Corto Maltese: l'integrale, Volume 3 - Hugo Pratt
L'angelo della finestra d'oriente (1971)
L'angelo della finestra d'oriente takes up the story started half a world away in Nonni e Fiabe. The location of the golden city of Cibola in Peru, the mythical Eldorado filled with gold exploited from Incan mines is to be found on an old map entrusted to Brother Serafino, a Franciscan monk in Venice. He doesn't believe a word of the legend, but it served its purpose in distracting English and Dutch heretics. Corto listens attentively, but is distracted by an Austrian plane flying low overhead. His attention is drawn to a palace on the other side of the lagoon, the house of "the angel of the west window", so called because of a paralysed young woman who gazes from the window, singing sometimes accompanied by a harp. She is seemingly unconcerned about the blackout orders while the city is being bombarded by Austrian airforce.
Corto goes to see Melchisedec in the old ghetto and finds out more about the mysterious seventh city of San Reys, but also that a Venezian lady was also recently asking about it. Strangely the page in the journal that has a map of the city has disappeared. His suspicions grow when an Austrian plane drops something close to the palazzino and they don't want any witnesses. We discover that Venexiana Stevenson is involved, thought left for dead in Honduras in Banana Congo.
L'angelo della finestra d'oriente has everything. Action, war, adventure, hidden mysterious cities of gold, all playing out in the city of Venice that is beautifully rendered by Hugo Pratt. There is a mood of mystery for a city in a lagoon in a time of war, a city that Corto says would be the end of him, falling under its charm. There is also some humour around how stories circulate and grow, adding to the mystery of the enigmatic place.
Sotto la bandiera dell'oro (1971)
Corto Maltese now back in Europe and fully or perhaps inescapably involved in the war that is raging, the sense of adventure continues with Austrian army Oberleutnant Radetzky in observation balloon Dragoner 15 who has a plan to get out of the war a rich man. He sends a Morse message by lamp to 'Il pirata', but the message is picked up by everyone in and around the battlefield, not just intended Scottish forces but French, American, Italian and his own forces who end up bombarding an area already evacuated by Italian troops.
The prize is one million in gold ingots, the gold of the King of Montenegro. Collected by the Scottish, it is picked up by French who come under fire from Uhlan troops, Radetzky and his own forces, is rescued by the Americans with an ambulance driver called Hernestway, who is writing a book. Sotto la bandiera dell'oro is a fog of war story, not unlike the complex geopolitical war matters - and the lust for gold in Pratt's later 1975 Piccolo Chalet episode of Gli Scorpioni del Deserto. These are difficult conditions to seek personal gains, but holding to the view that there are gentlemen of fortune who are above the orders from on high, there's the promise that half the money will go to the Republican Party of Montenegro.
Concerto in O' minore per arpa e nitroglierina (1972)
We usually know where Corto Maltese stands in terms of political allegiances, which is less to do with ideology than being in the side of the ordinary people against oppression, on the anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist side of any conflict - but more often he remains romantically more than ideologically involved. That's the case when in Concerto in O' minore per arpa e nitroglierina he arrives in Ireland in 1917 just after the Easter Uprising to find trouble on the streets of Dublin. Soldiers patrolling in 'autoblindos' armoured cars come under attack from a group of IRA operatives led by Banshee O'Dannan.
Corto's first objective is not to get involved in the struggle, but to visit the grave of the recently deceased Pat Finnucan. When he is asked what is is looking for, he replies in his usual wry manner 'La pentola d'oro del lepricano' ("The leprechaun's pot of gold"). Finnucan had been the leader of Sinn Féin, hoping to take the revolution against the English occupation of Ireland further but he has been killed. Major O'Sullivan, who used to be a friend of Finnucan, is now seen as a traitor working with the British army trying to put down the rebellion.
Finnucan's son Sean is now the leader of Sinn Féin. One of their colleagues, Tim Brennan has been captured by the British Army, and they want to rescue him before he is hanged. Banshee, who has a beautiful singing voice and was married to Finnucan, also wants revenge for her husband's killing. The information they have been given on the time and place of Brennan's execution however is a trap, but it's one that reveals to the forces at Dublin Castle that O'Sullivan has been working secretly inside as a spy. There's another spy inside Dublin Castle, and it's Corto Maltese in police uniform.
Hugo Pratt - as he always does I find wherever the story is located, and this is a world away from his earlier adventures in the South Seas and the Caribbean - goes to great lengths to depict Ireland and it's people accurately. Inevitably it's a little clichéd and romanticised - which is part of the charm of his Corto Maltese - but there are no blindingly obvious inaccuracies in the names or the feel for the period setting. The underlying theme is sound and relevant here - and consistent with Corto Maltese elsewhere (notably in Samba con Tiro Fisso) - on the need for martyrs, myths and heroes being more important to a revolution than the truth. The black and white illustrations for this story are just stunning. There is wonderful detail and character in the faces and personalities, all of whom are as droll and dark-eyed as Corto Maltese here. There's a lovely scratchiness and looseness to the line work here. It's just beautiful, and one of my very favourite Corto Maltese adventures.
Sogno di un mattino di mezzo inverno (1972)
Since Corto is back in the land of mists and magic, it's about time that he was involved in another mystical adventure, 'a mid-winter morning's dream' while having has a nap at Stonehenge. Oberon and Puck appear there in the land of the living for the first time in 300 years since meeting with Shakespeare close to the time of his death. The reason for their urgent appearance is a great danger that threatens England in the shape of a German submarine that could destroy the ancient seat of King Arthur. Calling on Fata Morgana and Merlin it is as much a mythological battle to be fought between the magical creatures of Britain and the trolls and dwarfs of the Niebelung. Looking for a saviour Puck in the form of a crow wakes Corto Maltese.
Rowena, a German spy married to an English major Vortigern, has led her brothers Hengest and Horsa to the shores to Tintagel to destroy an English corvette. Corto comes to the rescue in a dramatic fashion and saves the land of King Arthur and Shakespeare by commandeering a tugboat. He is awarded a medal from the grateful overseers of the land, but his heroics are forgotten as if it had all been a dream.
Côtes de Nuits e rose di Piccardia (1972)
The following adventure is more in a humourous vein. It's the 20th April 1918 and Corto has hitched a lift with two Australian troops to take him to an RAF base to meet a friend, Lieutenant Cain Groovesnore, the young man from Una Ballata del Mare Salato (Ballad of the Salt Sea). Clem and Sandy are connoisseurs of fine wine and Corto has two bottles of Côtes de Nuits, but he is unwilling to share them, keeping them for a special occasion. Along the way, they run into the Baron Von Richthofen, the Red Baron. Sandy thinks that the famous baron should be ashamed of shooting down 80 planes, only for Corto to wryly observe that perhaps it's his embarrassment that is the reason for him being called the red baron. The only concern the baron has however is that the last English plane he shot down was piloted by someone called Lawrence, and he is worried he might be a relative of DH Lawrence, the English writer who ran off with his Aunt Frieda.
He should be more worried about Clem, who is the best shot in all Australia, but so should Corto be worried about his wine, because Clem can only shoot straight when he is drunk.
Burlesca e no tra Zuydcoote e Bray-Dunes (1972)
In northern France near Dunkirk, Corto meets up again with Cain, from Ballad of the Salt Sea, who is enjoying the entertainment provided for American troops (Merlin again, and a singer Mélodie Gaël) and fleecing Lieutenant Trécesson in card games. Corto overhears that there is going to be an investigation into Cain, accused of having shot Trécesson in a dispute over Mélodie Gaël. Unfortunately the only person who can testify to what happened is Rico-Rico, Jean Hellequin, and he's not the most reliable of witnesses.
Burlesca is another somewhat fantastical episode that allows Pratt to stretch his imagination beyond the already rich world of international war and adventure into fantasy, music and legend. There is a hint that the characters and creatures of legend are still with us in some form or other. Legends however can be used for conveying other secret messages and the charms of Mélodie Gaël do indeed have otherworldly power. Corto Maltese however also comes from a family of magicians.
Nel nome di Allah misericordioso e compassionevole (1972)
A month ago Corto observes, he was on a North Sea beach and now he is on a very different beach of sorts, a Red Sea beach in the desert in Yemen with a guide he calls Oxford, looking to rescue a young Saudi prince from Turks in fortress of Turban. Cush, frequently reciting verses from the Koran, agrees to help on account if his guide, but he doesn't trust the non-Muslim Corto. "Sei un cane infedele. Non c'è amicizia tra noi!", and not without reason, considering the political upheaval that the west have caused in the region.
Cush, a silent assassin, of course comes to recognise a kinship with Corto, an everyman who is not defined by religion or nationality. Cush also appears in The Scorpions of the Desert, and Nel nome di Allah misericordioso e compassionevole is very much in that territory. Cush does things his own way, helping and saving Corto on the one hand, causing problems elsewhere, forcing Corto to pretend to be a Muezzin calling the faithful to prayer without having any experience in that area. Fortunately some Scottish prisoners help out when a shoot out commences from the minaret.
Pratt's artwork in this region of sand and sun is always impressive, the fighting sequences too remarkably dynamic and thrilling. There is also some Pratt humour in the differences and traditions of the diverse cultures, of which there are many to be found here.
L'ultimo colpo (1972)
An English officer of the Kings African Rifles makes a big mistake when he is sharing a drink with Corto. It's not just that he prefers the mad French poet and gunrunner Rimbaud over Kipling, but he chooses to exercise this authority over Cush, who has been waiting impatiently for Corto, when he takes a drink despite it being against the rules for a native to drink there, not to mention against Cush's religion. Corto warns Captain Bradt that Cush will kill him for an unprovoked attack and ends up getting himself locked up. That's another big mistake that he is going to regret.
Later however Bradt is in a reflective mood, as it's the 13th September, and tells Corto a story from the time of the Irish Revolution, of Juda O'Leary, the Irish rebel who betrayed his brother Simon for a reward from the English. It's just then that the Mad Mullahs rebels attack the fortress, taking Brandt prisoner. Killing him turns out to be a mercy, particularly as Corto observes that he originally come from 'un paese lontano dove l'erba è sempre verde è dove i fratelli odiano i fratelli' ("a far-off country where the grass is always green and where brothers hated brothers). Cush observes that you don't have to look to a far off land to see similar things happen.
…E di altri Romei e di altre Giuliette (1973)
As well as a wanderer and adventurer of the seas and continents of the world, Corto has also been interested in, or find himself visiting, mystical worlds of mythology and legend related to many of those places. Still with Cush in Abyssinia, his friend and guide leads him to a meeting with a great shaman, Shamaël, who he describes as a fallen angel, the son of Death and the Devil. Whether under a spell or simply just the usual madness to be found in these places, they encounter a crazed white man escaping from baboons unsure of his own name - ' Lord Ah Ah'- who claims he has found gold. On returning to Cush's village, he finds his brother has been taken prisoner by an Abyssinian tribe, accused of the abduction of the daughter of Ras Yaqob.
As they have converted to Christianity, Ras Yaqob is using this as an excuse for the Abyssinian tribe to attack the Islamic village of the Dancali, which is also believed to have gold. "The white man" of course has had a hand as such in the instability of the region. Corto comes under the attack and is rescued from death by Shamaël acting on behalf of otherworldly powers. Corto of course believes in his own free agency, despite cheating death again, and refuses to accept Shamaël's description of him s 'He who will end up with Nothing' and of Cush as 'He who should not have been born'. And it's time for Corto to move on.
Leopardi (1973)
Corto is planning to go to China next, but he has one more adventure to take part in in Africa. It's 1918 and the war in Europe is coming to a close, but in Africa, at least one German General is still active in the continent, Lettow Vorbeck. Another problem in the region are the Leopard Men, a tribe of religious fanatics, bandits, carrying out ritual sacrifices, who have killed seven people. One of the masked natives with Corto and Tenton appears to be one of the Leopardi, on board the Königsberg with them. It transpires that Vorbeck's mission is to find information about a shipment of gold and silver to pay his native soldiers and keep the war going.
Although it's none of his business, Corto has made a promise to a dying man and insists on taking part in the revenge his brother will enact upon the traitorous Germans. That means becoming a blood brother with one of the Leopard Men, Brukoy. Corto however has his own reasons to get involved as the name Slütter has come up again. Corto finds that the Leopard Men are spread wide throughout Africa, a kind of International police force with mystical powers, one that again saves Corto Maltese from death.
Reading notes: The second of the series of shorter Corto Maltese adventures in this book are in the third volume of the Italian hardcover slipcased edition of Corto Maltese: L'integrale, collecting the complete Corto Maltese adventures. It's published by Rizzoli Lizard. I intend to cover all the books in this collection, and a few other Hugo Pratt collections, as few of these great works - some of the finest examples of European comic art - are available in print in any English language edition.
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