues so far) and three issues of the magazine “Gli Archivi del Fumetto” (new issues and large-format volumes are planned).
He has created comics and illustrations for various Italian publishers (Tunuè, ProGlo, ComixCommunity, UndergroundPress, BotteroEdizioni, Pegasus/Comicus, Antani, Apache, AltaFedeltà).
He has worked as graphic designer for Italian publishers ProGloEdizioni, GreencomService, Shockdom, Palabanda Edizioni and Chimbe.
He has made lettering for Black Velvet and RW Edizioni.
He organizes courses about the Language of Comics.
In Internet you can see some of his artworks on the website danieletomasi.altervista.org , see other works and read some of his thoughts and opinions on the blog danieletomasi.blogspot.com , read for free some of the DTE publications in issuu.com/dteditore, read for free a fake storyboard of the “Spider-man” movie by James Cameron downloading the pdf (screen or print resolution) from the site spidercameron.altervista.org , write to him at the e-mails danieletomasi@gmail.com and dteditore@gmail.com
