From slide to cartoon. Antonio Solinas, born in Sassari in 1971, has rediscovered, in his second working life, the love at first sight that came from the first comics he discovered as a child. "They were Corno comics," he recalls, now an editor for Panini Comics and a talent manager with Arancia Studio, "with the Fantastic Four, the villain of the moment, and a lot of pathos." At the time, illustrated stories hadn't yet achieved the status of potential works of art they have today, and the young Solinas turned his talents to science, graduating in Organic Chemistry.
He took on the precarious role of a researcher, obtaining grants from AstraZeneca to work on the connections between chemistry and biology with DNA guru Tom Brown, or from the British Ministry of Defense, always in the context of the "double helix." "I moved to the universities of Siena and then Pavia, studying pharmaceutical chemistry in depth, for which I also won a research grant."
But the path he had embarked on came to a halt at a crossroads, and the prospect of a long, "fixed-term" job. "So I decided to dedicate myself full-time to comics, contacting people like Nicola Peruzzi, head of the Marvel/DC comics lines, whom I had never lost touch with." He gained this knowledge through the pioneering Sardinian fanzine "SeD-Storie e Disegni," with "Rorschach," the first pro-newsletter created in Italy, and Comics Code, in which he interviewed comics greats from Joe Kubert to Jim Lee. From there, he was tasked with supervising the comics published by Panini, including masterpieces like "Arkham Asylum," a psychedelic variation on the Batman stories, written by Morrison and McKean, and the monumental "Invisibles," also by Morrison.
"I'm a fan of the English school, which is more existentialist than the American one and which, besides Morrison, also includes figures like Alan Moore and Milligan." Sardinia has a great school of comics. "Yes, and I'd mention Massimo Camboni and Massimo Dall'Oglio, apologizing to anyone I'm forgetting, or Bruno Enna, from Sassari, one of Italy's best scriptwriters, or the artist Antonio Lucchi. However, I see Cagliari as more structured than the boss above."
In his spare time, Solinas writes books—among other things, he's published a biography of rapper Tupac—and composes beats for hip-hop artists in the United States. His love of comics, however, comes first, a category among the best-selling in the publishing market. "Especially because of manga, which is enjoyed by a young audience. Compared to the past, the average quality of comics has risen a lot, but the peaks are missing." His job requires 12 hours a day, done on a computer in Espoo, near Helsinki, where he lives with his Finnish wife and two children. "I think they have more opportunities here than in Sassari, and I say this with regret because I love this city." Who could save the capital of Sassari? "Maybe Batman, or maybe not. I'm afraid it would become too Sassari-esque."
