The Lives of Others and My Own Life. Reportage in Italian Comics Journalism

This study explores the significant evolution of reportage within comics journalism, focusing on Italian comics reportages and how they intertwine with autobiography. The paper maps Italian comics reportages from 2007 until 2022 and analyses how reporters use their own experiences to narrate others’ lives, focusing on four notable works: Quaderni Ucraini by Igort (2010), Kobane Calling by Zerocalcare (2016), Libia by Francesca Mannocchi and Gianluca Costantini (2019), and Un’altra via per la Cambogia by Takoua Ben Mohamed (2020). This analysis includes comparisons with international figures like Joe Sacco, Guy Delisle, and Sarah Glidden. The study concludes by identifying two trends found in the practices documented in the texts of the corpus, which appear to derive from Sacco’s model, showing a blend of journalist-artist collaborations and unique author-driven narratives that merge reportage with travel writing.