'Harry Moon'.
Giacomo Pueroni was an Italian comic book artist, who has worked mainly on science fiction series, most notably 'Jonathan Steele', 'Harry Moon' and 'Nathan Never'.
Early life and career
He was born on 6 January 1964 in Turin, but soon moved to Gorizia, where he graduated from the local Art Institute. He began his career as a commercial graphic designer and illustrator. His first cartooning work were cartoons inspired by the TV series 'Star Trek' for the magazines Inside Star Trek and Shadows on the Moon.
Bonelli
By 1996 he joined the staff of the Bonelli magazine Zona X, for which he made the story 'Cleopatra 2000', which is set in Federico Memola's "Legione stellare" ("Stellar legion") universe.
Jonathan Steele
In 1999, he also drew his first story of the futuristic adventure series 'Jonathan Steele' ('Sfida nella città sommersa'), another Memola creation, in cooperation with Teresa Marzia. His first solo artwork for the series ran in issue #6, 'Il prigioniero', and he worked with Memola on eight more issues for Bonelli until 2004. Pueroni continued to work with the character after Bonelli canceled the feature and production was transferred to Star Comics in 2004. Pueroni drew five more issues until 2008.
Harry Moon
He also worked with Memola on the series 'Harry Moon', the first issue by 001 Edizioni in 2006, the second for Planeta/De Agostini in 2010.
'Anjce', artwork by Pueroni, Blasich and Vergerio.
Anjce
In addition, Pueroni teamed up with Miriam Blasich and Luca Vergerio to form "Il Gruppo Fumatti" and create the fantasy series 'Anjce' in 2005. The first four books were printed by the Associazione Culturale Artefumetto, the remaining 2 were self-published. As of 2009, he also made illustrations for the science fiction magazine Robot, published by Delos Books.
Recognition
One of his illustrations for the magazine Robot won the Premio Italia (2016), an award for science fiction and fantasy in the Italian language.
Return to Bonelli
He returned to the Bonelli team in 2012, when he inked Guido Masala's pencil on an issue of 'Nathan Never', a sci-fi series about a special agent in a semi-dystopian near future. He also provided the inks for Andrea Bormida on an episode of 'Dragonero', yet another fantasy series by Bonelli Editore.
Edizioni Arcadia
Pueroni has furthermore made short stories for the publishing houses Edizioni Arcadia (Arcadia presenta, 2011) and Coniglio Editore (Mangaka, 2009).
Pueroni's prize-winning illustration for Leonardo Patrignani's short story 'Tu non esisti' ('You do not exist') from Robot #74.
Final years and death
In 2016, the artist revealed on his blog that he suffered from ALS disease. The interruption of his work as an artist resulted in initiatives to support him, such as the digital publication of issues #22, #23 and #24 of 'Jonathan Steele' by Sergio Bonelli Editore and issues #249 to #287 of 'Nathan Never'. Giacomo Pueroni passed away in 2017 in a hospital in Gorizia due to ALS complications.
