10 Comic Book Creators Who Died In 2019
4. Alberico Motta - May 23, 2019
Alberico Motta was an Italian cartoonist and illustrator who passed away in late-May at the age of 81. He was a well-known figure in Italian comics and is regarded as being the first to create Italian manga with the publication of his work, Big Robot.
At the age of 13, Motta already knew he wanted to become a comics illustrator, which took him to an art gallery in Milan, where he showed his work to the owner. He took some advice, and in 1952, he was hired to work as a graphic editor, where he completed other author's tables, managed layout, and worked with advertising inserts and titles.
He debuted as an author in 1954 with Cri-Cri, a strip intended for children, and he later worked on numerous stories of Cucciolo and Tiramolla. He is probably best known in and out of Italy for his work adapting Tom & Jerry, Felix, and Pinocchio, but he also worked on Disney characters, including Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
In 1992, he switched careers around to abandon publishing, which gave him more time to work on the study of digital techniques in illustration. This made him one of the forerunners in the industry with the publication of Punto Quiz, made entirely on computers.