Dylan Dog #1
Dylan Dog #1, titled 'L'alba dei morti viventi' ('Dawn of the Living Dead'), is the founding document of what became Italy's defining horror-comics series and one of the most widely read comics on the continent. Tiziano Sclavi's debut issue introduced a template—the flawed, phobia-ridden 'nightmare investigator,' a wisecracking Groucho Marx-alike sidekick, and a London drenched in George Romero and Dario Argento atmosphere—that proved to Italian publishers, for the first time, that a popular genre comic could also win serious critical respect. The issue launched all six of the series' core recurring characters in a single story, and its arch-villain Xabaras (an anagram of Abraxas, Dylan's own father in disguise) established a mythological backbone that the series would develop across hundreds of subsequent issues. More broadly, Dylan Dog #1 demonstrated that the long-form Bonelli digest format could sustain genuinely literary horror-noir storytelling, reshaping the ambitions of Italian fumetti for a generation.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Tiziano Sclavi initially conceived the character as an American-set hard-boiled detective without a sidekick, but Sergio Bonelli pushed the setting to London—New York already belonged to Bonelli's Martin Mystère—and the figure of Groucho was added to prevent the series from becoming too investigation-focused. Artist Angelo Stano, recruited in 1985, drew the interior pages in a style partly inspired by Egon Schiele's expressionist linework, while veteran cover artist Claudio Villa supplied the debut cover, a deliberate visual homage to Romero's Night of the Living Dead poster. The book was technically published under the Editoriale Daim Press imprint, Bonelli's name at the time, and hit newsstands on September 26, 1986, carrying an October 1986 cover date.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Dylan Dog, described in the series as 'l'indagatore dell'incubo' ('the nightmare investigator'), a former Scotland Yard detective turned paranormal private eye residing at 7 Craven Road, London.
- First appearance of Groucho, Dylan's live-in assistant and comic foil, a former actor who has permanently absorbed the persona of Groucho Marx.
- First appearance of Ispettore Bloch, the Scotland Yard inspector who brings cases to Dylan and serves as the series' voice of skeptical authority.
- First appearance of Xabaras, the issue's central villain and creator of the zombie serum; his name is an anagram of Abraxas, and later series continuity reveals him to be Dylan's own father.
- First appearance of client Sybil Browning, and of Archibald Potter, the pathologist; the story's plot hinges on Sybil seeking Dylan's help after her dead husband rises as a zombie.
- Written by Tiziano Sclavi and illustrated by Angelo Stano (interior art), with a cover by Claudio Villa—Villa held the cover-artist role through issue #41, after which Stano took over with #42.
- The issue's title and zombie imagery are an explicit homage to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978); within the story, Dylan and Groucho attend a Romero marathon at the cinema.
- The story has been reprinted continuously since the series grew in popularity: Bonelli issued the first reprint series in July 1990 and a second in June 1991; Mondadori published prose and graphic editions in 1992; Dark Horse Comics translated it for its March 1999 English-language #1; Bonelli's Granderistampa reprint series launched with it in October 2006; and a full-color 35th-anniversary commemorative version was bundled with Dylan Dog #421 in 2021.
Cast · 6 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Dopo essere stata aggredita dal marito zombie, Sybil Browning si rivolge all'Indagatore dell'incubo per scoprire le cause. Gli indizi condurranno ad un laboratorio situato nel villaggio di Undead.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).