A hero for the curious

When Dnevnik from Novi Sad started publishing in 1968 Bonelli's heroes in Yugoslavia in editions Gold series i Luna's Magnus comic, probably no one could have imagined that almost 60 years later these would be the most widely circulated comics in this region. Zagar has quickly become the most popular read for those who love adventure, Tex stood out for die-hard Western fans, Mister No met the criteria of adventure lovers in exotic locations of South America, while being the youngest Dylan Dog became an icon of horror comics.

photo: Dusan Mladenović

And among all of them there is a core of die-hard fans Marty of the Mysteries who, apart from adventure and excitement, love to learn something from comics.

Marty Mystery was created in Italy in 1982, and Dnevnik published it the following year. Right away, from the first story Men in Black it became clear that this was not a comic book like the others. Alfredo Castelli, creator Marty of the Mysteries, previously collaborated with Bonelli na Zagora i Mr. No, but only with Marty hit his narrative frequency in the full sense of the word and gained great popularity as an author. Of course, that's also how DSCM (Good Old Uncle Marty, as Castelli's hero is fondly called) gained popularity as an actor in a comic series whose primary mission was to make every reader, after reading the story, close the cover a little smarter than before. Let's remember, that was the time before the Internet and the all-powerful Google, and let's not talk about artificial intelligence and their reality matrices. Alfredo Castelli is erudite, curious and an eternal child fascinated by the world around him, and of course he poured all that into a hero tailor-made for him.

His Marty Mystery is an archaeologist and the so-called "detective of the impossible". At the time of the creation of this hero, the film Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) was at the height of its popularity, so Marty was also created under the strong influence of the famous archeologist from the big screen. With the fact that he is much more than that. Already from the mentioned first story, Castelli, with his faithful collaborator, the cartoonist Giancarlo Alessandrini, injects him with an aura of the unknown, hinting at mysteries that cannot always be fully answered, but are only hinted at in passing frames. So, along with the basic mystery of finding a secret chamber in Karnak, Egypt, through a few scenes of the library of Atlantis we only get hints that the story that will Marty Mystery narrate to be much wider than it was supposed to be.

And with that pattern, the series has been progressing for 43 years, and it outlived its creator because Castelli passed away in February 2023.

Over four decades and several hundred adventures, Marty Mystery managed to justify his existence and educational approach to the reader with each new story. Although they are fundamentally fantastic and supernatural - we have aliens, Atlantis and Mu, the mystical Agartha where the King of the World reigns, elves, various monsters, nemani and all kinds of witchcraft - each of the stories is rooted in some fragment of the history or strangeness of this planet. Castelli and his collaborators would take the "worldly" premise, from Marty's point of view as an expert on the ancient and unusual, would extensively elaborate it for the reader with numerous details, and then based on that, draw a fantastic build-up and adventure that would, as a rule, culminate in a resolution with the lesson that some things are better left buried. And while Marti did not destroy the established order of things in the real world, but managed to create in the minds of readers a certain desire to learn more, to know the world and that knowledge is not a disadvantage but an advantage - because thanks to knowledge, Marty got out of numerous difficulties, and not because of muscle strength or incredible acrobatic abilities. Marti taught readers that the world can be viewed with both curious and learned eyes. Or simply put, he taught readers that even a geek can be "cool".

The setting of the hero of this series is simple at first glance.

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There's archeologist Marty Misteria (of course); then the Neanderthal Java, which we later learn that Marty found in the City of Transparent Shadows and has been his faithful companion ever since (intelligent, although he only makes guttural sounds, but he has certain senses and strong muscles that still help the hero when needed); and there is Diana Lombard, Marty's fiancee and later wife.

And from the enemies, it is worth singling out former friend and colleague Serge Orly, as well as the secret organization Men in Black, whose mission is to keep the past and the truth about the war between Atlantis and Mu thousands of years ago buried. However, here too Castelli shows an incredible ability to bring a new dimension to the narrative. Namely, although he is first presented as a disfigured criminal without an iota of conscience, Serge Orly turns out to be more than a two-dimensional character. And this is where Castelli throws in a plethora of content and breaks down the relationship between him and Marty over the years. So it is learned that the two were close friends and together they found the mystical city of Agarti in Tibet, where the teacher Kut Humi gave them the third eye and two murchadas, weapons from the ancient continent of Mu. In the story Zenadu (New Luna's Magnus comic number 11 Happy Thursday) turns out to be the one responsible for the change in Serge Orli's behavior, and the two of them put their differences aside for the most part. And the Men in Black? Suffice it to say that during the series it is learned that Marty's father, who died with his wife in a plane crash, was actually a member of that organization, which adds another facet of mystery to this series.

But what remains as an indisputable legacy of the series Marty Mystery and Alfredo Castelli as its creator and majority screenwriter, is the fact that it has been proven that literally every detail about this world and existence in it can be a reason for a good and instructive story.

The best example of this is the latest collector's book Happy Thursday dedicated to Marty Mystery. It's about a book Colors of the impossible on almost 500 pages in color, which, in addition to excellent texts and contributions, contains four jubilee episodes Marty of the Mysteries (100, 200, 300, 400). But while these jubilee numbers are in Bonelli for all heroes special in that they are in color, code Marty they are stories in color and about colors. Each of them explained the concept of colors and their impact on the emotional spectrum in a special way. All possible details about the origin of colors, their significance and meaning, as well as how they define the world, are found within these stories. And Castelli serves the reader countless instructive details and points of view through them, as well as several skillful optical tricks. Suffice it to say that the first question Castelli asks the reader through his hero is whether everyone sees colors the way others see them. Or maybe people have been taught to call certain colors by the same name even though they perceive them differently individually? The answer, of course, does not exist, but that is not the author's intention either. Marti and Castelli are there to teach readers to ask questions, not serve them answers, and that's the real trump card of this series.

At the end of the book Colors of the impossible there are two extensive essays by Alfredo Castelli - "How to write Marty Mystery” and “How to draw Marty MysteryThe first 30-point essay breaks down in detail what criteria a particular screenplay must meet in order to be eligible for serialization. Marty Mystery, which can serve as a textbook for any aspiring screenwriter. Although it is primarily focused on Marty, Castelli here breaks down the essence of the problem of screenwriting work, emphasizing through the example of this series which details should be paid attention to. The same applies to the tips from the second essay, because they are universally applicable to every comic. Just as he has been building mystery and adventure for decades by demystifying the world and its wonders, so in the case of these two essays, Castelli has managed to remove the veil of mystery about the creative process of comic creation.

During his visit to Belgrade in 2018, Alfredo Castelli showed how much he knows about the world, and at the same time, he was fascinated by everything that surrounds him as a child. At the same time, he spoke very critically about his work on other series such as Zagora, which again shows how much it is Marty Mystery a project that he created "from the heart" and found himself in it. When asked where his inspiration came from to create so many stories about the Impossible Detective, he replied that he was simply curious and wrote for those who were like him.