Fratelli Spada stories - Easter Eggs
Easter Eggs
La clinica clandestina
Unsure why the artist made a large billboard that points to a car with the text: Your old car.
La clinica del dottor Mefix
In this story U.Sam put in a street sign with Liornik Street and SAM + LIO + RNI at the spine of some books in a bookshelf.
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Signature
Caccia al Grisbi
The book title: Confucio Massim(o), something to do with Massimo Liorni. The posters with the text Boys & Girls - Your Milk, Wallace Inc. IT Comics, Swat Tour - T Win gt car set by Ma** is a kind of internal humor. It is interesting that the Swat Tour poster is pasted over another poster with a picture of a woman. The man in the panel and his shadow point to a crack in this poster, and this crack is drawn as a hand pointing at the woman. The text on this poster is incomplete: OL* GILY.
Cover
On the cover of Mandrake #153 from 1970 one can read BossyK LiornyK. - Seems like U.Sam was not quite satisfied with his boss when he made this cover.
Hidden Signatures
Ennio Ferri
The use of the letters EF is some stories is likly a hidden signature made by Ennio Ferri.
It can be seen in the "Magia bianca" story where Mandrake is reading a newspaper with a EF logo on the first page. In this story the same letters also appears on the back page, but now as EF. RI. This newspaper is used in the stories "Ore zero ... camera a gas" and "Narda allo sbaraglio". The last one includes the letters GF, which probably refers to the co-artist - his brother Germano Ferri.
In the "La gara nautica" story there is a boat - 34 F.E., and in the "L'amico dei topi" story a license plate - K-EF **.
Domenico Mirabella
In the story "Il malvagio venuto dallo spazio" there are two signs: D. Mirrk and Mir* abe*. Those are likely added as a hidden signature by the artist, Domenico Mirabella.
Something similar is seen in other stories like: The text D. Mirab found in a newspaper in "Tauno contro la terra". The initials D.M. showing on a license plate in the story "Il giustiziere". In "Vacanze movimentate" there is a sign: KIM Allebari (backwards: M *[ik]* irabella). In "La clinica clandestina", "Fino alla nausea" and "Lo smemorato" there is a sign with Allebarim, Mirabella backwards.
Salvatore Stizza
Hidden Signature
In "Un vecchio signore troppo bublone" there is a framed sketch hanging on the wall. Is this a self-portrait of the artist? In "L'evaso", "Una notte romantica", "Una vacanza per Lothar" and "Operazione droga" is the signature S. Totty. In "Un debito di giuco" a boat has the name Tottys. In "L'uomo orango" there is a tombstone with an inscription: Totty 1931-1967.
Umberto Sammarini
In the story "La clinica del dottor Mefix" there is a panel showing the spine of some books in a bookshelf - SAM + LIO + RNI. The name SAM is likely the hidden signature of the artist, Umberto Sammarini. And the LIO + RNI refering to Massimo Liorni, the head of Fratelli Spada.
In the "Il congresso dei maghi" story 'SAM is used on a bottle and as a name for a bar.
Angelo Todaro
Hidden signature
Signed
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La mano malefica
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La mano malefica
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La mano malefica
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La mano malefica
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Anonima streghe
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La rete del Cobra
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La rete del Cobra
signed