Zerocalcare (real name Michele Rech), a cartoonist, has long published on photocopied fanzines and created posters for hardcore punk concerts, participating in numerous self-productions within the social center circuit. He has collaborated with Smemoranda, Wired, Internazionale, Repubblica XL, and Espresso, among others. From November 2018 to March 2019, MAXXI hosted an exhibition dedicated to him titled "Digging Moats - Feeding Crocodiles." He is one of the screenwriters of the film "La profezia dell'armadillo" (2018), based on his eponymous work. In 2021, he wrote and directed the animated series "Strappare lungo i bordi," produced by Movimenti Production in collaboration with BAO Publishing and broadcasted on Netflix. In 2023, he wrote and directed the second animated series "Questo mondo non mi renderà cattivo," also for the same streaming platform.

He won the Micheluzzi Award for Best Comic for "Kobane calling" (Bao Publishing, 2016), a report translated into eight languages, and the Sergio Bonelli Award (2022).

Among his publications are "La profezia dell'armadillo" (BAO Publishing, 2011; 2017), "Un polpo alla gola" (BAO Publishing, 2012), "Ogni maledetto lunedì su due" (BAO Publishing, 2013), "Dodici" (BAO Publishing, 2013), "Dimentica il mio nome" (BAO Publishing, 2014), "La scuola di pizze in faccia del professor Calcare" (BAO Publishing, 2019), "Scheletri" (BAO Publishing, 2020), "A babbo morto. Una storia di Natale" (BAO Publishing, 2020), "Niente di nuovo sul fronte di Rebibbia" (BAO Publishing, 2021), and "Zerocalcare Animation Art Book" (BAO Publishing, 2023).

In January 2023, he published a 26-page comic in Internazionale on the story of Ilaria Salis, the anti-fascist from Milan detained in Hungary for about a year.