Il Genio del Crimine!

Created by the sisters Angela and Giuliana Giussani in early 1962 (then working as schoolteachers) to be a suave super-criminal, Diabolik's first appearance was on November 1, 1962 featuring art by Gino Marchesi and a very distinctive layout. Described as "sleek as the shadow of Fantomas", Diabolik's violent, amoral book single-handidly created an entire comic genre for adults: fumetti neri. The almost instant popularity of Diabolik also created a host of more violent imitators and a huge public backlash.

A criminal mastermind and brilliant scientist, Diabolik chose his victims from the criminal underworld instead of the public at large. Clad in his trademark black latex body suit (only his piercing eyes and weird-ass eyebrows showing under a striking widow's peak), he wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone who got in the way of his hunger for money. Of course, he only killed people with knives or poison, because guns just aren't that suave. His loot went towards the usual super-criminal stuff: inventing gadgets, filling his bitching lair with designer goods, his mythical Jaguar E-Class, and gifts for his right hand and love Eva Kant. Even thought the comic was overtly sexual, Diabolik was staunchly monogomous (unlike his knockoffs Kriminal and Satanik).

Diabolik always escaped, no matter how much he was hounded by his nemsis Inspector Ginko. In fact, Diabolik was so amused by Inspector Ginko that he eventually would plan very public heists with the sole purpose of embarrassing the poor inspector. Diabolik's outward life embodied everything of pop culture: designer clothes, hip parties, and an ultra-modern home. For all of his ingenious crimes, he and Eva still lived a seemingly "normal" outward life, though they were understandably vague about their jobs.

Eventually, the public outcry about the violent content of Diabolik caused the Giussani sisters to tone down the violence in the comic. As the years went by, Diabolik became less and less violent until eventually he renounced killing and found non-violent means to carry out his heists. Public opinion of Diabolik eventually turned around so much that he and Eva were used in public service messages about animal abuse! Of course, throughout the drop in violence the sex and ingenuity of his character has kept sales very high. His masked face is so recognizable that it's used in just about every medium that you can think of. Diabolik is still published in Italy (about three different titles a month) and sells about 150,000 copies a month.

Diabolik also appeared in other forms. He big-screen appearance was in 1967 with the low-budget and fairly popular Danger Diabolik. Diabolik was played by John Philip Law and Eva was played by Marisa Mell, directed by Mario Bava. It was a basic Diabolik vs. Inspector Ginko story, but due Italian censorship laws the violence was toned down to an almost comical level. The worst part was that law also forced Diabolik to be captured at the end! The "capture" was left partially open for a sequal, but it never surfaced. Strangely enough, the film isn't available in Italy, only in America under it's English-language release.

Also, in 2000 he had his own animated series produced by Saban International for FOX Kids, with an intended global release. Sadly, the show's concept began shifting around. Instead of the original anti-hero appeal of Diabolik, he was now a criminal fleeing the police as he fought worse criminals. One person working on the show described it as such: "It's like Batman Vs. The Joker, but if Batman didn't fight really much and basically ran away a lot." The show was eventually deemed to childish for Italian viewers, and to expensive for Japanese stations. It was, however, a big hit in France but was cancelled due to lack of episodes. Even worse, the show was never even seriously considered for American release.

The Copycats
As Diabolik's popularity rose, other comic book creators began creating their own violent, immoral characters to get a share of the sales (and to fill the niche when Diabolik started toning down the violence). Many appeared, but there were only a very few worth mentioning. There were Kriminal and Killer, who both sported very memorable skull masks and were very sexually promiscuous and would casually kill their lovers afterwards. There was also a female character named Satanik who in her normal form was a lonely, gruesome woman who could turn into a savage, beautiful lady with the aid of a secret potion. She would prowl bars looking for one night stands, which always ended in a grisly murder. Eventually, all the knock-off titles died out after they stopped being profitable.

Fun Facts!
The format introduced by Diabolik was a 128 page pocket sized printing, black and white, with only two panels per page. This same format was followed for years by just about every fumetti neri and erotic comic printed.

You can watch "Danger Diabolik" in MST3k Episode #1013 (their final episode).

Pieces for the Diabolik set were borrowed from the set of Barbarella, which was being filmed at the same set.

Fantomas made his comic book appearance the same year as Diabolik, wearing almost the exact same costume. Weird.