Corto Maltese is a Comic We Like!

So here are a couple reasons why I like Corto Maltese:

One of the things that balances a story is when the villan is just as well-developed as the hero. The hero, Corto Maltese, is a complex character who's plainly in it for himself but who carries with him a sense of justice. Often he curses himself for it, when he puts his own life in danger for the sake of others, but I get a sense when reading his stories that there are lines Corto Maltese will not cross.

For example, in "Ballad of the Salt Sea", a young heiress Cynthia Groovesnore has been kidnapped, and in an effort to distract Corto from her brother's escape, Cynthia attempts to put the moves on Corto. Cynthia's something like 16 or 17 and on the high seas I'm not sure what the laws of consent are, but Corto clearly has an opportunity here.

I made a motion comic out of it, but ... yeah, when faced with the actual comic there's a big difference. Like it? Hate it? If you hate it then don't do anything about it - just keep sitting right there and calm down. Why are you getting so upset? If you like it, or have an opinion, then let me know.

We see he turns it up; Corto's calling her bluff in a big way. Corto's expressions change from shadow-eyed pervert to lust-inflamed romantic to a sardonic and triumphant laugh. Also, look at the presence of those masks in the background; they appear in roughly the same places on both pages. It's like they're an audience, judging.

The feeling I get is that Corto is someone strongly acquainted with the "real" world and Cynthia is not. Corto's street-wise and world-weary and he wants to protect her from that world by teaching her of its dangers.

Take a closer look at the art, too. Cynthia's looking pretty darn vulnerable in that bedsheet. Hugo Pratt does shadows really well; he's really good at solid blacks and their placement. Like in the "we'll get married" panel, we see that Corto's face is in shadow. For someone reading this the first time, it's not clear whether the face is "really" in the shadow of a tropical South seas night, or whether Corto's "really" just given himself over to that interior blackness of evil.

I made a motion comic out of it, but ... yeah, when faced with the actual comic there's a big difference. Like it? Hate it? If you hate it then don't do anything about it - just keep sitting right there and calm down. Why are you getting so upset? If you like it, or have an opinion, then let me know.

The villan in Corto stories, sometimes, is a man called "Rasputin". We see something of Rasputin's character in a flashback from the Russo-Japanese war in 1905. Despite clearly hearing a "cease fire" order from his captain and the whistle signaling an armistice, Rasputin sniped a defenseless Japanese troop, killing him. His captain confonts Rasputin about this and, well...

Rasputin is unhinged. If you look at the picture in the lower right, you see that Rasputin's look is not anger, but instead a dull fish-eyed sort of look combined with a sneer. He's indifferent to the two cold-blooded murders he's just committed, and this is what makes this guy so scary.

Rasputin's in it for himself, just like Corto is, but Rasputin has no sense of justice and a very cruel and calculating streak besides. He murders people at whim and has a lot of difficulty controlling his impulses, as well as being superstitious.

What makes Rasputin's character work is that Hugo Pratt writes him in such a way that his arbitrariness is terrifyingly real. He's not completely insane and arbitrary; that would make him boring. Instead, Rasputin is unpredictable and there's a strange method to how he operates. He's just such a jerk that I keep reading to see that comeuppance he so richly deserves.

These are elements that make good comics - interesting characters, mature storylines, and involving art that advances the story and builds mood.

If you want to learn more about this character and maybe buy some books, this place is a good place to start.