A style of comic book that originated in Italy (fumetti is Italian for comic book). In Italy, the name tends to refer to a genre of ultra-violent adult crime comics (fumetti neri: "black comics"), but outside of Italy it's mainly used to refer to a style using photographic images pasted onto hand-painted backgrounds. Think of people posing for the images, instead of an artist drawing them. In some cases, where the comic would be printed in color, and artist would then hand-paint highlights and color onto the photographs. There's usually not any word bubbles, instead there's typeset in sidebars. This is not to say the text layout isn't descriptive. Text is allowed to flow over panels, or to join to them. Because of the added space allowed for text, fumetti relied heavily on its writing and had loads of dialogue. The colors used were usually garish and bright and tried to make the scenes sensational as possible.

The style was most often used for risque comics like true crime or light S&M, especially in Latin America and what little fumetti was published in the US. It was so often used for taboo subjects that the term "fumetti" is applied to Italian movies of the same genre (women in prison, etc.). Sadly, it's more or less a dead comic style. It shows up occasionally in S&M magazines, but usually just as a homage to the magazines of old. It's a beautiful and original style, and you should jump at the chance to see any.

mirv points out Vertigo's I, Paparazzi for a modem fumetti.