He made his debut in the spring of 1977 in the magazineAlteralter with his first comic story, "Le straordinarie avventure di Pentothal", the surrealistic and psychedelic story of an alter ego named after a sedative. He later participated to such editorial experiences as Cannibale, Il Male and Frigidaire, where he created hundreds of comics with his unique and unmatched style, grown out of American underground comics, Italian Renaissance art and Walt Disney comics. He was especially fond of the character of Goofy, which he appropriated for a humorous spoof on Italian hippiedom of the 1970s entitled Perché Pippo sembra uno sballato, and a later, unfinished story entitled La leggenda di Italianino Liberatore ; he also said in an interview that Carl Barks, the creator of Uncle Scrooge, Magica De Spell and other characters of the Duck family, was a model for his art. Pazienza quickly developed an extremely personal body of work, alternating between playful comic cartooning – at times politically charged, at times simply nonsensical – and much more elaborate, dark, disturbing graphic novels, often dealing with drugs and wanton violence, with a liberal scattering of black humor throughout. In 1980 he created the character Zanardi and collaborated with the magazines Corto Maltese and Comic Art while also producing movie and theater posters, scene designs, record covers and advertising. He was extremely prolific through the 80s, penning hundreds of single-panel cartoons as well as longer, intricate stories usually centered on Zanardi. If Pentothal was emblematic of the Bologna of 1977, Zanardi is a creature of the cynical and non-committed 1980s. Pompeo, his last graphic novel depicting the gradual downfall of a heroin addict up to his eventual suicide, is generally considered his masterwork; the post-face to this work testifies that Pazienza tried to start a new life and, for a while, quit drugs.
Memory
Andrea Pazienza died at age 32 in Montepulciano, from an overdose of heroin. He is buried in cemetery of San Severo. In his memory in Cremona, the non profit association "Centro Fumetto Andrea Pazienza" was created to help young cartoonists develop their skills. In 2011, Andrea Pazienza was chosen by Italians #1 at the 150 Italians list which was dedicated to the 150 anniversary of the unification of Italy.
Selected works
Aficionados
Andrea Pazienza
Le straordinarie avventure di Pentothal where he describes with an incredible mix of realism and dream sequences the existential problems of the youth of the 1970s
