Editorial
One of the staples of the paninaro culture was undoubtedly the comics, fundamental tools to create a national awareness of the phenomenon. The editorial output, edited by publishing houses such as Edifumetto, Look Boys SRL and Davide Rossi, is concentrated above all from 1986, at the height of the paninaro phenomenon, hence at the height of the paninaro craze, thus running between its moment of maximum pop contamination and the beginning of its decline.
The comic-cum-magazine Paninaro, was the first to appear on the shelves of Italian newsagents in January 1986. It was edited by Davide Rossi and, with a run of 48 issues, it reached a record circulation of 7 billion copies. In the wake of the phenomenon, the equally iconic Wild Boys and Cucador (Garden Editoriale SRL) with its side publication Saremo Tutti Yuppies - Rivista post-Galla followed suit with. Not to forget other editorial projects, like Zippo Panino, and Sfitty, dedicated to a female audience. Drawing all these monthly (or bi-weekly in the case of Wild Boys) publications together was a powerful and impactful iconography, made of bold bright fonts, comics, photographic essays, and columns, ranging from fashion ("Pan look") to mail, from music to horoscopes, from useful tips ("How to break into a bank with your computer ") to the beauty ("How to tan with carrot"). All accompanied by cheeky hedonism permeated by noncurrent chauvinism, typical of the dominant culture of the ‘80s. Simply take columns like the "Sfitinziometro" (a voting system to award the most attractive paninaro girl), "The Sfitinzia of the Month" (again, a space dedicated to a girl strictly based on aesthetic canons), and “La Foto Galla", a photo of a hip paninaro to be sent, as the magazine noted, “in the phase of courting".
Comics were key tools in creating a national awareness of the phenomenon.
The photographic reports were especially interesting to learn about the aesthetic nuances of the different paninaro ‘companies’ scattered across Italy, the comic strips undoubtedly were the element that offered the richest compendium of the paninaro vocabulary, alongside constant and funny references to the pop culture of the time. Traits that make the plates still interesting in a historical key. It is impossible, in fact, not to mention titles such as "I falsari delle Timberland", "I Pirati del Charro", or the series of "Cavalier Berlusca", by Wild Boys pencils Tullio Brunone and Daniele Fagarazzi, which highlights how the advent of Berlusconi as a television entrepreneur had affected the lifestyle of Milano da Bere. Creators of an iconographic myth capable of crossing regional borders, the comics gave life to real urban legends and gurus of the scene, renaming the protagonists of the cartoons with the names of the very first Milanese paninari - such as Palermo and Armiere - who, often, had already distanced themselves from the movement.
Undoubtedly, both because of the distribution on the newsstand circuit and because of the type of editorial and graphic line, it can be seen that these magazines were destined for an audience that was anything but subcultural and made up above all of the very young people who had become attached to the paninari fashion style, years after its birth. This is also understandable through various stickers and cards (often made by Edifumetto) that used graphics with childish tones, such as the tender anthropomorphic hamburgers or the collection of stickers of I Bambinari.
One can easily gather this by looking at the editorial output of patches and stickers (often produced by Edifumetto) often using nearly childish graphics and themes, as in the case of the cute anthropomorphic hamburgers of the Bambinari sticker series.The stickers, however, knew how to be an effective graphic compendium of the Paninara aesthetics, helping to create collective consciousness and identity within the scene. On all, we remember Panoz, a figure with an orange down jacket, brush cut, and giant Timberland remained over the years one of the main Paninaro icons. Far from the amateurishness of fanzines, these glossy magazines, and their memorial seemed in fact designed for a public that, fed up with information, seemed to need precise guidelines on what to consume, listen to and wear.
