A Critical Overview of Italian Comics Journalism (2002-2022)

This chapter aims to propose an overview of the evolution of comics journalism since 2000s onwards, when comics journalism obtained an unexpected fortune. In order to achieve this goal and to grasp the specificity of the latest developments of those works that arose from the encounter between journalism and comics, I will prove that in the relationship between the genres of journalism and the medium of comics we can distinguish three stages: initial “coexistence” of journalistic genres and comics medium, “merging”, (traditional journalistic genres met comics medium), and “emancipation” (comics journalism left traditional periodicals and landed on new supports). I argue that this shift has implications on genres, style, themes, and the idea of journalism itself. I specifically analyze the two decades from the Mondadori edition of Palestine by Joe Sacco to the 2022 appearance of Revue Dessinée Italia and Zerocalcare’s No Sleep til Shengal. The last part of the essay offers an in-depth look at Zerocalcare and his work in newspapers and the news world: I look in particular at his contribution in cultural news, prison and healthcare investigations, and reports from the Middle East.