Andrea Castellan

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Andrea Castellan
Born	(1967-04-23) 23 April 1967 Gorizia, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Area(s)	artist, writer, cartoonist
Pseudonym(s)	Casty
Notable works	Mickey Mouse and the World to Come, Mickey Mouse on Quandomai Island

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Andrea Castellan (born 23 April 1967 in Gorizia, Italy), known by his nickname Casty, is an Italian comic artist. He started his professional career in 1993 by working for the Italian monthly comic book Cattivik, writing over 200 stories and drawing some of them. In 1999 he also started writing for "Lupo Alberto". Starting his work for Disney Italia in 2002 (first only as a writer, later also as an artist), he is well respected and has enjoyed considerable international success.

Work and success (Disney comics)

Italy

In Italy, the editing staff at Topolino quickly noted Casty's talent and gave his plots to seasoned Disney veterans such as Massimo De Vita and Giorgio Cavazzano (which is very unusual for young Disney writers, at least in Italy). Fans and critics remarked his ability for writing longer Mickey Mouse stories in a period when most writers concentrated on the Duck universe. In 2005, he started designing cover illustrations. and also published his first self-drawn Disney story , inked by Sandro Zemolin (who has also inked for Romano Scarpa and Giorgio Cavazzano, among others). Later stories were inked by Michele Mazzon, before Casty started doing all the art by himself.

Over the years, Casty has invented many new characters such as Eurasia Tost, Estrella Marina, Uma, Charlie Doublejoke, but he has also written many plots with classic characters by Floyd Gottfredson/Bill Walsh (The Phantom Blot, Montmorency Rodent, The Rhyming Man, Miklos, Eega Beeva) and Romano Scarpa (Atomo Bleep-Bleep, Aunt Topolinda, Seamus O'Hara, Portis, Trudy Van Tubb). (See also Mickey Mouse universe.) Gottfredson and Scarpa are also generally seen as main influences on Casty's art.

Casty has won several TopoOscars for writing, art and specific stories. In 2007, 2008, _{Results from 2009 don't seem to be available} 2010, 2011, 2012 2014 and 2015 he won the prize for best story (since stories were divided into categories: for long Mickey Mouse stories) and best writer, also repeatedly ending up among the top 3 artists (usually behind Giorgio Cavazzano, with whom he finally shared number one in 2011).

Besides these reader-voted prizes, he has also received the Papersera award in 2014, which was honoured by an issue of the Papersera Library

These days, the publication of a new Casty story on Topolino is usually anticipated and celebrated among Disney fans, not unlike the "hype" surrounding Don Rosa in his late period as an active creator. Casty has also appeared at the Lucca Comics Fair several times.

Central Europe and Scandinavia

In 2009, German fans, angry at the choices of Mickey stories in the "Lustiges Taschenbuch" started lobbying for more Casty stories in German Disney publications, by proclaiming that Casty is the best current Disney author and by comparing him to Carl Barks and Don Rosa . After much insistence, the Egmont group decided to prioritize Casty's work for the international co-production .

In 2016, Finland's Disney publisher Sanoma released an issue of Roope-Setä (the seventh under the "Platina" headline) dedicated to Casty, including two of his most celebrated stories and several articles about him.

In 2018, an issue of the German "Lustiges Taschenbuch Premium" (which has also printed Ultraheroes, PKNA, X-Mickey, Darkwing Duck and Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine was released, containing the entire "Darkenblot" cycle written by Casty and drawn by Lorenzo Pastrovicchio. It was the largest issue of the series to date (454 comics pages as opposed to the usual ca. 376).

USA

In 2010, the relaunched Walt Disney's Comics and Stories (published at the time by Boom! Studios) introduced Casty to the USA by printing Casty's first long (four-part) story "Mickey Mouse and the World to Come", which is designed as a sequel to the Floyd Gottfredson serial "The Atombrella and the Rhyming Man". This was quickly followed up by his next four-parter "Mickey Mouse on Quandomai Island", which is a parody of Lost "starring Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, Peg-Leg Pete, Trudy and some other mysterious villains" as described in Casty's teaser "film poster". Editor Aaron Sparrow claimed at the time that "Casty is a modern master that soon will be spoken about in the same breath as Floyd Gottfredson, Romano Scarpa and William Van Horn" . Boom! would print two more Casty stories, "Mickey Mouse and the Orbiting Nightmare" and "The Menace from the Future", and commission Casty to do covers specifically for the US market (including covers referring to others' stories) - one of these ended up on the last Disney publication released by Boom!, Walt Disney Comics & Stories 720.

According to Chris Barat, Boom! "caught lightning in a bottle" with the introduction of Casty to US readers.

Four years later, IDW Publishing resumed the publication of Disney comics and Casty became a regular feature right from the beginning. A particular focus was put on his cycle of stories featuring his invention Eurasia Toft, who was heavily featured in the first IDW issues of "Mickey Mouse and Friends" with "The Lost Explorers' Trail" (which is also the first story only written by Casty to be published in the US), "Gift of the Sun Lord", "The Shadow of the Colossus" and "Dark Mines of the Phantom Metal". Other Casty stories printed by IDW include "The Magnificent Doublejoke", "Night of the Living Text!", "Darkenblot", "The Clones of Channel 3000" and "Plan Dine from Outer Space". The latter was praised by comic historian and blogger Joe Torcivia (who did the English dialogue) as "the BEST modern Mickey story I’ve seen in the last 25 years – since the “Phantom Blot Bedtime Story” of 1990!". Torcivia also repeatedly refers to Casty as "the Modern Mouse Master"

The story "Mickey e i 7 Boglins" (a collaboration with Enrico Faccini) was even printed in the Fantagraphics Floyd Gottfredson library, as it is a sequel to the Walsh/Gottfredson story "Mickey's Dangerous Double".

Controversy

As with any artist who has been recognized as a "star" of the scene, there are also negative comments about his work. One criticism frequently aimed at Casty is the sometimes rather overt, sometimes more hidden political messages in some of his plots. He also got criticized for "childish" dialogues and for not giving his main characters much depth. Thad Komorowski criticized Casty's use of a "long exposition" in "Dark Mines of the Phantom Metal", likening it to Don Rosa's work

External links

• Casty at INDUCKS
• Casty at Duckipedia (German)
• Casty at PaperPedia Wiki (Italian)
• Casty at Picsou Wiki (French)
• 2010 interview with Casty (English)
• Blog entry on "Quandomai Island"
• Interview with Casty (German)
• Casty's Facebook page (maintained by fans)
• Interview with Casty (Italian)
• Discussion about Casty on the Papersera Forum (Italian)
• Results of the first Fieselschweif Disney Artists Poll (German)
• Results of the second Fieselschweif Disney Artists Poll (German) / Separate article on "why Casty is one of the 20 best Disney artists" (German)

In 2006, he won the prize as best Italian comic writer.

Casty

This article "Andrea Castellan" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Andrea Castellan. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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