Raffaele Paparella

Raffaele Paparella was an Italian comic artist and illustrator, best known for his long run on the western series *Pecos Bill*. Born on 26 December 1915 in Italy, he entered the comics field after World War II, beginning his professional career in 1946. Over the next two decades, he became a fixture of Italian fumetti, with his work appearing in titles such as *Albi d'oro*, *Aventures de Pecos Bill*, *Dan Dair*, *Dyno*, and *Texas*. His style was clean and dynamic, well-suited to the action and open landscapes of the Western genre. Paparella is most closely associated with the character Pecos Bill, a cowboy hero he helped define visually through his many issues as artist and inker. He collaborated with writers and editors at the Italian publisher Edizioni Audace, contributing to the robust post-war boom in adventure comics. His career spanned from 1946 to 1968, during which he was credited on 48 issues in our catalog. Paparella died on 11 November 2001 at the age of 85. While he did not receive major international awards, his steady, workmanlike artistry left a lasting impression on Italian Western comics, influencing later generations of artists in the genre.