Some time ago we told you the story and aesthetics of Richardson Magazine, a vision of reality and image always pushed to the limit, without ever crossing that ideal line that establishes the border between sensuality and vulgarity.
Now let’s go back to talking about Richardson for a capsule collection celebrating some of the absolute geniuses of Italian comics of all time, and who led the avant-garde of world comics.

Stefano Tamburini, Gaetano “Tanino” Liberatore and Andrea Pazienza, in 1978 gave birth to a cult character, a sort of hyper-violent and amoral anti-hero, a robot with human features built with pieces of a photocopier, endowed with superhuman physical strength and fierce violence, set in a dystopian future, full of sex, brutality, and black humor, Ranxerox.

The original idea was by Tamburini, who was also the author of the texts and, initially, also of the drawings thanks to the wonderful hand of that genius Andrea Pazienza and Tanino Liberatore.
Pazienza made some of the very first strips, while Liberatore became the regular draftsman from 1980 onwards.

The character made his debut in the third issue of Cannibale, a magazine dedicated to experimental Italian comics, mainly for adults, humorous and satirical, founded by Tamburini himself in 1977.

The genesis of the character’s name is quite peculiar. Rank Xerox, as it was called in the first issues, was built with parts of a photocopier from which it took its name (Rank Xerox is a photocopier company that comes from the joint venture between the British Rank and the American Xerox). In February 1980, however, the company sent a letter, through its lawyers, to the editorial staff of Il Male (which published the strips for a short period of time), ordering them to change the name of the character, to prevent the brand from being associated with that anti-hero “whose exploits are a concentration of violence, obscenity, and filth“, threatening that otherwise “they would be forced to take legal action“. The answer that Tamburini gave to his character through a board was: “and I will see myself forced to kick your ass!”.

That irreverent answer, however, remained so, because from that day on the comic book’s protagonist changed his name to Ranxerox.

When Cannibale closed definitively in 1979, and after the brief parenthesis on Il Male, Ranxerox’s strips were published in Frigidaire, a reference magazine and direct inspiration for Richardson Magazine, published by Primo Carnera, until Tamburini’s death in April 1986.

A new publication in Italy, which concluded the story never completed by its creator, took place in 1996 thanks to the magazine Selen, which published the third part of Ranxerox’s stories with Alain Chabat’s texts and Tanino Liberatore’s drawings.

The capsule collection that Richardons dedicates to this absurd and bloody comic book story includes a reversible jacket, a hoodie, two T-shirts and a cap decorated with illustrations depicting Ranxerox and his lover Lubna, various minor characters and other works by the master Liberator.

Items from the collection will be available online on Richardson’s website from April 16th.