Alan Ford

Alan Ford e il Gruppo T.N.T. (Alan Ford and the T.N.T. Group) is an Italian comic book, authored by Luciano Secchi (Max Bunker) and illustrated by the late Roberto Raviola (Magnus), first published in 1969.

The comic book is a satirical take on the Spy genre and follows the adventures of Alan Ford, a young, handsome but also naive and unlucky graphic designer who's accidentally hired into the infamous T.N.T. Group, a rag-tag and perpetually poor counter-espionage group acting under the guise of a dilapidated flower shops and fighting criminals, spies and conspirers with an utter lack of wealth, means and law-abiding, at the commands of the unfathomly ancient Number One. In their adventures, the group meets a huge and variegated gallery of villains of all types, from spies to crime bosses to vampires and farcical super-villains, as well as plenty of seedy and corrupt politicians.

One of the longest-running comic books in Italy, it saw the changing of several other artists after Magnus left to work on different comics, being succeeded later by Paolo Piffarerio and other one-shot illustrators (with the consequent uneven quality of certain issues) and currently by Dario Perucca. The story made some important changes around issue 429, where the Group is disbanded and Alan Ford has adventure on his own alongside his girlfriend-then wife Minuette Macon, changing the title to simply "Alan Ford" but keeping overall the same story structure, this time with those who were the core members of T.N.T. as secondary characters rather than co-protagonists. Unfortunately, as volumes progressed, the quality gradually declined, with many stories relying on surreal and confusing scenarios rather than solid plots, while Secchi started to insert more and more of his personal views and opinions (such as his love for animals and animal care) in the story, sometimes excessively so.

Alan Ford did not have much success outside of Italy and wasn't officially translated into English, but it was a hit in Yugoslavia, thanks to the excellent translation cured by Nenad Brixy, which earned him the praise of Secchi himself.


 * Abhorrent Admirer: Frequently used as a source of comedy, usually with Alan himself being the object of affection for homely women. Right in the first issue, Alan has to escape from the landlady's ugly daughter, Bessie, who has a huge crush on him.
 * In the Number One's retelling of The Odyssey, Princess Nausicaa is an ugly woman whose father is trying to marry off, unsuccessfully. The Number One manages to trick Homer (the Butt Monkey of the story) to become her husband.
 * Issue 475, "Meine Liebe Minuette", has Gerthrude Gruber, a fat and ugly German businesswoman who adopted a young Minuette to groom her so that they could marry. While Minuette attracting women isn't anything new, Gerthrude is depicted as an abominable person both physically and character-wise.
 * Acid Reflux Nightmare: Invoked in one issue: in an attempt to understand who's behind the latest crime, the Number One makes himself a sandwich with mustard, tomatoes, bell peppers, pickles and cabbage in order to give himself a nightmare in which he can search for a clue.
 * Action Girl: Minuette Macon is pretty much an ace: introduced as a con artist, she shows her skills with guns, martial arts, vehicles and even magic, though the exact scope of her magical powers is inconsistent.
 * Affably Evil: Most of the villains encountered by the heroes tend to be surprisingly affable and kind to them,as seen with Margot or Baron Wurdalak. One-shot villains common during the Magnus period were usually more on the Faux Affably Evil side of the spectrum.
 * Affectionate Parody: The series essentially started as a parody of James Bond with the secret agent being penniless and forced to rely on luck and skills rather than cool gadgets and money.
 * The Alcoholic: Recurring and popular villain Superciuk needs to drink abysmal quality red wine to fuel his dreaded alcoholic breath and become stronger than usual. Deconstructed in "The New Superciuk" in which a medical analysis reveals that after years of drinking his liver has reduced to the size of a dried pea, forcing him to rehabilitate himself using a concoction made from "Onion Tomatoes" bred by a couple of farmers he befriends.
 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: Parodied with the characters of Duls and Miss Boia (whose name literally means "Executioner" and is generally used to described a really mean or despicable person): the former is a successful and handsome billionaire who's in love with the latter, an attractive but poor cleaning woman who won't even look at him because she only finds "bad guys" of her liking. He tries to invent himself as the supervillain "Centurion" to win her over, but ultimately he gets over his crush.
 * All Just a Dream: Used scarcely early on, as in the story "Dream of a Midwinter Night", becomes far too common in later volumes past the 500th issue, in which many of the most surreal stories are ambiguous, unexplained dreams.
 * Always Identical Twins: Parodied with the hitmen brothers Frit and Frut from the titular issue: they look so identical that a Running Gag has everyone, even each other, mistake Frit for Frut and viceversa.
 * Ambiguously Bi: Baroness Isolde Von Strascen is shown to have her fun with plenty of tall and hunky male suitors and her whole marriage with Minuette seems to be a business plan from both sides, yet she's seen energically kiss Minuette (who, by contrast, tries to pull back) and shows no concern when informed that the marriage must be consumed to be considered legit, even if it is implied that they did not actually had sex. The fact that Isolde gifts Minuette with a full body portrait of herself after the divorce implies she does have some genuine feelings for her. Later, the bisexual court doctor Hilaria Hesse mentions that she spent plenty of time with Isolde, without specifying the nature of this time together.
 * While Shirley is shown being attracted to men, the fact that her crew is girls-only and her closeness to her subordinate Pritty give off some lesbian vibes.
 * Ambiguous Gender: Mentioned in "Festival" where some journalists asks to a newly-wed singer (a caricature of gay icon Donatella Rettore) if the person she married was a man or a woman. She nonchalantly tells them she didn't really paid attention.
 * Anachronism Stew: Japan's less-than-accurate depiction in "Go Samurai Go!" treats the country as some sort of exotic Asian Third World state with crowded markets filled with people dressed in rags, a massive meat factory and the titular Samurai Ikado-du walking around in armor and sword as if it's the most normal thing ever.
 * Subverted by the recurring villainess Shirley, a pirate girl who still dresses up as a stereotypical pirate lady, cutlass and all, but uses very modern weapons and machines for her heists.
 * Art Evolution: Zigzagged: after Magnus's departure from the series, several volumes sported cruder and more irregular art styles, as his substitute Paolo Piffarerio couldn't work on the issues full time. Under Dario Perucca, the art style recovered to a less detailed but more streamlined look.
 * Ate the Spoon: An often gag from the earlier issues has a character trying to poison another by offering him a drink, only for the victim to see through the attempt and pour the contents of the glass on the table, leaving a steaming hole in it as he comments on the bad quality in front of a sheepish opponent.
 * Back from the Dead: Subverted in "The Widow from the Otherworld", who was merely buried alive. Played straight for
 * Bad Boss: Pretty much all villains, especially the one-shot ones, have the tendency to dispose of minions who have failed one time too many or have outlived their purpose. Notable example with Wurdalak, who actually points out that according to the "Transylvanian Treaty of 1326" he's not allowed to feed on his own minions.... but since he never approved nor signed it he feels free to do so.
 * Badass Bystander: The cook Luis Kortezz in "Formulae": when a Bruski agent accidentally insults his cooking, he becomes so offended that he promptly knocks him out cold with his rolling pin, overpowering the trained agent with ease.
 * Bald of Evil: Big Caesar, former Czar of Crime and Raj of Lowlives, sports a cleanly bald head. Even when he works for the T.N.T. groups, he still misses the old days of crime and mayhem.
 * Berserk Button: Bob Rock, not the most tranquil of the group, will often get mad if he's made fun for his nose or short size.
 * Cariatide is normally sleepy and not prone to action, but still tries to kill Bob with a kitchen knife when he tries to boil his beloved pet Squitty.
 * The obese Mr. Tromb loathes being called fat or being insulted for his girth, throwing a temper tantrum whenever that happens.
 * Big Eater: Because of the group's Perpetual Poverty and lack of wealth, whenever the agents can eat they wolf down everything they can and have their fill. The recurring villain Dr. Kreuzer is given this trait after his later reappearances, claiming both that the prison's horrible food made him more ravenous and that he needs to eat "little but often". He tops himself when he orders 26 pizzas in one go as a midnight snack.
 * Blackmail Is Such an Ugly Word: The Number One's most dreaded asset is a small black book of his, in which he has recorded the good and bad deeds of pretty much everyone in town, allowing him to coerce even the heads of the city into helping him.
 * Bowdlerise: In the Yugoslavian version, Grunf's fascist slogans and pictures of Adolf are conspicuously absent.
 * Breath Weapon: The infamous Superciuk's main weapon is his dreaded bad breath, which is so disgusting it can knock people out, rapidly corrode clothes, turn honey in black cherry and even break through metal. He needs to keep drinking cheap barbera wine to mantain his breath strong enough, while it's weakened and even nullified by consuming champagne or sugar.
 * Breaking the Fellowship: Issue 180 sees the group disbanding (except for Alan, Count Oliver and Bob Rock) after
 * The group undergoes a permanent one after the "Curse of the Apple Green Moon" mini arc, where the entire group is disbanded, but this time Alan goes on to live with Minuette and form a detective agency.
 * Bungling Inventor: Otto von Grunf (Grunt for short)'s entire shtick is making ludicrous contraptions that serve as the group's main form of transportation, more often than not failing to survive the journey. In his defense, he has to work with a very tiny budget.
 * Butch Lesbian: When a lesbian character is introduced, chances are she'll invariably be butch, ranging from boyish-looking all the way to larger and buffer women.
 * Butt Monkey: None of the group is exceptionally lucky, but Alan and Bob Rock are the most prone to misfortune and bad things happening to them, to it's usually very comedic in Bob's case.
 * Corrupt Politician: Pretty much all the political higher ups that appear in the comic are selfish, posh, corrupt and uncaring to the suffering of poor people. A handful of them are downright traitorous.
 * Crapsack World: Even if it's intended as a satire, the world of Alan Ford is a grim and depressing one, with plenty of ruthless criminals and uncaring, jerkass people among both the poor citizens and the rich elite.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Grunt is played as a comic relief and a clueless buffoon for most of the comic's run. In "Save us please, Thank you!", he storms Napoleon's ship with his plane and saves everyone by causing Napoleon's death with one of his faulty trinkets and by beating up the entire ship using only his fists and his high-powered whistle.
 * Culture Chop Suey: While the comic is set in America, many times it seems to involve cultural elements more common to Northern Italy than the proper USA, up to having random newyorkers speaking with Milan dialect.
 * A Day in the Limelight: The "P-38 Lodge" arc gives an unusual focus on the tertiary character Hal Hamburger, who previously appeared as a zealous attorney and nothing more.
 * Didn't Think This Through: As part of the humor, many villains often make plans which have obvious flaws that they think they can cover with ease. The best example has to be Aseptyk, whose plan involves turning the entire world into a lifeless polluted wasteland. When Alan points out that he'll die as well, he briefly pauses before stating, unconvincingly, that he'll survive because of his safety mask.
 * Dragged Into Drag: Since Alan is the most handsome of the group, some schemes have him being disguised as a woman to trick the bad guys. Some even find him attractive (except for his voice).
 * Driven to Suicide: Played straight by some villains, when all their plans are foiled and have no other way out. Played for laughs with the recurring character "De Suicidis", a depressed man who's constantly trying and failing to off himself in creative ways, much to everyone else's indifference.
 * Dub Name Change: The Yugoslav/Croatian translation changed Cariatide's nickname to "Šef" (Boss; as opposed to Number One, who is called "Super-Boss" or "Big Boss") and his real surname to "Twinkleminkleson" from "De Statuis", Geremia Lettiga became "Jeremija Lešina" (the surname means "Cadaver"), and Count Oliver became "Sir Oliver" (probably because it sounds more distinctly British).
 * Early Installment Weirdness: Early on, Cariatide was actually a stern, no-nonsense leader and Only Sane Man, while in his first appearance Number One looked like a benevolent if senile old goof, though later appearances implies it was because he drank an entire bottle of champagne earlier. Geremia is also much more competent and active in his first few appearances, and his hypochondria isn't as pronounced.
 * Fat Bastard: Many of the villains, such as Superciuk and Mr. Tromb, are quite fat and out of shape. Many rich people are quite obese and overall jerkasses.
 * Femme Fatale: The series gives us the super spy Margot right off the bat as the traditional femme fatale. Others would appear later on in some story arcs, though Margot herself disappears aside from a cameo in issue 500.
 * Final Speech: An early trademark gag has the dying characters speak longer than they should be able to, which is lampshaded by Alan in some occasions.
 * Funetik Aksent: In the animated short, Grunt and Oliver speak with a German and British accent respectively.
 * Gay Groom in a White Tux: In issue 531, Minuette, wearing a fancy dress and a diadem, is married (temporarily) to Isolde, who's impeccably dressed in a groom's tux.
 * Gonk: As part of the art style, certain characters are drawn with more grotesque and outlandish facial traits, such as the pudgy Mr. Tromb, who has tiny eyes, massive drooping cheeks and a long, bulb-shaped nose.
 * Gratuitous French: Minuette often adds French expressions and idioms to her speech.
 * Happily Married: Eventually, as of issue 500, Alan Ford and Minuette Macon.
 * I Have You Now, My Pretty: In "Vampires for Sale", Domitilla manages to lure Alan into her cabin and tries to force herself on him, but is thankfully interrupted by Minuette. Deconstructed by Psycho Lesbian Dolores Sanchez in Evasion, who's so enamored by Minuette that continuously postpones her execution because she wants to have sex with her first, giving Minuette enough time to find a way to kill her and free herself.
 * Hotter and Sexier: Starting from issue 200, the series featured more istances of attractive women, often depicted in the nude, and add more and more lesbian innuendo in the stories (male homosexuals aren't featured as often by contrast).
 * Identical Stranger: One issue has Alan hired to impersonate an infamous criminal who happens to look exactly like him, but with a moustache. The post-Mangia arc has Bob Rock mistaken for Charlie Mozzarella, boss of the Mozzarella mafia clan of New Orleans.
 * Jerkass: Most of the characters our heroes interact with are rude, standoffish and gratuitously mean to them.
 * Joker Immunity: Some of the popular villains such as Superciuk, Gommaflex and Burlesque, will never meet a definitive end and always survive, even against the worst odds (best seen when Superciuk survives for over twenty volumes after being swallowed whole by a shark).
 * Just Like Robin Hood: Parodied by Superciuk: because he's a sweeper enraged at how the poor folks leave a mess on the streets, he's resolved to steal from the poor and give to the rich. He ultimately grows out of this philosophy and starts to steal for himself.
 * Kill It with Water: In this universe, Wurdalak and his vampires can be killed if submerged in water and even fear snowballs.
 * Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Subverted by the villain Satanassik, a former SS officer with a passion for fencing. After cornering Bob in his mansion he offers him a chance to get out alive and gives him a sword to defend himself. When Bob protests that he doesn't know how to use a sword, Satanassik replies that he wouldn't have given him the sword had he been able to wield it.
 * Logic Bomb: Referred to in the stories where Minuette and Alan seemingly visit Mars: in order to get rid of annoying robots, they ask the to count all the numbers to the last one, causing them to eventually explode.
 * Loophole Abuse: In "The Baroness Von Strascen", Isolde has to be married in order to collect a billion-Euro heirloom which would otherwise go wasted, but all her potential suitors are killed by her cousin's hitmen. She decides to outsmart him by marrying Minuette instead, pointing out that the contract only stated that she had to get married within a certain date, but never said anything against marrying a woman.
 * Mad Scientist: The series has plenty of mad scientists of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the former Nazi Doktor Kreuzer to the pollution-obsessed Aseptyk to the extreme but well-meaning Doctor Cancer.
 * Master of Disguise: The first introduced is the French thief Arsene Lupon (a parody of [[w:Arsène Lupin|Arsène Lupin]), a gentleman thief who can disguise himself as anyone but in truth is a short and toothless midget disguised as a handsome man.
 * Issue 110 introduce the long-standing villain Gommaflex, a criminal whose face has a rubber-like consistency and allows him to shapeshift into anyone by reshaping his features.
 * Mind Screw: Many issues past the 500th features several surreal and inconsistent stories which never get a proper resolution or a decent explanation, some of them featuring Alan and Minuette seemingly traveling to Mars and others where their evil counterparts Nala Dorf and Bonny become alive to wreak havoc while the duo are asleep.
 * Minion with an F In Evil: Since most of the villains are comically inept, it's only natural that their minions are often incompetent and clumsy (for example in Issue 9 a minion decides to snack on some peanuts instead of looking for the secret document he was supposed to find).
 * Miss Fanservice: Especially under Magnus and Perucca, who weren't shy about drawing pretty ladies with sexy outfits. The best candidate is Pochita from the "Mangia" arc, who spends most of her time with her breasts exposed for all to see.
 * My Name Is Not Durwood: Used as a gag in The Forbidden Punch, where a boxing manager named "Spaghetti" gets misnamed by Bob, who calls him by any other pasta name but Spaghetti. The same gag is later reused with Hal Hamburger, with people around him (usually the Hanging Judge Aggio Lynch) calling him "Hotdog, Hoagie, Sandwich" etc etc.
 * Nebulous Evil Organisation: The Mangia Sect, a vile international group who's secretly behind countless crimes and evil organization and, hands down, the most serious and dangerous enemy the Group has ever faced.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Alan Ford himself was modelled after Peter O'Toole, Bob Rock and Oliver resemble caricatures of Magnus and Bunker, villain Anten-Man is a caricature of the Italian politician Silvio Berlusconi and the antagonist Mauriz Trippazza is a satire of the showman Maurizio Costanzo.
 * Non-Human Sidekick: The group has the Italian Pointer Cirano and Clodoveo, a talking sapient parrot who belonged to the Number One's grandfather. Later on the Number One gets Xeres, an alcoholist python, Pellicus (a pellican who also serves as a mean of locomotion) and Prudy, a cat.
 * Our Ghosts Are Different: The series features a cadre of ghosts of a 20's gang as antagonists, brought in the world of the living by a freak magical formula. Calling them "ghosts" out loud will make them moan and disappear for a while. Subverted by the villain of the issue "Idem-Idem", who's actually a con artist using elaborate costumes and tricks to appear as a glowing ghost nobleman carrying a copy of his head (which he refers to as his emergency head) under his arm.
 * Our Vampires Are Different: Baron Wurdalak and his associates are classical vampires, need blood to survive, avoid sunlight and can be killed by either a wooden stake or by water. They're also apparently the last of their kind, though the series also has the celtic Stanghen Vampires (who can turn people by biting them on the nose) and "Lesser Vampires", who have shorter lives and are barely superior to humans compared to true blue vampires.
 * Perpetual Poverty: The main charm point of the show, though they broke out of the formula after Alan went to live with Minuette.
 * Race Lift: Parodied with the magician Zippel, a parody of Mandrake the Magician who's a huge black man with a small, mute and dimwitted white man for a slave.
 * Right-Hand Attack Dog: Big Caesar has three of them: Teddy (a mastiff), Betty (a black panther) and Teodoro (a gorilla). He's pretty attached to them and they're very loyal to him.
 * Really 700 Years Old: The Number One. He was shown in a wheelchair back in the time of Homer, and he's implied to have known Adam and Eve. In Issue 642 he openly admits that he doesn't even know how old he is.
 * Rogues Gallery: The Number One has a literal one where he keeps an eye on the group's many opponents.
 * Rogues Gallery Transplant: Baron Wurdalak was a villain in Satanik, a previous series from Magnus and Bunker.
 * Running Gag: Plenty, including:
 * Alan having bad luck with women, but being seen as highly attractive when disguised as one (except for his voice).
 * Bob Rock getting mad at something, or being pelted with snowballs in winter, or being mocked for his nose/height or trying to con people out of their money like the Count, only to fail.
 * Count Oliver stealing everything in sight and calling his good friend Bing.
 * Cirano trying to eat Squitty/getting bribed with food by a villain.
 * Grunf making a ridicolous contraption or falling asleep in improbable places.
 * Mr. Tromb getting angry and blowing up a hollow globe with a bomb.
 * The three Pigs mocking the crime-of-the-episode, only to be forced into action when a rich and influent person is targeted.
 * Number One starting to tell stories from his younger days (aka, recounting various events from history and bygone eras, prettying up his involvement), only for agents to fall asleep and him to wake them up in anger. Also his little black book, which contains blackmail on everybody in world.
 * A Group TNT member (often Number One) listening to the news on the neighbour's radio by eavesdropping through the flower shop's wall (because the Group is too poor and Number One too cheap to buy their own radio). The neighbour will usually notice this and deliberately make some high-pitched or otherwise annoying sounds just to mess with them.
 * Satiating Sandwich: Given the Group's lack of wealth, a big nice sandwich/hamburger/hot dog is their equivalent of a hearty meal. One story even showcases a huge sandwich the size of a bus tire, filled with ham, salami, mustard, pickles and tomatoes, which ends up being eaten by the entire Group.
 * Self-Deprecation: Especially during the Magnus era, Magnus and Bunker were not above portraying caricatures of themselves in the stories, even in not-exactly-flattering roles.
 * Spy Fiction: The comic started off as a parody of the genre.
 * Stripped to the Bone: This is how meets his end.
 * Take That: Famously, "Formulae" depicts the communists as a bunch of authoritarian but bumbling idiots who're easily fooled by the heroes. At the time of the writing, speaking ill of the Communist Party was considered a big no-no.
 * In "Golpe", fascist reactionaries trying to take over a country are depicted as a mass of boasting blowhards who're ready to surrender the instant a vehicle crashes through their base.
 * Temporary Bulk Change: In "A Surprising Idea", the pudgy villain Bombolo Flit tries to lose the group members pursuing him by hiding in a sauna and raising the temperature to lose much of his weight in one go, becoming extremely thin. Later however,his gluttony ruins his plan as he gorges on pizza and beer in a restaurant, gaining all the fat he lost.
 * Those Wacky Nazis: Doctor Kreuzer and his mentor Krupp were former Nazis, though only the latter is nostalgic about the Reich. Some secondary antagonists are revealed to have Nazi sympathies, including one who wanted to remake the Reich simply because he thought it was the most fashionable army history ever saw.
 * The Untwist: Parodied in "Niagara": when Mr. Tromb reveals himself from his perfect disguise, Alan and Oliver point out that they already knew it was him because they saw his trademark trumpet icon on the henchmen, causing Tromb to throw a tantrum.
 * Villain Decay: Inevitable due to the long-running nature of the series: most of the antagonists tend to become less and less threatening with each new appearance, as seen with Superciuk, Dr. Kreuzer and Wurdalak.