Milo Manara was born in Luson in 1945. He is renowned among comic book readers for the sensuality of his watercolors and illustrations.
He made his debut in the world of comics in 1969 with erotic-police stories featured in the series Genius and Jolanda de Almaviva.
In the 1970s, he began collaborating with Corriere dei Ragazzi. During the same period, he created Un fascio di bombe (A Bundle of Bombs), a comic about the strategy of tension during the historical period of the Years of Lead.
With Lo Scimmiotto and Alessio, un borghese rivoluzionario (Alessio, a Bourgeois Revolutionary), Manara made his debut in auteur comics, also contributing to the comic adaptation of Storia d’Italia, a series curated by Enzo Biagi.
He worked with Hugo Pratt, and their collaborations include successes such as Un’Estate Indiana (An Indian Summer) and Il Gaucho, where Pratt wrote the scripts.
The South Tyrolean artist also gained international fame, thanks to several publications for DC Comics and Marvel, including a female-focused X-Men story and X-Men: Ragazze in fuga (X-Women), in collaboration with American writer Chris Claremont.
After receiving numerous awards and recognitions in Italy and abroad, in 2009, the Academy of Fine Arts of Macerata awarded him the title of Honorary Academic (Accademico Honoris Causa).