Corto Maltese

Comic
title	Corto Maltese
Corto Maltese graffiti in Lisbon
country	Italy
author	Hugo Pratt , Juan Díaz Canales (2015)
Illustrator	Hugo Pratt, Rubén Pellejero (2015)
publishing company	Casterman
magazine	Sgt. Kirk
First publication	July 1967
expenditure	15th

Corto Maltese is a cartoon character by the Italian comic artist Hugo Pratt . The figure is drawn as a captain with a peaked cap .

Fictional biography

Corto Maltese was born on July 10, 1887 in Valletta , Malta, to a British sailor from Cornwall and a gypsy woman from Seville . After the father never returned home, the mother went with him for a few years to Cordoba , where they lived in the Barrio de la juderia with Ezra Toledano. When Corto discovered he was missing the line of luck , he cut one in the palm of his hand with his father's razor. At the age of 12, Corto returned to Valletta with his mother and Toledano, where he attended the Jewish school and studied the Torah and Talmud , but above all the Zohar and Kabbalah .

The adventurer is a captain without a ship who has to face his adventures at the beginning of the 20th century. He tries to stay out of the ideological and political turmoil of his time and to pursue his own goals, but often ends up on the side of the oppressed. His travels take him to all continents, including the lost Mu and in dreams to the Grail . His trail is finally lost in the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War . A letter from Pandora Groovesnoore suggests that Corto and his friend Tarao are living with her in old age.

backgrounds

Corto Maltese first appeared in the series Una ballata del mare salato (South Sea Ballad) in 1967 and had to deal with pirates and the navies of the German Empire and Great Britain shortly before and at the beginning of the First World War in the Pacific. In 1970 Pratt began a series of short stories for the French comic magazine Pif Gadget . In 1974 he returned to long stories with the album Corto Maltese en Siberie .

Pratt's geographical and literary knowledge, which he also incorporates into the captain's adventures, is particularly impressive. Corto met important personalities of his time (for example Ernest Hemingway , Jack London or Enver Pascha ) and counted voodoo priests as well as the Jewish-Czech scientist Jeremiah Steiner. Corto has repeatedly started the book Utopia of Thomas More to read, but never end. Perhaps this is also his goal, roaming the oceans to find the land with ideal company. But wherever Corto arrives, things are deeply human, and the seaman never allows himself to be captured in any way.

Grigory Efimowitsch Rasputin , model for the appearance of the character Rasputin

More figures

• Rasputin , murderer and deserter from the Russian army at the end of the Russo-Japanese War . Corto Maltese helps him escape Port Arthur . From then on, his and Corto's paths cross and they are not always on the same side. Not only the name, but also the appearance is reminiscent of the traveling preacher Grigori Jefimowitsch Rasputin .
• Jeremiah Steiner , a former professor at the University of Prague with a weakness for occult and esoteric knowledge. When Corto met him in Paramaribo , he was stranded there and addicted to alcohol. Over time, they become good friends.
• Golden-Rose-Mouth , Voodoo priestess from Bahia . According to her own statement, she is several hundred years old. Time and again she manages to manipulate Corto to act in her interest.
• Tristan Bantam , a young Englishman who gives Corto his inheritance. Like his late father, he is looking for the legendary Mu .
• Morgana Bantam , half sister of Tristan Bantam. She grew up in South America and is a student of Golden-Rose-Mouth. During the First World War she worked for the English secret service.
• Levi Colombia , antique dealer in Maracaibo . Strange things of dubious origin can be found in his shop. He is a friend of Professor Steiner and obsessed with Eldorado .

Title overview (original order of publication)

The Carlsen publishing house published the series in part, in black and white (1981-1988) and in color (1988-1998). Between 2001 and 2010, the series was published in color by the Kult Editions publishing house, where the individual stories sometimes appeared in different combinations than the Carlsen publication. Since 2015, a new edition has been published by Schreiber & Leser in both black and white and in color .

German publications are listed where known. The titles have an extensive French and Italian publication history with ongoing reprints; The French and Italian Wikipedia provide overviews .

sw = black and white, vf = colored (colored)

Hugo Pratt (1967–1991)

1. La Ballade de la mer salée (Una ballata del mare salato) (1967–1969)

• South Sea Ballade (vf) (pp. 1–23, 26–119) - Zack 4-20, Koralle-Verlag 1974 (1st part)
• The end of Macao (sw) (pp. 118–165) - Comic Forum 6-11, Alber 1980/81 (2nd part)
• South Sea Ballade (sw) - Corto Maltese 5, Carlsen Verlag 1983
• The South Seas Ballad (vf) - Corto Maltese 2, Carlsen Verlag 1989
• The South Sea Ballade (vf) - Corto Maltese, Classic of Comic Literature 11, FAZ 2005 (remounted and newly colored)
• South Sea Ballade (sw, vf) - Corto Maltese 1, Schreiber & Reader 2015

2. Sous le signe du Capricorne (1970)
Short stories included: (2) Le Secret de Tristan Bantam [The Secret of Tristan Bantam], (3) Rendez-vous à Bahia [encounter in Bahia], (4) Samba avec Tir Fixe [Samba with Hit Ace], (5) L'Aigle du Brésil [Imperial eagle in the jungle], (6)… Et nous reparlerons des gentilshommes de fortune [The trail of the skull], (7) À cause d'une mouette [What only the seagulls know…]
The album is also available in two volumes: Suite caraïbéenne (short stories 2–4) and Sous le drapeau des pirates (short stories 5–7)

• In the sign of the Capricorn (sw) - Corto Maltese 1, Carlsen Verlag 1981
• In the sign of the Capricorn (vf) - Corto Maltese 3, Carlsen Verlag 1990
• Under the pirate flag (vf) - cult editions 2005 (translation by Sous le drapeau des pirates )
• In the sign of the Capricorn (sw, vf) - Corto Maltese 2, Schreiber & Leser 2015

3. Corto toujours un peu plus loin (1970–1971)
Short stories included: (8) Têtes de champignons [mushroom heads], (9) La Conga des bananes [dance around bananas], (10) Vaudou pour monsieur le président [Voodoo for the presidents], (11) La Lagune des Beaux Songes [The lagoon of beautiful dreams], (12) Fables et grands-pères [Fables and Grandfathers]
The album is also available in two volumes: Lointaines îles du vent (short stories 8– 10) and La Lagune des mystères (short stories 11-14)

• And always a little further ... (sw) - Corto Maltese 2, Carlsen Verlag 1982
• And always a little further ... (vf) - Corto Maltese 4, Carlsen Verlag 1990
• Islands under the Wind (vf) - Cult Editions 2003 (translation by Lointaines îles du vent )
• The mysterious lagoon (vf) - cult editions 2004 (translation of La Lagune des mystères )
• And always a little further (sw, vf) - Corto Maltese 3, Schreiber & Leser 2015

4. Les Celtiques (Le Celtiche) (1971–1972)
Contained short stories: (13) L'Ange à la fenêtre d'Orient [The angel at the east window], (14) Sous le drapeau de l'argent [Under the flag of the Geldes], (15) Concert en O mineur pour harpe et nitroglycérine [Concerto for harp and nitroglycerin in o'-minor], (16) Songe d'un matin d'hiver [winter morning dream], (17) Côtes de Nuits et roses de Picardie [Côtes de Nuits and roses from Picardy], (18) Burlesque entre Zuydcoote et Bray-Dunes [Burlesque between Zuydcoote and Bray-Dunes]

• The Celts (sw) - Corto Maltese 4, Carlsen Verlag 1982
• The Celts (vf) - Cult Editions 2003 (short stories 15–18)
• The Celts (sw, vf) - Corto Maltese 4, Schreiber & Leser 2016

5. Les Éthiopiques (Le etiopiche) (1972–1973)
Short stories included: (19) Au nom d'Allah le miséricordieux [In the name of Allah most Merciful], (20) Le Coup de grâce [The coup de grace], (21) ... Et d'autres Roméo et d'autres Juliette [Like Romeo and Juliet], (22) Les Hommes-léopards du Rufiji [The Leopard People of Rufiji]

• The Ethiopians (sw) - Corto Maltese 3, Carlsen Verlag 1982
• The Ethiopians (vf) - Cult Editions 2006
• The Leopard People from Rufiji (vf) - Edition for the Free Comic Day, Writer & Reader 2016 (short story 22)
• The Ethiopians (sw, vf) - Corto Maltese 5, Schreiber & Leser 2016

6. Corto Maltese en Sibérie (Corte sconta detta arcana) (1974–1977)

• Corto Maltese in Siberia (sw) - Corto Maltese 6, Carlsen Verlag 1984
• Corto Maltese in Siberia (vf) - Cult Editions 2001
• In Siberia (sw, vf) - Corto Maltese 6, Schreiber & Leser 2017

7. Fable de Venise (Favola di Venezia) (1977)

• Venetian legend (bw, 4 lines) - Corto Maltese 7, Carlsen Verlag 1985
• Venetian legend (vf, 3 lines) - Corto Maltese 8, Carlsen Verlag 1997
• Venetian legend (vf) - Cult Editions 2010
• Venetian legend (bw 4 lines, vf 3 lines) - Corto Maltese 7, Schreiber & Leser 2017

8. La Maison dorée de Samarkand (La casa dorata di Samarcanda) (1980–1985)

• The Golden House of Samarkand (sw) - Corto Maltese 8, Carlsen Verlag 1987
• The Golden House of Samarkand (vf) - Corto Maltese 9, Carlsen Verlag 1993 (+ 60 pages of text)
• The Golden House of Samarkand (sw, vf) - Corto Maltese 8, Schreiber & Leser 2018

9. La Jeunesse 1904–1905 (La giovinezza) (1981–1982)

• Corto Malteses Jugend (sw) - in Bluebox 1: Abenteuer, Ullstein-Verlag 1987
• Adventure of a youth (vf) - Corto Maltese 1, Carlsen Verlag 1988
• Adventure of a youth (sw, vf) - Corto Maltese 9, Schreiber & Reader 2018

10. Tango (Y todo a media luz) (1985–1986)

• Argentine Tango (sw) - Corto Maltese 9, Carlsen Verlag 1988
• Tango (vf) - cult editions 2006
• Tango (sw, vf) - Corto Maltese 10, writer & reader 2019

11. Les Helvétiques (Le elvetiche detta anche Rosa Alchemica) (1987)

• The Swiss (vf) - Corto Maltese 11, Carlsen Verlag 1991
• The Swiss (sw, vf) - Corto Maltese 11, writer & reader 2019

12. Mû (Mu la città perduta) (1988–1991)

• Das Reich Mu (vf) - Corto Maltese 12, Carlsen Verlag 1993
• Das Reich Mu (vf) - Cult Editions 2008

Juan Díaz Canales and Rubén Pellejero (since 2015)

13. Sous le soleil de minuit (Bajo el sol de medianoche) (2015)

• Under the midnight sun (sw, vf) - Corto Maltese 13, Schreiber & Leser 2016

14.Equatoria (Equatoria) (2017)

• Equatoria (sw, vf) - Corto Maltese 14, writer & reader 2017

15. Le jour de Tarowean (El día de Tarowean) (2019)

• Tarowean - day of surprises (sw, vf) - Corto Maltese 15, writer & reader 2020

Film adaptations

Animation

The album Corto Maltese in Siberia was filmed in 2002 by Pascal Morelli under the title Corto Maltese: La cour secrète des Arcanes as a 92-minute cartoon. Directed by Liam Saury and Richard Danto six other cartoons appeared ( The South Seas ballad , the sign of Capricorn , mushroom caps with the short stories 8/9/15, The Celts with the short stories 13/14 and 16/17, The Ethiopians and the Golden House of Samarkand ). The score was written by Franco Piersanti .

motion pictures

The French director Christophe Gans is currently (2019) working on a real film version of the album Corto Maltese in Siberia , with Tom Hughes in the lead role, James Thierrée as Rasputin and Milla Jovovich as Princess Marina Seminowa . The film is shot in Europe and China. The screenplay is by William Schneider, the film is produced by Davis Films (a film produced by French producer Samuel Hadida who died in November 2018 ) together with the Spanish company TriPictures .

Chronological order

title			time	places	Participants (possibly with a link to the original)	Initial release	filming
Adventure of a youth			1905	Manchuria ( Mukden )	Jack London , Rasputin	1981–82, France (in Le Matin de Paris )
Equatoria			1911	Venice , Egypt ( Alexandria ), Zanzibar , British East Africa (Fort Nandi ), former province of Equatoria in Sudan ( Wadelai )	Aida Treat , Ferida Schnitzer , Konstantinos Kavafis , Winston Churchill , Monfreid , Tippu Tip , Richard Meinertzhagen , Kioné	2017, France
Tarowean - day of surprises			1912-13	Tasmania , Kingdom of Sarawak , Melanesia	Calaboose, Ratu, White Rajas of Borneo , Dayak	2019, France
South Sea Ballad			1913-15	Melanesia ( German New Guinea )	Pandora and Cain Groovesnoore, "the monk" (Thomas Groovesnoore), Christian Slütter	1967–69, Italy (in Sgt. Kirk )	DVD 1
Under the midnight sun			1915	Panama , USA ( San Francisco , Nome ), Canada ( Melville Island , Port Brabant , Dawson ), Seattle	Matthew Henson , Frank Slavin , Waka Yamada	2015, France
Under the sign of Capricorn		The secret of the Tristan Bantam	1916	Dutch Guiana	Tristan Bantam	1970–73, France (in Pif Gadget )	DVD 2
		Encounter in Bahia		French Guiana , Brazil ( Salvador da Bahia )	Cayenne, Morgana Bantam
		The settlement = Samba with Hit Ace		Brazil ( Itapoa Beach , Sertão / Rio São Francisco )	Hit Ace
	Under the pirate flag	The lost treasure = the Brazilian eagle = imperial eagle in the jungle		Brazil ( Itapoa Beach , Maraca Island )	Morgana Bantam, Hasso von Manteuffel
	The trail of the skull = soldier of fortune	1917	Caribbean ( St. Kitts )	Ambiguité de Poincy
	What only the seagulls know ... = Only because of a seagull		British Honduras	Soledad Lokaarth
And always a little further	Islands under the wind		Mushroom heads = mushrooms and dreams	Venezuela ( Paramaribo ); Steiner's dream: on the Río Pastaza	Levi Colombia		DVD 4 (1)
			(The) dance around (the) bananas	Central America (fictional mosquito )	Esmeralda, Venexiana Stevenson
			A spell / voodoo for the president	Caribbean ( Barbados , fictional island Port-Ducal south of Guadeloupe )	Soledad Lokaarth
	The mysterious lagoon		The lagoon of beautiful dreams	Orinoco Delta	Robin Stuart
			Fables and grandfathers	Peru (Borja)	Levi Colombia, Dr. Stone
The Celts			The angel at the east window	Venice	Venexiana Stevenson		DVD 3 (1)
			Under the flag of money = Under the golden flag	Veneto ( Caorle / Sette Casoni)	Radesky , Hernestway , Onatis
	The Celts (Cult Editions)		Concerto for harp and nitroglycerin in o'-minor	Ireland ( Dublin )	Moira Banshee O'Danann, Major O'Sullivan, Sean Finnucan		DVD 4 (2)
			Winter morning dream	Stonehenge ; in a dream: Tintagel	in a dream: Oberon , Puck , Morgana , Merlin ; Vortigern , Rowena		DVD 3 (2); Burlesque ... modified
		Côtes de Nuits and roses from Picardy	1918	France (on the Somme )	Manfred von Richthofen , Hermann Göring
		Burlesque between Zuydcoote and Bray-Dunes		French department north	Melody Gaël, Cain Groovesnoore, Lieutenant de Trecesson , Captain Rothschild , spy Roland
The Ethiopians	In the name of Allah most Merciful	Yemen		El Oxford , Cush ( Danakil )	DVD 5
	The coup de grace	British Somaliland		Juda O'Leary, Cush ( Beni Amer )
	Like Romeo and Juliet	Eritrea / Abyssinia		Cush, Rhomh and Fala Mariam
	The Leopard People from Rufiji	German East Africa ( Rufiji Estuary, Mikindani )		Dave Brukoi, Lothar Slütter
Corto Maltese in Siberia			1918-20	Hong Kong , Shanghai , Manchuria ( Mandschuli ), Siberia ( Karymskoje ), Mongolia ( Bolkan )	Shanghai-Li, Jack Tippit, Marina Seminova, Serje Semenov , Ungern-Sternberg , Sukhe Bator , Tschang Tso-Lin	1974–77, Italy (in Linus )	Locarno Festival 2002
Venetian legend			1921	Venice	Gabriele d'Annunzio , Louise Brookszowyc ; indirect: Baron Corvo	1977, Italy (in L'Europeo )
The Golden House of Samarkand			1921-22	Rhodes , Turkey ( Adana , Van ), Iran (New Alamut ), Bukhara , Afghanistan ( Kafiristan )	Bahia, Timur Chevket, actress Marianne , Venexiana Stevenson, Enver Pascha ; indirect: Edward John Trelawny , Josef Stalin (telephone call), Frunze	1980–85, France (in À suivre )	DVD 6
Argentine tango			1923	Buenos Aires	Butch Cassidy	1985–86, Italy (in the magazine Corto Maltese )
The Swiss			1924	Montagnola	the girl Erika, Hermann Hesse , Tamara de Lempicka ; In the dream: Klingsor , Ulrich von Zatzikoven , death , Kundry , the future King Kong , the Grail Chalice , the alchemical rose , the devil and as members of the court of hell Cain , Judas Iscariot , Balal en Shinar , Merlin , Eva , Maid of Orléans , Bertrand de Got , Gilles de Rais , Dick Turpin	1987, Italy (in Corto Maltese magazine )
The kingdom of Mu			1925	Mesoamerica (southern Maya region )	Levi Colombia, Soledad Lokäarth, Dandy Roll; in a dream: Tracy Eberhard	1988–91, Italy (in the magazine Corto Maltese )

Others

The name "Corto Maltese" is also used in Frank Miller's graphic Batman novel The Dark Knight Returns as a name for an island. This is an inside joke, because Miller has expressed himself as a great admirer of Pratt's work and lists him among other things in the end credits of his movie Sin City under "Special Thanks". Even after that, the island was used in various other DC comics . In the 1989 Batman film , Corto Maltese is the site of a riot where photo reporter Vicki Vale worked. Likewise, in the television series Arrow as well as in Smallville , there also by Oliver Queen , the island with the name Corto Maltese is mentioned and is also used as a location for the series several times.

The creators of the comic series Valerian and Veronique , Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières , also pay their respects to Corto Maltese. In his honor, Lieutenant Molto Cortese plays a supporting role in volumes 19-21 ( On the Edge of Big Nothing , The Law of Stones and The Time Opener , 2005, 2007 and 2010) , in proper style with a captain's hat , earring and sideburns .

The volume The Golden House of Samarkand , which describes a journey by Corto Maltese from Rhodes to British India, was the subject of an episode of the series With Open Cards by the broadcaster arte in 2002 .

In his novel Imperium , published in 2012, Christian Kracht casts an entire episode in his book with characters from Pratt's South Sea Ballad , including Captain Slütter and Pandora.

Statues of Corto Maltese, created by Livio and Luc Benedetti, are in the comic museum of Angoulême , France ⊙ (built in 2003) and in Pratt's home and burial place Grandvaux , Switzerland ⊙ (2007).

The Greek hip-hop formation Social Waste recorded the track "Corto" in their album "Σύνορα" (German for borders) in honor of Corto in 2020.

literature

• Le monde extraordinaire de Corto Maltese . Special issue of the French edition of GEO magazine ( hors-série ), 2002.
• Till R. Kuhnle: Hugo Pratt: Una Ballata del mare salato / La ballade de la mer salée / The South Sea Ballade. In: Günter Butzer, Hubert Zapf (Hrsg.): Great works of literature XII. A. Francke, Tübingen / Basel 2012. pp. 187–210.
• Andreas Platthaus : Instructions for use for the Corto cosmos . In: FAZ . 2015 ( faz.net ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ see Hugo Pratt: Die Wüstenskorpione , Chapter 5 Der Todesengel
2. ^ Corto Maltese: My Story
3. ↑ Schreiber and readers: Program innovations spring 2015 - Interview with Philipp Schreiber
4. ↑ Corto Maltese: La cour secrète des Arcanes in the Internet Movie Database (English)
5. ↑ Character Corto Maltese in the Internet Movie Database (English)
6. ↑ Corto Maltese: Teste e funghi in the Internet Movie Database (English)
7. ↑ Corto Maltese: Le etiopiche in the Internet Movie Database (English)
8. ↑ Tom Hughes, Milla Jovovich Starring in Swashbuckler 'Corto Maltese' . In: Variety.com .
9. ↑ Walter Ismeni: Smallville -Episodenguide at tv.com
10. ↑ Follow at dailymotion.com
11. ^ Inauguration of the statue of Corto Maltese
12. ^ Mains dans le dos, Corto Maltese scrute Lavaux