After brief experiences as teacher and journalist for Il Popolo d'Italia, he realized several documentaries as director and screenwriter, moving to live and work in Paris for five years.
Returned to Italy in 1938, Martina started collaborating with Topolino as translator of American stories. During this time he also wrote a radio variety show and directed a short-lived satirical magazine, Fra' Diavolo. During World War II he served as cavalry officer in Libya, where he was taken prisoner by the British army. Following the Armistice of Cassibile he was moved in Poland, from where he was deported to a Nazi concentration camp in Austria.
In 1945 Martina reprised his collaboration with Topolino, also creating his first original stories. In 1949 he started the "Grandi Parodie Disney" (i.e. "Great Disney Spoofs") saga with the celebrated story "L'inferno di Topolino", a parody of Dante Alighieri's Inferno. During his career he wrote hundreds of stories, creating dozens of characters, including Paperinik. In 1949 he created with Raffaele Paparella the popular western series Pecos Bill, and in 1952 the adventure series Oklahoma. He also collaborated with the comic magazines Cucciolo and Tiramolla, and wrote several photonovels for Il Vittorioso.
Outside comics, Martina also collaborated with Disney as author of 11 volumes of the 24 volumes-long Enciclopedia Disney.
