SIR BENSON... or DIRK THE DARING ???

[DarthNuno]

Have a look a this cartoon 'Sir Benson'







...very similar than one of our favorite characters isn't it ?

The name of that character is Sir Benson.

Although the author does not mention Dragon's Lair or Don Bluth in his inspiration, the resemblance is disconcerting  

Let's try to contact the author 'Andrea Martin' and ask more information about his great work    Anyone speak Italian by the way    

Videos & more information available on the author's website, right here      SIR BENSON

ps : thanks to Vince 'Mighty Pirate' for that link  

[mightypirate]

Hi Bruno !  
Sorry to contradict you,
but Andrea Martin, the author, cited in his website Dragon's Lair and Don Bluth directly as one the two main sources of inspiration for his character (the other one is Disney's Black Cauldron)
(You can see clicking on INFO on the web page...italian language  only   )

Of course you can count on me for every kind of translation...  
I'm already trying to contact the author...

Mighty Pirate "Vince"

[DarthNuno]

YopVince,

OPpss..    OK, thanks for the correction regarding his inspiration.
He's a true Dragon's Lair & Bluth fan  



I'll try to contact him too... hope he's speaking english   Did you already have some words from him by the way ?  

[mightypirate]

Bruno,
I'm trying to contact Martin from last friday...
but I still didn't receive any answer...  
guess he's very busy...

When I will know more, I will let you know immediately  

[DarthNuno]

Great Job Vince 'Mighty Pirate' 

Vince done for us the italian -> english translation from the Andrea Martin's interview (SIr Bensen creator) 

And there it is      :



Interview with Andrea Martin
By Enrico Ruocco


Please introduce yourself..
My real name is Andrea, but usually colleagues and friends called me just Martin.
I was born in 1970, even if I look younger; the place where I was born and grew up is Mirano, a little town near Venezia (Venice), where actually I live and work.

When did you start to be interested in cartoons ?
Since I was a child I had a passion for drawing and the idea to “give life” to my characters using animation always fascinated me.
Unfortunately twenty years ago we didn’t have the same instruments we have today, so it was impossible to create a cartoon, just staying at home and using your computer, so I focused on creating comics (I didn’t dislike that : comics are one of my greatest passions, after cartoon and cinema).

Which one is your favorite cartoon ?
I was born in 70’s, so I saw the birth of “Anime”, during that time we were just calling them “Japanese cartoons”, our parents usually forbade us to watch them, because “made by computer” (not my parents, anyway…). During that time you could watch masterpieces like Goldrake (U.F.O. Robot), Lupin III, Gundam and many others (Jeeg, Danguard, The Great Mazinger…Ah, so lovely times…) and to choose which one to watch was really hard, because all of them had a great influence on all of us. Anyway, if I really need to choose only one I would choose Lupin III, no doubts, the first series (the one we were calling “with the green jacket”), uncensored version obviously.

Why ?
Lupin III, on my opinions, represented a great innovation on the cartoons of that time. Of course Goldrake and Gundam were interesting and so different from the “usual” Disney’s classics, but Lupin emerged because of some pecularities that made it become a particular emotive experience. First the main character, with his way to laugh, his brilliant way to reach his purpose and then the superb creation of the other characters, each one with his own personality and humor, how to forget about that ?
The stories were a good mix of action, humor and mystery, without mentioning the fact that for the first time was introduced the “erotic” element…All the boys during that time were in love with Fujiko…

When did you think to create your own website ?
I was already thinking to create it eight years ago, when I was working on comics, but I’ m not a programmer and I didn’t have the chance to let somebody create it for me, I always thought “After, after…” and I wrong. The chance came last year when I invented “Sir Benson” and I introduced him to Gianluca Faletta, the president of Satyrnet, he was the one suggesting me to create a website about my character.

Why to create a website ?
The site has been created to give visibility to my character, even if inside you will also find information about me, the things I’ve done and a couple of comic books I made.

Please introduce your website…
Everything is about Sir Benson, this strange character who is not interested about the evolution of the world in which he is living, but he is there anyway…
The design [of the website] reproduces the same Fantasy style of the cartoon and it’s been created by Gianluca Faletta himself. The users will find the episodes and a detailed description of the character, from his creation to his realization with images and drawings. On the area “Goodies” the users can download wallpapers and on “Contatti” you can write your comments. Anyway the website is evolving continuously…the third episode “Singolar Tenzone” is almost ready and will be published soon.

What is your dream ?
I’d like to work in an animation studio and create a short TV series of Sir Benson.

What are you planning to do in the future ?
We will keep going on working on our Sir Benson project : I and Gianluca we are thinking to develop the character, not only on cartoons. And more I’ve created many other characters, some of them coming from my comic books, probably you will see them “move” soon.

Something more you want to say ?
The contributions from the community are fundamental, so whoever has comments to do, ideas for some episodes, or simple suggests …we will be happy to read and to develop. I will be personally happy to answer to all of you.
A special thank to Gianluca Faletta who made all this possible and of course to you, Enrico, for this interview.
See you soon
Andrea Martin


Translation by “Mighty Pirate” Vince. 

[DarthNuno]

Update : New episode available   



Don't forget to visit the Martin's website right here : http://www.aulamanga.it/sirbenson/ (but in Italian).

[DarthNuno]

A new episode is available