Luigi Siviero of the Italian Fumetti di Carta blog writes to inform us an interesting piece of news:
Matteo Casali and Giuseppe Camuncoli are going to publish a short coloured comic with Corto Maltese in the italian magazine Specchio +, a monthly supplement to the newspaper La Stampa. The comic is a prequel of Quattro sassi nel fuoco (Four Stones in the Fire), the seventh chapter of The Skorpions of the Desert, published in Italy last year by Lizard.
The main character is Hugo Pratt creation Cush, who appeared in earlier Corto stories but apparently Corto himself will appear in a flashback.
While following Pratt in anything is a big challenge, Casali and Camuncoli are very talented fellows in their own right, so we’re excited to see them working on something like this.
You can read the original post in Italian here.
Casali and Camuncoli also recently finished a book called La neve se ne frega, an adaptation of a novel by well-known Italian rocker Luciano Ligabue. Cammo’s cover, colored by Gabriele Dell’Otto after Klimt is below.
You can read a bio of the duo (in Italian) here.
BONUS: whatever happened to those long-ago announced English editions of Corto Maltese to be published by Heavy Metal? Every once in a while we call up Howard Jurofsky at Heavy Metal and ask, but apparently it is still caught up in a rights issue.
Boo.
Boo, indeed.
On a vaguely related note, if anyone reading happens to be going to Venice on a trip ever, make sure to grab “The Secret Venice of Corto Maltese,” which is a guidebook to walking tours of the city written by two longtime natives. Lots of really interesting history and info about the city and lots and lots of out-of-the-way places, plus notes about favorites of Hugo Pratt and places that appeared in Corto Maltese comics (often with panels included). Not available in America, since nobody here knows who Corto Maltese is, but it seemed to be easily available in English in bookstores in Italy.
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant from the book, and when the owner saw we had a copy of it, he pointed to himself and then to a framed panel on the wall from a Corto Maltese story, showing where Pratt had drawn him in.
Re: Edward Liu’s comment- Wow!
I have a few of the NBM Corto Maltese albums and some oddball magazines with his appearances. It’s enough to drive me up the wall to know there’s so much more of Hugo Pratt’s work out there either out of print or untranslated. Pretty much any of his books go for more than I expect on eBay. I’d love it if HM got everything sorted out and could release these books.
If you find ‘The Secret Venice of Corto Maltese’ be also sure to get ‘The Secret of Venice’. An incredible Corto Maltese story set in Venice with one of the greatest endings I have ever read.
Well thanks to this post I hit up the library for 2 Corto Maltese books. Thank you official bilingualism in Canada’s Capital!
I’ve been wanting more Corto Maltese comics since I was living a life of near poverty in the UK after university. I managed to get a translation of one of the adventures at a bargain bookstore, and while the translation was rough the art was beautiful. It was the only comic I could afford, at the time, and what a thing to read – nothing but pure adventure in the South Seas. The book has been misplaced since then but it’s on my list of things to look for when I next visit my parents’ place.
The world needs more Hugo Pratt.
you’ll find that Corto walks book in Venice with no problem! Even the official tourism centre has it instore.
I think Corto Maltese done by anyone besides Hugo Pratt is heresy, but…
In another news item, a Corto parody done by writer Pierre Veys and artist Rodolfo Torti (a former friend of Pratt!) had its sale interdicted in France by a lawsuit made by the character’s owners. Details (in french):
http://www.bdzoom.com/index.cfm?page=display&class=article_general&object=dosx20071130183735&rub=reportage
The album was clearly identified as a parody and its writer has done parodies of Sharlock Holmes, Maigret and belgian comic characters Blake & Mortimer before without ANY legal trouble…
Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)
Yay! for more Corto Maltese. Even if it isn’t done by Hugo Pratt.
..but, Booo! for the bit about Corto Maltese coming to Heavy Metal magazine. I want new comics in Heavy Metal! (and besides, i have read all the corto maltese comics by hugo pratt :P)