Speciale Dylan Dog #1
Speciale Dylan Dog #1 — titled 'Il club dell'orrore' — holds a structurally unique place in the Dylan Dog publishing history as the very first issue of what became an annual prestige-format companion to the monthly series, launched in August 1987 less than a year into Dylan Dog's original run. Its anthology-within-a-story architecture — six horror tale-tellers competing at the shores of Loch Ness while the Monster itself lurks just offscreen — demonstrated that Tiziano Sclavi's horror universe could sustain a richer, longer-form format beyond the standard monthly instalment. The issue also gave early exposure to artist Corrado Roi, whose dense, atmospheric brushwork would become one of the visual hallmarks of the Dylan Dog Speciale line and of Bonelli horror illustration more broadly. As the founding number of a series that has continued for four decades, this issue established the editorial template — longer page count, an anthological or nested narrative structure, and a supplementary booklet — that defined the Speciale brand throughout its run.
In "Il Club dell'Orrore," Dylan Dog is drawn into a chilling gathering where he must judge a series of eerie tales, each centered on Nessy, the legendary creature of Loch Ness. With Tiziano Sclavi and Decio Canzio behind the writing and Corrado Roi handling both art and inks, the issue blends suspense and the supernatural in a uniquely Italian horror tone, all framed by Claudio Villa’s striking cover.
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The Speciale series was conceived by Sergio Bonelli Editore as an annual companion to the regular monthly Dylan Dog line, with the first issue published in August 1987. Script and story were entirely by Tiziano Sclavi, the creator of Dylan Dog, while interior art was handled by Corrado Roi and cover design by Claudio Villa, who at that point was still the regular cover artist for the monthly series. The issue shipped with a supplementary small booklet, 'L'orrore dalla A alla Z,' curated by Ferruccio Alessandri — establishing the tradition, carried through the first several Speciale issues, of pairing the main comic with a bonus horror-reference volume.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published August 1, 1987 by Sergio Bonelli Editore; titled 'Il club dell'orrore' (The Horror Club); 132 pages in the standard Bonelli black-and-white format.
- Script and story by Tiziano Sclavi (creator of Dylan Dog); interior art by Corrado Roi; cover by Claudio Villa.
- This is the first issue of the Speciale Dylan Dog annual series, which launched in the same year as Dylan Dog's regular monthly run (begun September 1986) and has continued publication into the 2020s.
- The narrative device is an embedded anthology: six storytellers gathered on the banks of Loch Ness challenge each other to tell the most terrifying tale, all orbiting the legend of the Loch Ness Monster (Il mostro di Loch Ness).
- The issue came bundled with a supplementary horror-reference booklet, 'L'orrore dalla A alla Z,' curated by Ferruccio Alessandri — a bonus format feature maintained across the first several Speciale issues.
- The first five Speciale issues were accompanied by horror-themed supplementary booklets; issues 6–13 later shifted to small Groucho comic booklets as the enclosed extra.
- The issue has been reprinted at least three times: in Dylan Dog Libri (Mondadori) #1 – 'L'indagatore dell'incubo' (November 1991); in Dylan Dog Super Book #1 (Sergio Bonelli Editore, January 1997); and in Dylan Dog Libri Brossurati #8 – 'Orrore nero' (Sergio Bonelli Editore, March 2023).
- The 'Club dell'Orrore' concept from this issue's title was later adopted as the name of a recurring reader-letters and editorial column that ran on the inside front cover of the regular monthly Dylan Dog series through issue #169.
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Dylan Dog viene invitato ad ascoltare le storie del Club dell'Orrore e ha il compito di giudicare la migliore. Lui sarà il protagonista di tutte le storie e il tema di ognuna sarà Nessy, il mostro di Loch Ness.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
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