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FUN

By Paolo Bacilieri

Translated by Jamie Richards

Hardback, 296 pp, $24.95

Respected novelist Pippo Quester is writing a history of the crossword puzzle. Together with fan and protégé Zeno Porno – a Disney comics writer – he unearths stories of pioneering editors, genius cruciverbalists, eminent compilers and literary giants.

As Professor Quester and Zeno explore the crossed destinies of comics and crosswords, the sudden appearance of Mafalda, an enigmatic student carrying a grudge and a handmade pistol, throws the two writers into a present-day puzzle of their own.

Both an impeccably researched history and a playful literary crime story, Paolo Bacilieri’s FUN is a breathtakingly inventive graphic novel that explores the strange power of one of the world's most popular pastimes.


Paolo Bacilieri


Paolo Bacilieri is a comics artist based in Milan, Italy. His works include Barokko, Durasagra and The Supermaso Attitude. He is also the creator of Zeno Porno, whose madcap adventures are collected in the books Zeno Porno and La Magnifica Desolazione. His recent graphic novels include Adiòs Muchachos and Sweet Salgari.