afterword by Gianni Brunoro
translated by Miguel Sánchez and Gema Moraleda
I knew about Hugo Pratt and his most famous creation but, until now, I’ve never read any Corto Maltese comic. I guess I was intrigued by Trazo de tiza whose author, Miguelanxo Prado, cited Pratt as one of his major influences. So I decided to start from the beginning: The Ballad of the Salty Sea.
There is a whole shelf of Corto Maltese (Corto Maltés in Spanish) comics in the library, but this one wasn’t there.
Until I found that it was there. This deluxe 50th anniversary edition (32x41 cm!) just didn’t fit, so it was laying on top of the shelf next to, wait for it, the equally huge 40th anniversary edition. I was not sure if I will be allowed to borrow it. They let me do it, incredulously.
And there he is: the first glance of Corto Maltese through the Captain Rasputin’s spyglass!
In lieu of preface, the book contains an “autobiography” of Corto Maltese with some truly beautiful watercolours.
Corto Maltese made his debut in the first issue of Sgt. Kirk magazine launched by Pratt in July of 1967. According to Pratt, Corto Maltese was not even the main character of The Ballad. A similar story happened to a certain Ostap Bender to whom Corto bears striking visual similarity: the Great Combinator appeared in The Twelve Chairs as an episodic character but quickly evolved into the protagonist.
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