Totò, The Heir of Don Quixote: The Final Volume

After the success of the first volume, published in 2022 on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of Totò's disappearance, Panini Comics presents the concluding volume of 'Totò, The Heir of Don Quixote', the work by Fabio Celoni conceived from the recovery of a cinematic treatment never brought to the big screen. The second volume will be available in bookstores, comic shops, and on Panini.it starting Thursday, April 25 and will be officially presented on the occasion of Comicon Naples (April 25-28, Mostra d'Oltremare, Naples). This incredible work stems from Totò's "lost film," an original cinematic subject written by great screenwriters of the past such as Antonio Pietrangeli, Cesare Zavattini, Lucio Battistrada, and others. Fabio Celoni found these materials from 1948 and gave life to a unique project, which combines cinema and comics celebrating the great humor of Antonio De Curtis, Prince Totò. Celoni worked on every detail of the volume with the valuable collaboration of the Prince's niece, Elena Anticoli De Curtis. "I also want to confess to you a secret ambition of mine: to play Don Quixote. I always think about it and hope that my wish will come true, since I am very fond of Don Quixote," thus Antonio de Curtis commented on the dream of making a film on the iconic protagonist of the novel written by the Spaniard Miguel de Cervantes. After more than 50 years, Celoni has fulfilled this desire, making him the protagonist of unforgettable adventures alongside his sidekick Aldo Fabrizi (in the role of Sancho Panza), thus recreating the comic duo of many successful films such as The Overwhelmed, Cops and Robbers, and Totò, Fabrizi and the young people of today. "With this Second Volume, The Heir of Don Quixote finally sees its completion, 75 years after the first draft. Totò has finally made the film he has longed for all his life. My first approaches to the project date back to 2017, so it's been 7 years that I have been working on this work. At a certain point, I almost feared that the 'curse of Don Quixote' could really work. But no curse holds up, when you do something for love," commented Fabio Celoni. The perfect conclusion of a majestic work, therefore, dedicated to one of the absolute myths of Italian cinema. "Totò, The Heir of Don Quixote: Second Volume" contains detailed editorial apparatuses that recount its genesis, graphic realization, and various curiosities about Totò, such as his love for comics. The work is also available in a deluxe box set that collects the two volumes and in a collector's box with only the second volume for those who already own the First Volume. The author Fabio Celoni was born in Sesto San Giovanni (MI) on September 23, 1971. He attended the School of Comics in Milan and landed at Walt Disney in 1990, becoming a regular illustrator of Mickey Mouse and other publications including PK and Duck Avenger. In the year 2000, he joined Sergio Bonelli Editore, as an illustrator of Dylan Dog, Dampyr, and Brad Barron, of which he is also the graphic creator and cover artist. He is also a writer of novels, essays, and stories. For Disney/Panini, he has drawn parodies of classic literature, such as Dracula by Bram Topker, The Strange Case of Dr. Ratkyll and Mister Hyde and Duckenstein by Mary Shelduck, written by Bruno Enna and published worldwide, up to his first Disney story as a complete author, The Destiny of Scrooge. He founded the publishing house Cerny Klaun, based in Prague, where he lived for 12 years, creating and publishing in Lucca the collective editorial project SmartComix.