‘People said I didn’t have enough talent’: the rise of Italy’s graphic novel gonzo

Michele Rech aka Zerocalcare's book signings attract huge crowds and now he has a hit Netflix animated series inspired by his life

Michele Rech is uncomfortable with success. The shy 38-year-old comic book artist, who works from a modest apartment on the outskirts of Rome, does not use the word fame" but refers instead to his rise to national prominence as a thing" he struggles to manage.

In the art world, he is known as Zerocalcare and is the cartoonist's equivalent of Hunter S Thompson. Rech's graphic novels are a form of gonzo journalism - inspired by his own adventures as a protester on the frontlines of police violence in Italy, and in Syria, where he was embedded with Kurdish forces.