Wicce's Tarot Collection

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Dylan Dog
Tarocchi Dell'Incubo
by Tiziano Sclavi and Angelo Stano

This is a Major Arcana only, art tarot deck by LoScarabeo featuring the character Dylan Dog. My understanding is that he is a character from European comic books. The theme of the deck is that of werewolves and vampires, demons and occult horror. I would guess that this is possibly the theme of the entire comic series. Of course, if someone has more information on this, feel free to enlighten me. *smile*

The artwork in this deck is quite good. One sees many recurring themes and characters throughout the deck. Obviously Dylan himself is the most common character, appearing in 13 of the 22 cards, at least that I can recognize. There is a man whose name I do not know, who looks like a comic rendering of Groucho Marx (it's the mustache that makes me think so!) and he appears in 5 of the cards. A woman seems to recur also, she is in 4 cards. There seems to be something of a story line running through the 22 cards, which mimics the "Fool's Journey" most of us are familiar with, in that it takes Dylan through many stages of the story from beginning to end. Many intriguing adventures seem to befall him. I could spend a lot of time looking at this deck and trying to figure out the theme. I have a feeling it would be very helpful if one was familiar with the comic series, but probably the ability to read Italian would also help, since all of the cards have a little two-line verse underneath them, in Italian.

The titles follow traditional order and name sequence, with Justice being 8 and Strength as 11. Each card has the title in Italian only, in the top border above the image area. The Roman numerals for each card accompany these titles. The subtractive form is used. The Fool is unnumbered as is common in some traditions. As stated above, the two-line verse under the image is also in Italian only. Since this is not a full tarot deck, but an art collectible only, there is no Minor Arcana.

The cards themselves are slightly smaller than standard sized and are printed on a thick heavy cardstock which has been treated with a semigloss finish for protection. Edges are pretty well smoothed and the corners have been cut into a rounded shape. Although I usually don't recommend shuffling art decks, the deck does shuffle and handle easily, particularly because there are only 22 cards. The back design is a double-ended blue and white monochrome inset from the Force, or Strength, card. It is reversible. There is no little white booklet. A single card which comes with the deck has notes from the creator of the deck, in Italian. The deck comes packaged in a small box with a plastic pull-out tray inside it.

I recommend this deck highly for collectors of art tarots, and also those who like comic series tie-ins. Of course, anyone who is familiar with the Dylan Dog character and series will consider this a must. It is not really meant for reading with, so it is not something a beginner to tarot would want to pick up, if the intention was to buy a reading deck. One would only get more confused trying. However, the art in this is very good and the theme is unique, so any collector will enjoy it. It is hard to find, but some dealers such as Alida still show it in their inventory.

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LoScarabeo

Dylan Dog Tarocchi Dell'Incubo by Tiziano Sclavi and Angelo Stano, 1991
published by LoScarabeo, Torino, Italy