{{Short description|Italian comics magazine}} {{Lowercase title|italic=yes}} thumb|300px|The first issue of ''linus'', April 1965 '''''linus''''' is an Italian comics magazine published in Italy since 1965. It is the first Italian magazine exclusively focused on comics.<ref name=gino/> Since 1993, it has been continuously published by Baldini & Castoldi. Previous publishers include {{interlanguage link|Milano Libri|fr}} (1965–1972) and Rizzoli (1972–1993).
==History and profile== The first number of ''linus'' was published in April 1965<ref name=gino>{{cite book|author=Gino Moliterno|title=Encyclopedia of Contemporary Italian Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WvGGAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA466|access-date=22 January 2015|date=11 September 2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-75876-0|page=466}}</ref><ref name=mone/> by Milano Libri, a subsidiary of Rizzoli after 1972; since 1993, it has been continuously published by Baldini & Castoldi in monthly issues.<ref name=Chiudelinus>{{cite web|title=Chiude (per ora) linus, la bibbia del fumetto|url=http://www.corriere.it/cultura/13_maggio_28/linus-chiude-editoria_ed98a696-c7b8-11e2-803a-93f4eea1f9ad.shtml|work=Corriere della Sera|date=28 May 2013 |accessdate=29 May 2013}}</ref> Its founder was {{interlanguage link|Giovanni Gandini|fr}}.<ref name="enc">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies: A-J| date=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=69ey6Z-05fMC&pg=PA789|access-date=5 June 2015|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-57958-390-3|page=789}}</ref> The magazine's name was always written in lowercase letters. It had a sister magazine, ''Alter'', which was also a comics magazine.<ref name=mone/> Both magazines had a leftist cultural stance and their editorials supported for the Italian Communist Party.<ref name=mone/>
The first director of ''linus'' was Giovanni Gandini. The magazine published foreign comic strips like ''Peanuts'', '' ''Li'l Abner'', ''Bristow, ''Dick Tracy'', and others. ''linus'' was also the place where Italian comics found space for the first time: examples include ''Neutron/Valentina'' by Guido Crepax and ''Girighiz'' by Enzo Lunari. It was the first Italian comics magazine which featured stories read by adults.<ref name="mone">{{cite book|author=Simone Castaldi|title=Drawn and Dangerous: Italian Comics of the 1970s and 1980s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qE9jl8PlHYEC&pg=PA3|access-date=5 June 2015|year=2010|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|isbn=978-1-60473-777-6|page=3}}</ref><ref name=enc/>
From the magazine's beginning, the comics section was accompanied by an extensive section dealing with society, politics, mass media, literature and other cultural themes. The first issue, for example, featured an interview by Umberto Eco with the novelist Elio Vittorini. Satirical strips by famous Italian authors like Altan, Alfredo Chiappori, Sergio Staino, Ellekappa, Angese, Vauro, {{interlanguage link|Bruno D'Alfonso|it}} and by foreigners like Jules Feiffer were regularly published. Gandini was followed in 1972 by the intellectual, journalist, and writer {{interlanguage link|Oreste del Buono|it}}.<ref name=mone/>
Adventures comic book series like ''Dick Tracy'' or ''Jeff Hawke'' were initially published separately on special issues. These later were moved into a monthly series, ''Alterlinus'' (later ''Alter Alter'' and simply ''Alter'', 1974), where more adult-themed comics found place, including works by innovative French authors like Moebius, Enki Bilal or Philippe Druillet and Italian artists like Sergio Toppi, Andrea Pazienza and Lorenzo Mattotti. Pure adventure themes were published in the monthly spin-off magazine ''Corto Maltese'', created in 1983, named after Hugo Pratt's famous character.
Enzo Baldoni, the Italian journalist and writer killed in Iraq in 2004, worked as translator for ''linus'', notably for the ''Doonesbury'' comic strip. Garry Trudeau wrote about him in his website shortly after Baldoni's murder.
A few issues of an English language edition were produced in 1970, edited by Frank Dickens and Ralph Steadman.<ref>Martin Colyer in [https://illustrationadventures.com/tag/linus-magazine/ Adventures in Commissioning] August 2013 </ref>
==Comic strips published in ''linus''== *''Asterix'' *''B.C.'' *''Barbarella'' *''Bristow'' *''Calvin & Hobbes'' *''Corto Maltese'' *''Crock'' *''Dick Tracy'' *''Dilbert'' *''Doonesbury'' *''Fearless Fosdick'' *''Get Fuzzy'' *''Girighiz'' *''Krazy Kat'' *''Li'l Abner'' *''Maakies'' *''Maus'' *''Peanuts'' *''Pogo'' *''Robotman'' *''Valentina'' *''The Wizard of Id''
==See also== * List of magazines published in Italy
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://linus.net/ Official website] *[http://www.slumberland.it/contenuto.php?tipo=rivista&id=6&nome=linus Page at Slumberland.it] {{in lang|it}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:linus (Magazine)}} Category:1965 establishments in Italy Category:1965 comics debuts Category:2013 comics endings Category:2013 disestablishments in Italy Category:Defunct magazines published in Italy Category:Comics magazines published in Italy Category:Italian-language magazines Category:Magazines established in 1965 Category:Magazines disestablished in 2013 Category:Magazines published in Milan