Corto Maltese
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This article is about the comic book character. For the Italian comics and adventures magazine, see Corto Maltese (magazine).
Corto Maltese is a fictional character, a sailor-adventurer created by Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt. The comics have been translated in many languages outside Italy.
Corto Maltese (possibly derived from the Venetian Courtyard of the Maltese) is a laconic sea captain adventuring through the early 20th century (1900-1920s). A rogue with a heart of gold, he is tolerant and sympathetic to the underdog. Born in Valletta on July 10, 1887, he is a son of a British sailor from Cornwall and a gypsy witch from Gibraltar who carved his own life line on his palm, determining that his fate was his to choose. Although maintaining a neutral pose, Corto instinctively supports the disadvantaged and oppressed.
The character debuted in the serial Una Ballata del Mare Salato (Ballad of the Salt Sea, 1967) concerning smugglers and pirates in the World War I-era Pacific Islands. In 1970 Pratt began a series of short Corto Maltese stories for the French comic magazine Pif gadget. In 1974 he returned to full-length stories, sending Corto to 1918 Siberia in the album Corte sconta detta arcana (Corto Maltese in Siberia). In 1976, Ballad of the Salt Sea was awarded with the prize for best foreign realistic comic album at the Angoulême International Comics Festival
Chronologically, the first Corto Maltese adventure, La giovinezza (The Early Years), happens during the Russo-Japanese War. In several short stories (collected in In Africa and The Celts, or A Mid-Winter Morning's Dream) he experiences the First World War in several locations, participates in the Russian Civil War after the October Revolution, and appears during the early stages of Fascist Italy. In a separate series by Pratt, Gli Scorpioni del Deserto (The Desert Scorpions) he is described as disappearing during the Spanish Civil War.
The character embodies the author's skepticism of national, ideological, and religious assertions. Corto befriends people from all walks of life, including murderous Russian Rasputin (no relation with the historical figure, apart a physical resemblance), British heir Tristan Bantam, Voodoo priestess Gold Mouth and Czech academic Jeremiah Steiner. He also knows and meets various historical figures, including Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Herman Hesse, Butch Cassidy, Russian White general Roman von Ungern-Sternberg and Enver Pasha of Turkey. His acquaintances treat him with great respect, as when a telephone call to Josef Stalin frees him from arrest when he is threatened with execution on the border of Turkey and Armenia.
Corto's favourite reading is the Utopia by Thomas More, but he never finished it. He also read books by London, Stevenson, Melville and Conrad.
The Corto Maltese stories range from straight historical adventure stories to occult dream sequences. He sees the Red Baron shot down, helps Jivaros in South America, and flees Fascists in Venice, but also unwittingly helps Merlin and Oberon to defend Britain and visits the lost continent of Mu.
A 2002 French-language animated film, Corto Maltese : La Cour secrète des Arcanes, was based on the Pratt novel Corte sconta detta arcana, ("Corto Maltese in Siberia").
[edit] Corto Maltese Graphic novels
This is a list of the twelve Corto Maltese novels in chronological order. Please note that NBM Publishing, one of the publishers, took great liberties in translating the stories. Not all the albums are available in English and some NBM albums do not correspond to any original French or Italian title. Where the adequate English translation is not available, the original titles are given first.
- 1905 The Early Years (NBM, colour 1988) (the original Italian title: La giovinezza, colour 1983; French title: La Jeunesse; black and white 1981, colour 1985)
- 1913-1915 The Ballad of the Salt Sea (Harvill, UK 1996; NBM 1997-98 serialized as 7 comic books)(the original Italian title: Una Ballata del Mare Salato, black and white 1967-1969; French title: La Ballade de la mer salée, 1973-1974; colour 1991)
- 1916-1917 Sous le signe du Capricorne (black and white 1971; colour edition as - episodes 1 to 3 - Suite caraïbéenne, 1990; and - episodes 4 to 6 - Sous le Drapeau des Pirates, 1991)
- 1917 Corto toujours un peu plus loin (black and white 1970-1971, colour ?)
- 1917-1918 Les Celtiques (black and white 1971-1972, colour ?)
- 1918 Les Éthiopiques (black and white 1972-1973, colour ?)
The above Corto Maltese adventures between 1916 and 1918 were published in the US by NBM as The Brazilian Eagle, Banana Conga, Voodoo for the President, A Mid-Winter Morning's Dream and Corto Maltese in Africa.
- 1918-1920 Corto Maltese in Siberia (the original Italian title: Corte sconta detta Arcana, black and white 1974-1975; French title Corto Maltese en Sibérie, 1979)
- 1921 Fable of Venice (the original Italian title: Favola di Venezia - Sirat Al-Bunduqiyyah, black and white 1977; French title Fable de Venise, 1979, colour 1984)
- 1921-1922 The Golden House of Samarkand (published simultaneously in French and Italian as La maison dorée de Samarkand/La Casa Dorata di Samarcanda, black and white 1980, colour 1992)
- 1923 Tango... y todo a media luz (the American, French and Italian editions use this Spanish title; first published in Italian, black and white 1985, colour 1987?)
- 1924 The Secret Rose (the original Italian title: Le helvetiche Rosa alchemica, colour 1987; French title Les Helvétiques, 1988). Sometimes also known in Italian as La rosa alchemica
- 1925 Mu (In Italian in 1988-1989, first part, and 1988-1989, second part. In French black and white and colour editions, both 1992. Not available in English.) See Mu (lost continent).
[edit] Namesake island
The name Corto Maltese also appears in Frank Miller's graphic novel Batman: The Dark Knight Returns as the name of an island at the centre of an incident not unlike the Cuban missile crisis. The choice of name is apparently an inside joke as Miller has stated he is a great admirer of Pratt's work. The island has been occasionally referenced in other DC Comics since. In the 1989 Batman movie, Corto Maltese was referenced as the location of a violent uprising where Vicki Vale had been working as a photojournalist.
