Studio Giolitti

Alberto Giolitti was an Italian-American comic book artist, born in Rome on November 14, 1923, and died in the same city on April 15, 1993. He began studying architecture at the University of Rome in 1941 but left after a brief stint in the army. His first published work appeared in the Italian magazine *Il Vittorioso* during the 1940s. After World War II, he moved to Argentina, drawing for Editorial Lainez and Columba in Buenos Aires, before finally settling in the United States in the early 1950s. There, he became a key artist for Western/Dell Publishing, penciling numerous licensed titles including *Indian Chief*, *Sergeant Preston of the Yukon*, *Tonto*, *Cisco Kid*, *Turok*, and *Gunsmoke*. He became a U.S. citizen in 1954. In 1960, he returned to Italy with his American wife Joan and their daughter Sheila, but continued working for Western's Gold Key imprint, contributing to *Star Trek*, *Tarzan of the Apes*, and a *King Kong* adaptation. In 1962, he founded Studio Giolitti in Rome, a workshop that at its peak employed 50 artists, producing comics for European publishers and Gold Key. Later in his career, he drew a long science fiction story, "Cinque anni dopo" (1986), and contributed to the Italian western series *Tex Willer*. His daughter Sheila became a fine arts painter; his son Eugenio served as a U.S. Navy SEAL.