As with everything surrounding Hugo Pratt, even the birth of Corto Maltese is wrapped in legend. His first appearance in the graphic novel The Ballad of the Salty Sea unfolds in installments, typical of the time between 1967 and 1969. It was an entry that made history, brilliant in every respect: from the very first page, narrated by none other than the Pacific Ocean itself, to the hero’s first appearance at the bottom of page five, far from the iconic image he would later become. Corto Maltese emerges tied up, the victim of a mutiny, bearded and bare-chested, with the more rugged features of a face inspired by Burt Lancaster, features that Pratt would later distill into a few unmistakable lines.
By then, Hugo Pratt already had a significant and wide-ranging twenty-year career behind him, one that had taken him across continents. From his native Venice where, in the postwar years, he co-founded the magazine Asso di Picche with Alberto Ongaro and Mario Faustinelli, he moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina. There he created some of the cornerstones of his oeuvre: Junglemen, Ernie Pike, Ticonderoga, and above all Sgt. Kirk.
After more than a decade of success in South America, Pratt attempted to break into the English-speaking market, first in London and later in the United States, without success. The American comics world, from which many of his early inspirations came (like Milton Caniff’s Terry and the Pirates, which had captivated the young Pratt), never fully embraced him. Perhaps Pratt’s antiheroes were simply too elusive, too sympathetic to outcasts and noble lost causes.
Still based in Argentina, he also collaborated with the Italian children’s magazine Corriere dei Piccoli, illustrating literary classics such as Stevenson’s Treasure Island. But then came the opportunity that changed his life: Florenzo Ivaldi, a Genoese entrepreneur and passionate comics enthusiast, invited Pratt to collaborate on a new magazine. The idea was to republish his most successful South American stories alongside new original works. The magazine’s name was a tribute to Pratt himself: Sgt. Kirk. It would be published, more or less continuously, until 1978 (see Lot 31). Over those eleven years, its pages featured newcomers such as Dino Battaglia and Sergio Toppi, as well as great classics including Caniff’s Terry and the Pirates and Radio Patrol by Charles Schmidt and Eddie Sullivan.
Corto Maltese made his debut in the very first issue—a double milestone that would go down in comics history. The “gentleman of fortune” would reach the cover only with issue 7, but that first cover was unforgettable: a composition perfectly in line with the graphic trends of the time – bold, saturated colors; the title integrated into the artwork; silhouettes of seagulls and sails reduced almost to abstract shapes. A visually striking image, with Corto Maltese radiating his adventurer’s charm: he looks the reader straight in the eye, stepping out of the background frame as if claiming his rightful place in our collective imagination. With this cover, and with the unforgettable pages of The Ballad, Pratt secured his place among the giants of European and international comics.
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Article by Marzia Flamini
