Alan Ford is an Italian comic book created by Max Bunker (Luciano Secchi) and Magnus (Roberto Raviola), in print since 1969. The comic book is a satirical take on classic secret agents laden with surreal and black humour, and sardonic references to aspects of the contemporary Italian and Western society.

Although it became widely popular in Italy shortly after its introduction, Alan Ford remained relatively unknown outside Italy. The French, Danish and Brazilian editions soon failed but the only other foreign edition, in SFR Yugoslavia, was a huge success, becoming and remaining one of the most popular comic books in the former country and its successors.

Although the initial plot in the first few episodes develops around an agent called Alan Ford, he is later just one of the central group of characters: Group TNT is an assembly of misfit secret agents, who operate from a flower shop in New York City, United States, which they use as a front for their secret headquarters. They are incompetent and lazy, yet intelligent and cunning, especially when it suits their own personal interests. Their outlandish biographies are dwarfed by that of their iron-fisted and shrewd leader, Number One, a Methusalem character who embezzles the millions paid to the group by American government or city fathers for secret missions, while paying a pittance to his agents.

The comic book ridicules aspects of American society, as well as making direct references to local Italian reality, whose social ills were often satirized by Magnus & Bunker, as well as terms in Milanese dialect.

Editions Alan Ford is published monthly by Max Bunker Press in Italy. There are also editions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia (at least 4 different editions, ), Serbia and Slovenia. A Macedonian edition was also available for a while, and the Serbian editions are now imported into North Macedonia and Montenegro, still remaining hugely popular. The comic book has been adapted to animated film and theater plays, as well as used as a source of inspiration in books and movies.

History Three years before the comic book was published in May 1969, Max Bunker, along with illustrator Magnus, had the idea to create a satire of James Bond (they had previously created a serious spy character, Dennis Cobb). The initial script was written in August 1967 and the dialog revised in April 1968. The script included six main characters (Alan Ford, Bob Rock, Sir Oliver, The Boss, Jeremiah and Grunf), but the creators decided to omit Sir Oliver in the ultimate revision (July 1968), for fear of overwhelming readers with characters in the first issue. Raviola decided to base the drawing of Alan Ford on Irish actor Peter O'Toole.

According to Max Bunker, he wanted to create a comic book which did not fall into either of the then predefined categories of adventures and dark comics, like Satanik or Kriminal (both by Bunker and Raviola), or traditionally funny comics, like Mickey Mouse. He drew inspiration from the traditional Italian Comedy of the Art (commedia dell'arte) and the well known characters of that kind of comedy.

The first issue of the comic book, entitled "Il Gruppo TNT" ("The Group TNT"), was received mildly by its audience. The second issue, entitled "The Hollow Tooth" appeared in June 1968, introduced the Sir Oliver character, and was overshadowed by the first issue's lack of success. The reputation of Alan Ford grew with subsequent issues.

The character of Number One was introduced later into the series, in the 11th issue named "Number One". Cirano first appeared in the 18th issue ("Million Dollar Dog"), when he was adopted by Bob Rock, albeit unwillingly.

Magnus drew the first 75 issues, after which he was replaced by Paolo Piffarerio in 1975. In 1983, when the comic book moved to another publisher, Max Bunker Press, Raffaele della Monica and Giuliano Piccinnino replaced Piffarerio.

Currently the comic book is drawn by Dario Perucca (who also draws covers) with inks by Omar Pistolato. In its entire story the drawing style has remained the same set by Magnus.

Translations Alan Ford was translated into French, Croatian, Danish, Portuguese and in the 1990s subsequent Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, Macedonian and Slovenian editions appeared. The French and Macedonian editions only saw twelve issues before they got dropped due to poor sales. The Portuguese edition only saw about three issues. It was also translated into Albanian in Serbia which saw only five issues before getting dropped, also due to poor sales.

Yugoslavia

Alan Ford achieved great success in SFR Yugoslavia immediately after its 1972 introduction. It survived the dissolution of the country and in 2005 it was still one of the best selling comic books in the area.

The comic book's publishing was started in 1972 by the state-owned company Vjesnik from Zagreb. This edition is still a popular collector's item. First dozen issues didn't produce much success, however, the appearance in issue #25 of antagonist Superciuk (translated as Superhik) 'who steals from the poor and gives it to the rich' proved a hit with Yugoslav readership."Kaniš li pobijediti, ne smiješ izgubiti": 40 godina "Alana Forda" na Balkanu;Blic, 10 June 2012 Also, a lot of the comic book's success in Yugoslavia is due to Nenad Brixy's (born 1924 in Varaždinske Toplice) distinctive translation, rich in obscure, baroque-sounding Croatisms. A writer himself who penned several comedic novels about the clumsy detective character called Timothy Tacher, Brixy approached the job of translating Alan Ford in a free form and the resulting witty adaptation and imaginative text soon won him many admirers across the country.

Some of Vjesnik's editions were occasionally censored by the publisher. For example, in issue #16, "Don't vote for Notax", a line making fun of the American form of racism, reading "Firstly, I promise that we will get rid of the Blacks. ... This is a country of the white race, and who doesn't think that way will get punished..." was changed to "Firstly, I promise that we will get rid of our enemy. This is our country and who doesn't think that way will..." Certain pictures from the book were removed or repainted in some editions, while in some other editions those very same pictures appeared in original version.

There is a fake comic in circulation which features Yugoslav lifetime president Josip Broz Tito in a story line in one of the issues. Tito is portrayed as Number One's old acquaintance who often engaged in shady activities.Tito in Alan Ford The entire issue was allegedly banned from publishing in Yugoslavia. The fake issue was published decades later after the country disintegrated.Tito in Alan Ford However, apart from decent drawing of fake characters, and borrowed dialogue from various issues, giveaway is the issue number (#39), which in fact is a comic called Belle Epoque.

Brixy died in 1984, marking in many ways the end of an era for Alan Ford in Yugoslavia. Even the comic book's creator Max Bunker acknowledged Brixy's contributions to its popularity in Yugoslavia, praising him as "one of the rare translators who successfully depicted the black satire of the Alan Ford story and drawings". The edition continued after Brixy's death, eventually ending in 1992 with the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars.

After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Borgis picked up the publishing rights for the Croatian market, keeping the original series title Alan Ford Superstrip. Maverick from Kraljevo initially started publishing for the Serbian market, and the comic was in 2003 picked up by Color Press Group from Novi Sad. In the 2000s, the original episodes in Brixy's translation have been republished by Strip-agent in Croatia, under the title Alan Ford Klasik, again with great success and high circulation. Strip-agent is also publishing Alan Ford Extra (new Italian episodes), and Priče broja 1 (Number One's Stories).

In 1994 a play titled Alan Ford written by Mirjana Lazić and directed by Kokan Mladenović was staged at Teatar T in Belgrade. The play was an original story with most of the characters present, largely based on issue #30 ("The Bearded Gang"), but with numerous references to other episodes and characters. The play was performed in Croatian, as used by Brixy. In 2002 Radio Belgrade produced a radio drama based on the play.

In 2025 a comedy titled "Alan Ford" directed by Mario Kovač was staged in Kerempuh Theatre in Zagreb. The play was huge success and sold out show for months in advance.

In 2014 in Sarajevo, the Italian Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina organized the exhibition "Alan Ford in Bosnia and Herzegovina: yesterday and today", as part of the Month of Italian Culture in Bosnia Herzegovina festival.

France In France, the comic book debuted in 1975 published by Sagédition and lasted for only twelve issues. As Magnus became better known in France, this edition became a collector's item.

In 2003, a small independent publisher, Taupinambour, started another edition with new issues.

Brazil In Brazil, the comic book also debuted in 1975, published by Editora Vecchi, and only lasted for about five issues.

Denmark In Denmark, Alan Ford was published in 1974 by Interpresse under the name Oskar Mortensen, and only lasted for six issues.

Main characters

Number One

Number One (real name unknown) is the leader of the TNT Group. He is wheelchair-bound, has a long beard and a bald scalp. A running gag in the series is his age: he claims to be alive since the Neanderthal era and to have met various characters from history, such as Nero, Homer and Maximilien Robespierre. He has a habit of telling stories of his past to his agents, who all fall asleep in the end, causing him to angrily wake them up by brandishing his stick.

He is a major underworld figure, well connected within the NYPD and the United States Army: he is known to have a black book which allegedly contains the secrets and past of every character he met in the comics, which he uses to blackmail them into obedience. His TNT group is used as a private agency for his contacts, and always requests large amounts of money for the job. He is extremely greedy and stingy: when Bob Rock requested the TNT's motto to be "All for one, one for all", he cleverly requested the letter O in the first word to be capitalized, leading to be "All for One, one for all"; in context, he gets to keep all the money for himself, while all TNT agents get only a single dollar for the mission. Despite having huge personal wealth, he never spends any of it. He operates from a dilapidated flower shop in Brooklyn in which TNT agents reside, while his hideout is in a storage room in the New York subway, which is kept secret to all but TNT agents (anyone from outside the group visiting it needs to be blindfolded and escorted to it by Grunf).

Alan Ford

Alan Ford is the central character of the series, a persiflage of James Bond. He is rather slim, with blonde hair and handsome features. He usually dresses in a black long-sleeved turtle neck, with black shoes and dark pants. He is the latest member of the group. He is shy, naive, very meek and humble, but perhaps one of the most effective agents of the series. He develops certain skills during the course of the series and turns to be quite tough and responsive member of TNT. He has a soft demeanor, is rarely angry, and while acknowledging the life under Number One as unfair, he is happy with what he gets. He grew up in an orphanage, ran a one-man advertising agency and was evicted from a slum due to neglecting bills at the start of the series, and he joined the TNT Group by accident, having been sent to a wrong address. He is one of the most trusted agents of Number One.