A visit to that seriously weakened institution known as the magazine stand taught me several new words: fumetto, which is Italian for “little puff of smoke,” and, by extension, “dialogue balloon,” that is to say, “comic book.” The fumetto I picked up was “Tex,” which it turns out is rather a legendary publication. If you can read Italian, you can join any number of discussion groups on “Tex,” and also look at pictures of Italians wearing cowboy hats, looking notably less dangerous than they do wearing black pin-striped suits.
Another Italian word is “fulmine,” which, as you might guess, means both “lightning” and “thunder,” and translates into English more or less as “tarnation!” or “blast!” and is the sort of thing you might say when some miscreant (or is it a good guy? Lacking the proper cultural orientation, I can’t tell good from evil in these strips) sticks the blade of a hunting knife in your rifle butt with a mighty “thwaaacckk!”
Some dude named “steffenanthony” is posting “Tex” adventures on the Internet. The following is a sample:
