Ozono

Script: Antonio Segura

Art: José Ortiz

Ozono was a series of adventure comics about an “ecological action group”, created in 1990 by Antonio Segura with drawings by José Ortiz for the Italian magazine L'Eternauta. It was later published in a compilation album and also appeared in Totem el Comix in Spain.

“Ozono” is an international organisation similar to Interpol with the purpose of fighting against any kind of environmental crimes. The group operates in a plausible near future (the stories, published since 1990, are set in 2010) in which the mismanagement of the Earth's resources and reckless exploitation have brought the planet to the brink of disaster. The greenhouse effect has turned half of Europe into a tropical forest and all of North Africa into an extension of the Saharan desert. The widening of the ozone hole has forced people to wear goggles and protective clothing, while the buildings of large cities are covered in lead cloth.

All of this has made it necessary to establish a special unit capable of combating ecological crimes and environmental offenses by any means necessary. The group intervenes in any scenario that could pose a danger to nature and mankind, saving endangered species and forests from deforestation. They intervene where human folly could lead to new environmental catastrophes, such as oil tankers, nuclear power stations or even simple refrigeration plants.

At the time of its publication the series was very controversial in Italy, sparking quite a debate.

Key Points:

A prescient series ahead of its times
Ortiz and Segura were true visionaries and in 1990 foresaw a future that is our present