The creation of Gionni Guitar is quite complex… In the mid-1980s, “Paninari” was the trend of the moment in Italy. The phenomenon was rather important, as the “Paninari” were the first Italian youth movement unrelated to cultural events, like for example the rebellion against a system and the rejection of rules. Their outfit was exclusively linked to elite consumerism: Armani, Coveri, Timberland. In order to be fashionable, you had to wear what was, in a sense, almost a uniform. Some  branded items of clothing were considered necessary. The phenomenon was so widespread that many comics about them started to appear. At that time, I managed to get in touch with Nicola Del Principe, the old backbone of Italian comics, who ran the comic Zippo il Panino. Caught up in the excitement, I wrote and drew three funny stories about the improbable adventures of a group of teenagers. Unfotunately that genre was a little bit over the top for the market, that, on the other hand, was already falling. A few years went by, until I met Stefano Servidio, an architecture student very fond of comics and… bass and guitar player! At the moment of thinking of a short story for INK, I immediately thought of an old character, Midnight Rock. So we decided to use his likeness for our singing off-key character, who oppressed all the others (but Stefano can play very well, trust me!). So, he became our protagonist, whereas the other characters, originally belonging to the group of Paninari, became his wingpeople. As for his name, I took into account the movie Jhonny Guitar, a classical cowboy film in the 1950s, very important to my father, but changing and italianizing his name in Gionni. Stefano really liked that experience, and he still boasts with his students he is now teaching!