Editing Romano Scarpa (section)

==Biography==
Growing up in Venice he developed a particular love for American [[cartoon]]s and Disney comics, that, at the time, were published in the big format of the [[Topolino]] giornale which was then printing now classic [[Floyd Gottfredson]]'s stories. In the 1940s he opened an Animation Studio in Venice in which he produced his first works: some commercials, a short titled ''E poi venne il diluvio'' and another one titled ''La piccola fiammiferaia'' (1953, based on [[Hans Christian Andersen]]'s ''[[The Little Match Girl]]''), distributed in Italy together with [[Robert Aldrich]]'s ''[[Attack (1956 film)|Attack!]]'' (1956).

Right after that he stopped working in animation for a while and dedicated wholly to creating Disney comics. When in 1956 Italian editors had no more new Floyd Gottfredson's stories to reprint, he was given the responsibility to continue Gottfredson's stories about [[Mickey Mouse]]. Also influenced by [[Carl Barks]] in the late 1950s and up to about 1963 he wrote and penciled stories like ''Topolino e la collana Chirikawa'' (1960) or ''The Flying Scot'' (1957) that have, later, been translated in many different languages throughout the world. Many of these stories have their backgrounds in movies, for example ''Topolino nel favoloso regno di Shan Grillà'' (1961) is based upon [[Frank Capra]]'s ''[[Lost Horizon (1937)|Lost Horizon]]'' (1937); not to talk about all the stories starring Snow White or the Seven Dwarfs, obviously based on ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'' (1937). Sometimes the exact opposite happened; the Italian movie ''[[Riusciranno i nostri eroi a ritrovare l'amico misteriosamente scomparso in Africa?]]'' (1968) is based on Scarpa's story ''Topolino e il Pippotarzan'' (1957).

Around 1963, Scarpa stopped writing for 6 or 7 years. In the 1970s, he moved to Spain and started working for a different publisher. Among the last things he made while he was still in Italy, at the end of the 1980s and at beginning of the 1990s, there are the so-called ''Paperolimpiadi'' (a long story about the 1988 [[Seoul]] [[1988 Summer Olympics|Olympic games]]) and some strip stories, the same kind of stories that he loved when he was a child. One of these, ''Topolino e l'enigma di Brigaboom'' (1989) was partially based on ''[[Brigadoon]]'' (1954).

In the meanwhile he has had time enough for some more animation, so we have ''Aihnoo degli Icebergs'' (1972), ''[[The Fourth King]]'' (1977) and a new TV series, ''[[The Adventures of Marco & Gina|The Adventures of Marco and Gina]]'' (''Sopra i tetti di Venezia'') (2001).

Scarpa mainly worked on Disney comics, but he was also able to work on non-Disney material once in a while, so he did one ([[Rolf Kauka]]'s) ''Lupo'' story and one ([[Hanna-Barbera Productions|Hannah and Barbera]]'s) ''[[Yogi Bear]]'' story. In the 1950s he also drew some ''Angelino'' stories, and Italian character.

Since 1988 some of his comic stories have been published in the US by [[Gladstone Publishing]]; it was the first time that this happened to an Italian Disney author. Later, when [[Disney Comics (publishing)|Disney Comics]] took Gladstone's place; they published some more of his stories, and in 2003, the same happened with [[Gemstone Publishing]]. He has influenced many younger creators ([[Giorgio Cavazzano]] was his inker during the Sixties) and many have attempted to imitate his style.