Comics&Science in Crystallography

The role of comics in science communications has been subject of a number of recent papers. While some debate on an accepted definition of what constitutes a science comics is still ongoing, the role of comics in science outreach is now universally recognized. [1] Here we present the Comics&Science comic books published by CNR Edizioni and edited by Roberto Natalini and Andrea Plazzi. The Comics&Science concept was implemented in the first place as a section of the Lucca Comics&Games festival, followed by the printed series in 2013. Comics&Science's philosophy is to have science elements, ideas and "bits" integrated into cartoons by the best professional writers and artists. The story must be fun, entertaining and overall artistically and aesthetically significant. Each issue is completed by articles and pieces about and around the topics touched by the story. A Comics&Science issue almost always starts with the cartoonist visiting a research lab/facility. Tipically, the artist has little or no formal scientific background and up to now this has proved to be an effective starting point for exchanging opinions and a cross-debate of sorts. Following the Comics&Science "protocol", Italian hugely popular cartoonist Zerocalcare (millions of books sold in the last few years) visited the Elettra and Fermi light sources prior to working to his "Light Issue", co-edited by the Istituto di Struttura della Materia-CNR (ISM- CNR) and Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste. The upcoming Comics&Science issue (Fall 2019) will be featuring a Periodic Table-inspired story by writer Giovanni Eccher and artist Sergio Ponchione, as a joint venture between the Department of Chemical Science and Technology of Materials (CNR-DSCTM) and the Young Chemists Group and the Group for the Diffusion of the Chemistry Culture of the Italian Chemical Society.