Danger: Diabolik

A delightfully outlandish comic strip directed by the master of the Italian B movie, a former cameraman who could always be relied on to ravish the eye with wonderfully bizarre imagery. Part James Bond parody, part Feuillade serial, it sends itself up as cheerfully as anything else as its hero dallies with his beloved under a snowfall of banknotes or prowls about his nefarious (but always chivalrous) purposes in black leotards, armed with suction pads that turn him into a human fly. But from time to time it also hits a high note of fantasy worthy of Cocteau, notably in a scene where Diabolik, encased in plumes of molten gold, is transformed into a living statue by his arch-enemy.