main characters (Alan Ford, Bob Rock, Sir Oliver, The Boss, Jeremiah and Grunf), but the creators decided to omit Sir Oliver in the ultimate revision (July 1968), for fear of overwhelming readers with characters in the first issue. Raviola decided to base the drawing of Alan Ford on Irish actor Peter O'Toole. According to Max Bunker, he wanted to create a comic book which did not fall into either of the then predefined categories of adventures and dark comics, like Satanik or Kriminal (both by Bunker and Raviola), or traditionally funny comics, like Mickey Mouse. The first issue of the comic book, entitled "Il Gruppo TNT" ("The Group TNT"), was received mildly by its audience. The second issue, entitled "The Hollow Tooth" appeared in June 1968, introduced the Sir Oliver character, and was overshadowed by the first issue's lack of success. The reputation of Alan Ford grew with subsequent issues. The character of Number One was introduced later into the series, in the 11th issue named "Number One". Cirano first appeared in the 18th issue ("Million Dollar Dog"), when he was adopted by Bob Rock, albeit unwillingly. Magnus drew the first 75 issues, after which he was replaced by Paolo Piffarerio in 1975. In 1983, when the comic book moved to another publisher, Max Bunker Press, Raffaele della Monica and Giuliano Piccinnino replaced Piffarerio. Currently the comic book is drawn by Dario Perucca (who also draws covers) with inks by Omar Pistolato. In its entire story the drawing style has remained the same set by Magnus. Translations Alan Ford was translated into French, Croatian, Danish, Portuguese and in the 1990s subsequent Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, Macedonian and Slovenian editions appeared. The French and Macedonian editions only saw twelve issues before they got dropped due to poor sales. The Portuguese edition only saw about three issues. It was also translated into Albanian in Serbia which saw only five issues before getting dropped, also due to poor sales. Yugoslavia Alan Ford achieved great success in SFR Yugoslavia immediately after its 1972 introduction. It survived the dissolution of the country and in 2005 it was still one of the best selling comic books in the area. The comic book's publishing was started in 1972 by the state-owned company Vjesnik from Zagreb. This edition is still a popular collectors' item. First dozen issues didn't produce much success, however, the appearance in issue #25 of antagonist