Zerocalcare

Rech was born in Cortona, Italy, to an Italian father from Rome and a French mother. He was raised in France, then later Rome.[1][2]

In 2003, at the age of 20, Rech began working as an illustrator for Liberazione, Carta, La Repubblica XL, and several other periodicals. At this time, he also worked for Zuda Comics, the online division of DC Comics. In 2004 he created a comic about the G8 summit in Genoa, which had taken place three years before.[3]

Zerocalcare published his first graphic novel in October of 2011 titled La profezia dell'armadillo, and in November created zerocalcare.it, a website where he published autobiographical comic strips. In September 2012, the blog won the Macchianera Award as 'Best draftsman-Cartoonist'[4] and the Gran Guinigi Award at Lucca Comics for best short story.

In April 2016, Rech's fourth graphic novel Kobane Calling: Greetings from Northern Syria was published in Italian and later in English. The material had been previously published in 'Internazionale' and focused on the conflict between the Kurds and the Islamic State.[5] In 2017 Kobane Calling won the Micheluzzi Award as best cartoon at Naples Comicon. In October 2017, a film based on his first graphic novel La profezia dell'armadillo entered production.[6] Zerocalcare was one of four screenwriters on the movie. [7]

On January 14, 2018, L'Espresso published a short comic by Zerocalcare titled 'Questa non è una partita a bocce,' focussing on the rise of Neo-fascist movements in Italy,[8] and on September 3, 2018, the film La profezia dell'armadillo was released.[9] Shortly afterward, in November, the MAXXI museum hosted an exhibition of Zerocalcare's works, titled Zerocalcare. Scavare fossati, Nutrire coccodrilli. It lasted until March of 2019.[10] That same month a theatrical adaption of Kobane Calling: Greetings from Northern Syria debuted at Teatro del Giglio,[11] and toured as part of the 2019/2020 theatre season.[12] In 2020, Zerocalcare got high visibility, particularly thanks to the animated shorts Rebibbia Quarantine broadcast on LA7 on the Propaganda Live program during lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.

On December 21, 2020, Zerocalcare announced that he would be creating an animated series for Netflix titled Tear Along the Dotted Line.[13][14] Ten months later, on October 8, 2021, Netflix released a teaser trailer for the show, which announced the show’s November 17th, 2021 release date.[15] The show premiered ten days later, on October 18th at RomaCinemaFest.[16] On November 16 Ablaze Publishing announced that they would be releasing English translations of Zerocalcare's first three graphic novels, The Armadillo Prophecy (2011), Tentacles At My Throat (2012) and Forget My Name (2014).[17] Tear Along the Dotted Line was released through Netflix on November 17 2021. Early reviews have been positive.[18]