Interview with Piero Macola, cartoonist

‘Comics are my dimension of absolute sincerity’

Born in Venice in 1976, Piero Macola, moved to Paris after studying comics at the Institut Saint-Luc in Brussels. Since 2014, he has been working with the publisher Futuropolis (Gallimard), for which he has created graphic novels (the latest is Le Passeur de lagunes, with Christophe Dabitch, 2023). In Italy, his works are published by Coconino Press. He is one of the many Italian ‘cartoonists ’ living and working in Paris.

How did you become a cartoonist and illustrator? How do you live this dual career?

I attended a school in Italy in the late 1990s, a sort of evening course that made me realise that I needed to learn. Later, I attended a slightly more structured school in Belgium, in Brussels, a three-year course. At the end of this course, in 2002, I realised that the French-speaking market, in France and Belgium, was much more varied and interesting than the Italian market, and that the comics culture was more deeply rooted and developed. So I moved to Paris.

I had sent my student work to several publishers, very naively, but one Italian publisher replied. It was Coconino Press, which had just been founded and for which Igort was publisher and author. At the same time, Igort had also moved to Paris. So I met him in France: he encouraged me to develop my ideas, and the project I sent him became my first comic (Fuori bordo, Coconino Press, 2009).

I feel more like a draftsman than an illustrator. Since working with the Ghirigori agency, I have had several opportunities as an illustrator in Italy. Since the last comic strip, which I got a bit tired of because making a comic strip requires a lot of time and energy, I have been working as an illustrator for a few months now. These are commissioned works, which are less personal. Comics, on the other hand, are my space of absolute sincerity, even of exaggerated, I would say visceral, involvement. For me, illustration is more of a craft.

What is your relationship with French publishing? And with Italian publishing?

I do all my illustration work in Italy, while in France I have a publisher with whom I have been collaborating for several years, Futuropolis. When it comes to comics, it is now as if I were French: first I work in France, then the French publisher sells the rights to the Italian publisher. For me, in any case, there is no comparison: professionally and economically, the interest in publishing and the chance to have visibility in France is greater than in Italy.

How would you define the world of comics in France, particularly compared to Italy?

Comics in France exploded a long time ago, with at least 6,000 new titles published every year (in 2020, 10,245, SNE data, NDR), but the number of readers has remained more or less the same: for example, while 10,000 copies used to be sold in France, today many titles sell around 2,000 copies. The real problem is therefore overproduction.

It seems to me that in the French context, there was, at one point, a fashion for autobiographical comics, followed by the development of reportage comics and more niche productions. I have the impression that today’s publishers are very attentive to social issues, particularly those in the media. Ecological issues and women’s issues are also very important.

In Italy, the situation is different. It seems to me that, apart from a few phenomena like Pera Toos or Zerocalcare, books like mine have a ‘super-niche’ market share: in Italy, when a comic book manages to sell 3,000-4,000 copies, it is already a success.

So you do not share the enthusiasm generated by the ‘comics explosion’ in Italy in recent years?

In Italy, too, there are literary festivals every week, and comics are sold in bookshops but, in my opinion, the comparison between France and Italy is more general, and refers back to the ‘French exception’: initiatives such as the single book price have allowed certain realities to survive better than in Italy, and a network of small independent bookshops has long managed to survive.

In an interview, the cartoonist Tito Faraci said that ‘the great merit of Italian comics has been, and still is, that of having managed to make art comics coexist with popular production’. Do you agree?

In Italy, there has always been a division between popular comics, the kind you find at newsstands, and the kind I do, which is a bit more snobbish. But in the past there were authors like Hugo Pratt, who were both very popular and of high quality. So it’s always difficult to generalise…

Do you think there is an Italian way or an Italian trend in comics translated in France?

There are Italian authors working in France who can be related to each other, but I would not say that Italian comics are identified as such in France.

I would tend to say that at a certain point, with the birth of Coconino Press in Italy, there was a group of illustrators and cartoonists who, despite the diversity of styles, began to produce a recognisable body of work, slightly more international comics. For example, the first books by Gipi, who is thirteen years older than me, were a shock. Gipi had a great influence on me and my generation, perhaps we can relate him to a small group of authors, including Zerocalcare. I am not saying that there have been clones, but since the 2000s a new type of comics has spread.

There is also a tendency to translate Italian authors into French: I am thinking of Manuele Fior, Giacomo Nanni and many others… Then there are many good illustrators working for Dargaud or Glénat, for example. They are fast and very skilful illustrators. Sometimes they come to France to propose a project of their own, which may resemble their classic, slightly serialised work.

How do you see Italy from France? Has your relationship with the country changed because of the distance?

I have been in France for over 20 years, and what has changed is that I am less familiar with the Italian reality. But there is still a very strong bond. I think Calvino said that one does not come from a country, but from one’s childhood: I spent my childhood there, in Italy (apart from a few years in Paris), so there is a very strong bond and a kind of nostalgia that makes itself felt, especially when I am in Italy.

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