Iginio Straffi

Biography

Straffi was born on 30 May 1965 in Gualdo, in the Italian region of Marche. He began drawing his own comic stories at age seven, and moved to Macerata when he was eight. In high school, he drew comic stories in classmates' notebooks and entered art competitions, including one held by the comic magazine Totem. He studied Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Macerata while continuing to develop his art skills. During university, he dated a foreign girl named Antonella, who was raised in Italy by adoptive parents; her desire to meet her biological parents inspired Straffi to create the character Bloom. Bloom's personality was based on that of Straffi's wife, Joanne Lee, whom he met in 1997 during a trip to Singapore; they later married and have a daughter named Isotta.

Straffi entered the professional comic book industry with a story in the 1985 issue of Tilt. He later contributed to Lanciostory and the Italian version of Skorpio. In 1989, he was talent-scouted by Claudio Nizzi, creator of the Nick Raider series, and began working for Sergio Bonelli Editore, drawing the October 1990 issue "Missione nel Bronx". His work also appeared occasionally in Métal hurlant and Comic Art. Straffi left Sergio Bonelli Editore in 1992 and moved to France for a storyboarding job at Telcima, working on the pilot episode of Valérian and a planned film adaptation of Roman de Renart. After gaining experience in animation production, he returned to Italy. With financial assistance from Lamberto Pigini and Giuseppe Casali, Straffi founded Rainbow SpA in 1995 with €10,000, used mainly for computers and software for digital design.