Barbara Baraldi opens Cremona to Dylan Dog's 40 years in Pescara
Barbara Baraldi says working on cremona means being able to “osare tutto,” as Dylan Dog marks its 40th anniversary with a show in Pescara. The exhibition is inside Cartoons on the Bay, the international festival of animation and transmedia languages organized by Rai Com.
Baraldi, 51, born in Mirandola and curator of the series, said the assignment still makes her tremble. Three years after she took the role, she said, “le vene e i polsi tremano ancora ed è bellissimo, la paura ci mantiene vivi.”
Pescara and Cartoons on the Bay
Dylan Dog was created by Tiziano Sclavi in 1986, and the Pescara show places that history in a public setting rather than a closed industry ceremony. Baraldi called the character “sempre stato un personaggio avanguardistico che affronta temi sempre attuali,” and said she was already a fan and a student before working on the title professionally.
That background shapes the way she says she edits the series. “Vero! Cerco sempre di levare i paletti ai miei sceneggiatori che spesso si autocensurano,” she said, adding, “Non voglio paletti a livello di trama.”
Baraldi and creative freedom
Baraldi said Dylan Dog allows writers to move between nightmare and reality without shrinking the subject matter. “Invece, tutte le volte in cui cammina tra l’incubo e la realtà, con Dylan si può osare tutto,” she said, and added, “Si può parlare di qualsiasi argomento, senza censurarsi.”
She paired that freedom with restraint, saying, “Ovviamente, tutto va fatto con delicatezza e con il filtro della metafora.” Her examples were specific: “Per esempio abbiamo raccontato la guerra senza parlare di guerra,” and, in two issues, “il dramma dell’Alzheimer e del senso di colpa dei caregiver.”
Why the series still lands
Baraldi also linked the comic’s appeal to the way it handles fear and current events. “Io ho iniziato di scrivere per poter sopportare quello che vedevo nei telegiornali, cose che mi facevano piangere,” she said, calling “il voyeurismo dell’orrore” one of society’s evils and warning that people are getting used to horror.
She described Dylan Dog as a response to that drift: “Proprio leggere un fumetto come Dylan Dog che propone storie fresche che raccontano la realtà attraverso la lente dell’allegoria.” She added, “Dylan non ti fa sentire solo.” For readers in Pescara, the anniversary show turns that argument into a physical display, with Baraldi’s curatorship at the center of the celebration.
