Mario Faustinelli

Mario Faustinelli was an Italian comic book artist and editor, best known for co-creating the masked adventurer "Asso di Picche" ("Ace of Spades") and the long-running strip *Kolosso*. Born in Venice on 8 November 1924, he entered comics after World War II, when he and fellow Venetian artists Hugo Pratt, Ivo Pavone, and Dino Battaglia relocated to Argentina seeking work; the group became known as the "Venice Group." In 1945, Faustinelli, Pratt, and Alberto Ongaro created Asso di Picche, a character Faustinelli later wrote and edited for the magazine of the same name. Returning to Italy in 1957, he co-wrote the 1961 film *The Adventures of Topo Gigio*. In 1964, he created *Kolosso* with artist Carlo Cossio: a good-natured, muscle-bound giant sent through time by his adversary's machine, often accompanied by the clever but frail Ferruccio. Other artists, including Franco Paludetti, Antonio Canale, and Carlo Porciani, also worked on the strip, which saw a revival in 2004. Faustinelli died in Milan on 31 July 2006 after a long illness.