Line #28 Creator/Zerocalcare


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b6540f7422ef8f5419587e44288aaff0.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Michele and Zero. No, his eyebrows aren't THAT big.]]
3	Zerocalcare is the nickname of Italian comic book artist and blogger Michele Rech (Cortona, Italy, 1983), and also the name of his most popular character and the [[http://www.zerocalcare.it/ eponymous blog]] where his stories are collected. As the description implies, Zerocalcare's stories are mostly autobiographical, with several embellishments when not outright mixed with fantastic elements.
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5	Rech started his career in high school by drawing a story about the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27th_G8_summit G8 summit in Genoa, Italy]], and by drawing fanzines, posters and record jackets for several punk rock and hardcore punk local bands. While most of his body of work is political in nature and thus only known to specific circles, he became known to the mainstream when he opened his "comics blog" in late 2011, a genre virtually unheard of in Italy. Word of mouth quickly spread and his humorous musings on life became incredibly popular thanks to the power of social networks.
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7	This sudden popularity led him to make a contract with an important Italian comic book publisher, who published eight books so far (two of which are collections of strips from the blog plus some new content), all meeting critical success in his home country. It also led to a few problems since [[IJustWantToBeNormal he still needs to get used to this newfound fame]].
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9	In 2014 Rech himself made a post about TheMovie of his first book ''La profezia dell'armadillo'' being made, with him as one of the scriptwriters. However, the years passed with no other news about it, so most people assumed it had been cancelled. Then in late 2017 it was apparently SavedFromDevelopmentHell, and it eventually came out in September 2018, but with no further comments by Rech who apparently disassociated himself from the project. It was probably for the best, since it was critically panned for being formulaic, badly acted and not even trying to adapt the comic medium to the big screen, with some embarrassing missteps (such as the Armadillo being portrayed by a guy in a creepy costume).
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11	In December 2020 Creator/{{Netflix}} unveiled the teaser trailer for an animated series called ''Strappare lungo i bordi'' (English title: ''WesternAnimation/TearAlongTheDottedLine''), created, written and directed by Rech himself, as a much more polished version of the animated experiments from his [[https://www.youtube.com/user/zerocalcare/featured YouTube channel]]. It features Zero, his friends Sarah and Secco, the Armadillo, a girl named Alice plus other characters. The series was released worldwide on November 17, 2021, in the form of a six-episode season; the Italian version has [[ActingForTwo Rech voicing every character]] minus the Armadillo, who is voiced by popular Italian actor Valerio Mastandrea (who was also one of the movie's scriptwriters). Unlike the live-action movie, the series was praised as a very faithful and well-made adaptation of Zerocalcare's comics, and as a poignant example of adult animation that doesn't need to rely on violence and vulgar humor.
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13	In February 2023, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iqhrNRvkMk teaser trailer]] for his next animated project, titled ''WesternAnimation/ThisWorldCantTearMeDown'' (original Italian title: "Questo mondo non mi renderà cattivo", translated: "This world is not going to make me bad"), was unveiled during the Sanremo Music Festival, Italy's most important music competition akin to the Eurovision music festival. The six-episode season featuring Zero, Secco and all the others, still mostly voiced by Rech himself, was released on Netflix on June 9 2023. Despite being set in the same places and having most of the same cast, it's not a direct sequel to ''Tear Along the Dotted Line''.
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15	!!Bibliography (only published works):
16	* ''La profezia dell'armadillo''
17	* ''Un polpo alla gola''
18	* ''Ogni maledetto lunedì su due'' (strip collection)
19	* ''Dodici''
20	* ''Dimentica il mio nome''
21	* ''L'elenco telefonico degli accolli'' (strip collection)
22	* ''Kobane Calling''
23	* ''Macerie Prime'' and its sequel ''Macerie Prime - sei mesi dopo''
24	* ''La scuola di pizze in faccia del professor Calcare'' (strip collection)
25	* ''Scheletri''
26	* ''A babbo morto. Una storia di Natale''
27	* ''Niente di nuovo sul fronte di Rebibbia'' (strip collection)
28	* ''No Sleep till Shengal''
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30	!!Videography:
31	* ''WesternAnimation/TearAlongTheDottedLine'' (2021)
32	* ''WesternAnimation/ThisWorldCantTearMeDown'' (2023)
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35	!!The author and his works provide examples of:
36	* BigOlEyebrows: His AuthorAvatar has enormous bushy ones. Thankfully his brows in real life aren't quite as thick. Lampshaded when he portrays Zero at conventions and meet-and-greets with people remarking that "your eyebrows aren't that big".
37	* CreatorsOddball: Despite the Armadillo being Zero's ImaginaryFriend and conscience, he does not appear at all in "Un polpo alla gola", with several pop culture/imaginary characters taking his place as the various facets of Zero's conscience and inner workings.
38	* DarknessEqualsDeath: Every time the background of a panel (or of the entire page) becomes black, you ''know'' things are going to go south.
39	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In his early autobiographical stories he didn't have the habit of turning people into funny animals or pop culture characters, so for example his father was represented as he probably actually was in real life. Now he always draws him as Mr. Ping from ''Franchise/KungFuPanda''.
40	* FrenchBelgianComicBooks: His works are heavily influenced by French comic books (much more so than American comic books or other Italian ''fumetti''), also because of his French heritage by part of his mother.
41	* FunnyAnimal: Given that he often depicts people as popular culture characters (see ReferenceOverdosed below), it's almost inevitable. One of them who doesn't seem to be inspired by anything is his friend "Cinghiale" ("Boar"), represented, well, as a boar, since he appears to be a particularly slovenly, rude and sex-obsessed person.
42	* ImaginaryFriend: The Armadillo, Zero's long-time buddy who lends his name to his first book (translated: ''The Armadillo Prophecy''). He's more of a cartoon creature than a real armadillo, but then again he's fictional anyway. Once the Armadillo met another imaginary friend: a hulking, monstrous, silent creature. [[spoiler:It was actually the representation of Zero's friend Camille's eating disorders, that tragically led her to an early death.]]
43	** Another notable imaginary friend is the Pisolone in ''Dimentica il Mio Nome'', a bear-shaped sleeping bag representing Zero's desire for security. [[spoiler:Turns out he's the BigBad, an embodiement of a legal system that, under the pretense of "security", strips people of privacy and suppresses anyone considered unacceptable or uncontrollable]].
44	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: The second part of "Macerie prime" came out six months after the first one (as the subtitle states), which is also the amount of time that has passed in-story. The liner notes state that you shouldn't go and read again the first part, in order to share the characters' status of confusion and uncertainty.
45	* LeftHanging: One of the short stories had Zero find [[WesternAnimation/DenverTheLastDinosaur Denver]]'s corpse. However that plot point was almost immediately dropped. To this day, fans still ask him what happened to Denver every now and then.
46	* LimitedWardrobe: In the strips Zero is always dressed in blue jeans and a black T-shirt with a stylized skull on it.
47	* LineOfSightName: The name "Zerocalcare" holds no particular significance. When he was young he needed a handle to register to an internet forum and he chose this nickname in reference to the ads of a then-popular descaling product. The name stuck and the rest is history.
48	* OccidentalOtaku:
49	** Zero in his youth had shades of this. He went to a cultural centre to learn Japanese language and culture because he said he liked Japanese girls and people, and half-jokingly said that ninjas and Godzilla were an integral part of his culture. Anime are also a fairly large part of the [[ReferenceOverdosed many, many references]] he makes.
50	** Massimo AKA "Paturnia" from ''Scheletri'' is a much darker example. A psychotic thug and drug dealer, "Paturnia" is seemingly obsessed with Japan's culture: he has lots of tattoos, sings anime openings, quotes the Bushido and is said to have murdered someone with a katana.
51	* OrphanedSeries: ''[[https://caldaje.com/ Caldaje]]'', a webcomic he made together with another famous italian artist, Giacomo "Keison" Bevilacqua. Only three chapters were uploaded, then it just stopped updating altogether.
52	* PunBasedTitle: "Macerie prime" is a wordplay between "materie prime" (raw materials) and "macerie" (rubble, wreckage) since half of the story is set in a metaphorical post-apocalyptic world and the narration reflects on what are the most basic things that make us human.
53	* ReferenceOverdosed: Every one of his strips is packed with references to famous icons of [[TheEighties 80s]] and [[TheNineties 90s]] popular culture. It's not just to show [[JustForFun/OneOfUs his knowledge]] of nerd culture, but he uses the references to immediately denote his characters and abstract feelings [[ShowDontTell without the need]] to give too many explanations, while also to avoid using their real likenesses. Example: he always draws Zero's mother as Lady Kluck from ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'' to signify she's maternal but also tough and strong-willed. Another example is his friend [[StraightGay Sarah]], whose girlfriend he always draws as [[Franchise/SailorMoon Sailor Uranus]]. Likewise, negative feelings take the form of Freddy Krueger, Darth Vader and other villains from popular culture.
54	* SelfDeprecation: His mainstream strips often depict him/Zero as a wimpy, unlucky nerd. That's probably what makes him so endearing to the readers.
55	** He also is shown to be very critical of his younger self. In particular, he comments with contempt the red crest he used to have every single time he draws it.
56	* SplashOfColor: ''Dimentica il mio nome'' is in black and white like all of Rech's work, but the foxes are colored orange. And so is the hair of the humans they turned into, to help the reader identify them and their relatives [[spoiler:including Zero's mom]], and also to signify they are not a part of normal society.
57	* TheStinger: In many of his books so far.
58	** ''La profezia dell'armadillo'': A shot of all the main characters when they were young, discussing their future.
59	** ''Un polpo alla gola'': The skull's origins.
60	** ''Ogni maledetto lunedì su due'': A shot of Zero and Armadillo listening to music.
61	** ''Dodici'': How Zero was injured.
62	** ''Dimentica il mio nome'': Who's the animal little Zero and his grandma brought chicken every week. [[spoiler:He's not only a fox, but Zero's grandfather]].
63	** ''Macerie prime'': The fate of their friend "Lemur", often mentioned by Zero and his circle of friends but never actually appearing. They even joked that she joined ISIS. [[spoiler:She actually just found a very time-consuming job.]]
64	* TranslationConvention: In the notes for ''Kobane Calling'', the diary of his real-life trip to the war-torn Syrian regions, he says that he couldn't speak the natives' language and always had to rely on interpreters, but drew Zero being able to speak to everyone for the reader's sake.
65	* ZombieApocalypse: He is fond of drawing zombies, and ''Dodici'' is a Zombie Apocalypse story set in the real-life places where he is currently living.

Context Creator / Zerocalcare