Tex Willer is the main fictional character of the Italian comics series Tex, created by writer Gian Luigi Bonelli and illustrator Aurelio Galleppini, and first published in Italy on 30 September 1948. It is among the most popular characters of Italian comics, with translations to numerous languages all around the world. The author took inspiration from Sardinia, where he grew up as a kid. The fan base in Brazil is especially large, but it is very popular also in Finland, Norway, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, France,India, Serbia, Bosnia, Israel and Spain.
Tex is depicted as a tough guy with a strong personal sense of justice, who becomes a ranger (even if living in Arizona) and defends Native Americans and any other honest character from exaction and greed of bandits, unscrupulous merchants and corrupt politicians and tycoons.
The world of Tex made its debut on the market in comic strip format, but it was the next step that allowed the “Tex phenomenon” to explode: a whole new format closer in size to a book, almost an heirloom of pop culture to collect and reread, much loved by fans perhaps also for its “depth” which was not only cultural. And it is thanks to the fans who – as you know – are the supreme judges of the industry and cultural consumption, that the Tex comic acquired value and from a simple pastime for the younger ones, rose to the role of entertainment for adults reaching the present day.
Tex Willer is an Italian ranger on the streets of America. In his horseback adventures through the boundless lands of the Wild West, where law and social order are questionable entities, Tex cannot trust anyone nor respect any rules with exception of the one dictated by the only possible authority: the “BANG”.
We really ask each other: “Who is Tex?” And some explain: “It’s a monthly comic book series of Western stories that give Italians an opportunity to experience the American frontier (with action taking place primarily in Arizona), and one of the few publications to showcase Indian people in a more favorable light at that time.”
Some of us can have read the cartoon of Tex Willer, and some of us have not read through this cartoon. Tex Willer is a character written and created by Giovanni Luigi Bonelli, grew and was molded in the hands of his son – Sergio Bonelli – who shaped his character over time, giving him the aura of a legend and making him a comic icon both in Italy and worldwide.
Finally gifted with a personality and a key archetype that characterized his work, Tex was still lacking a face, a feature, a physicality on paper. And this is when the mind and pencil of Aurelio Galeppini took over, the first of a long line of illustrators and artists who have had the honor of putting their creativity and artistic inspiration at the service of a pivotal character in the history of comics, together with just as many authors who have ventured into giving him new life with ever more compelling stories.
Tex Willer is a cartoon which is translated to several languages, and the more languages we know and can, the better reputation we have in different countries. But the most important language that we should master in all its ramifications is English, and that is the world language that we have today. And we shall manage this cartoon also, in all the genres that we can meet in reality! Tex Willer is still very skilled at shooting, and he is giving a hard time to bandits.
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