Tex [Tex Gigante - II Serie] #103
Tex Gigante II Serie #103 (May 1969) brings to a close one of the most ambitious multi-part storylines in the Tex canon: the 'Sierra Encantada' saga, in which the full core cast — Tex Willer, Kit Willer, Tiger Jack, and Kit Carson — confront the grotesque 'Lord of the Abyss' and dismantle the false Aztec-revival cult of Tulac at El Castillo. The issue doubles as a narrative pivot by opening, in its final eight pages, the 'Fort Defiance' arc, bridging two major adventures in a single album and demonstrating the serialized storytelling ambition that distinguished Italian fumetti from the anthology format common elsewhere. Its narrative material proved durable enough to be adapted, alongside the preceding issues #101–102, as the primary source text for the 1985 theatrical film *Tex e il signore degli abissi*, directed by Duccio Tessari — the only live-action Tex Willer film ever produced. That cinematic legacy anchors this issue as one of the most culturally traveled entries in the entire run.
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The issue was scripted by series creator Gianluigi Bonelli and illustrated in its main story by Guglielmo Letteri, one of the core rotating artists who supported series co-creator Aurelio Galleppini ('Galep') throughout the 1960s; Galleppini himself drew the cover and the eight-page 'Fort Defiance' bridge segment. By 1969 the Tex Gigante II Serie had been running as a monthly publication since 1964, with Bonelli writing virtually every script himself — the era in which Letteri handled the heavy interior work while Galep concentrated on covers was a well-established production rhythm that kept the book on its monthly schedule. The 'Sierra Encantada / Il signore dell'abisso' arc (spanning issues #101–103) represents one of the longer and more fantastical stories Bonelli crafted in this period, weaving Aztec mythology and a supernatural villain into the series' otherwise grounded Western framework.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published May 1969 by Sergio Bonelli Editore as issue #103 of the Tex Gigante II Serie (the main ongoing monthly series, in continuous publication since October 1958).
- Title: 'Il signore dell'abisso' ('The Lord of the Abyss'). Script and plot by Gianluigi Bonelli; interior art (pages 5–106, concluding the 'Sierra Encantada' arc) by Guglielmo Letteri; cover and bridge story art (pages 107–114, 'Fort Defiance – Il Giuramento Part 1') by Aurelio Galleppini.
- All four principal cast members — Tex Willer, Kit Willer, Tiger Jack, and Kit Carson — appear in this issue, with Kit Willer and Tiger Jack playing a decisive role in defeating the Lord of the Abyss inside the volcanic cavern on the Sierra Encantada.
- The issue resolves the multi-part 'Sierra Encantada' storyline (begun in #101–102) in which Tex and his pards expose and destroy the pseudo-Aztec revival conspiracy of the villain Tulac, who sought to reclaim Mexico for descendants of the Aztecs.
- The story material from issues #101–103 was directly adapted as the basis for the 1985 Italian theatrical film *Tex e il signore degli abissi* (released internationally as *Tex and the Lord of the Deep*), directed by Duccio Tessari and starring Giuliano Gemma as Tex Willer — the first and only theatrical Tex film.
- The issue has been reprinted in numerous Bonelli collections: Tex Tre Stelle #102–103 (1972), Tutto Tex #102–103 (1991), Tex Nuova Ristampa #102–103 (2003), Tex – Collezione storica a colori #47–48 (2007), Mondadori Super Miti #76 (2014), and Tex Classic #211–214 (April–May 2025).
- The eight-page 'Fort Defiance – Il Giuramento' bridge sequence starting in this issue launches a separate storyline that has itself been collected in multiple formats, including Le grandi storie di Tex #3 (2016) and Libri Tex #9 (2022), indicating its own narrative significance within the saga.
- Tex Willer, created in 1948 by Gianluigi Bonelli and Aurelio Galleppini, is Italy's longest-running comic book series; by the time of this issue's 1969 publication, the series had been running for over two decades and had firmly established its core four-man cast dynamic.