He was created in 1938 by the sports journalist Vincenzo Baggioli [fr] (writer) and Carlo Cossio (artist).

The character, an Italian-American, is an undercover agent of the Chicago police, who often engages in fisticuffs.

[1][2] Fulmine's jutting jaw was a reference to the popular and propagandistic physiognomic iconography of Benito Mussolini.

[3] Dick Fulmine achieved a great popularity in the Fascist era, and in reason of its success the comic underwent several interventions by the MinCulPop (the Fascist Ministry of Popular Culture) in order to make his stories more nationalistic and moral.

[1] With the outbreak of World War II, Dick Fulmine underwent an even more marked evolution to respond to changing political demands, turning from being a detective into a belligerent Italian soldier.