Guido Crepax

Hi Valentina, 1966 pencil and ink on cardboard 36.5 x 51 cm Original comic art created by Crepax for the page 28 of "Ciao Valentina," the adventure of the sensual Valentina published for the first time in Linus' supplement n. 19 in October 1966 and subsequently in the volume "Diario di Valentina" by Milano Libri Edizioni in 1975. In this, the third story of the young Milanese photographer, Valentina is kidnapped and subsequently released due to some photos taken by her which, for purely by chance, they become evidence of a crime. Between Milan, Prague and Paris, Philip Rembrandt and Valentina are from time to time chasers and chased, between the streets of the Golden City and the mysterious villas where the Parisian high society meets hiding under the clothes of comic book heroes. The syncopated rhythm of the events and of the drawings themselves of these first adventures of Valentina make us participants in Crepax's passion for jazz music, which in fact becomes its soundtrack, visual architecture and narrative theme. On this page Crepax pays homage to the world of comics and his direct colleagues by making Philip Rembrandt move around the rooms of a villa where a frenetic comics-themed masquerade ball is taking place. Signed and dated.