Main Menu

Corto Maltese: Under The Sign of Capricorn – spoiler light (3 preview pages incl

Started by Bat King, 23 December, 2014, 09:26:24 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

I, Cosh

Picked up a copy of Beyond the Windy Isles a few months ago and didn't make much of a dent in it. Started it again over the weekend and really got into it this time. Starting to really enjoy the episodic nature, see little recurrences, the seeds of future storylines and look forward to some of the characters popping up again down the line.

I understand Celtic Tales is due out this week. It'll probably be a while before I can get my hands on a copy but anyone else seen it in the wild? I'll be interested to see what the change of scenery does for the man and his escapades.
We never really die.

Timothy

Celtic Tales is really good. I loved Under the Sign of Capricorn, but thought Beyond the Windy Isles suffered from being a little samey. The change of scene - and the introduction of more recognisable (to ignorant me at least) historical characters - really makes this collection shine. Pick it up soon.

Hawkmumbler

Aye, just got a dispatch notice myself and inordinately excited for this. Corto is rapidly revealing itself to me just why it's so higly revered. That Pratt couldn't half make some good comics.

Apestrife

Out of Celtic Tales, Under the Sign of Capricorn and Beyond the Windy Isles, which is the best starting point for a new reader?

Saw more than one episode of the animated series of Corto when I was a kid, and I remember liking it alot. Love a good adventure out on the sea, and I really like what I've seen of the art.

Timothy

Quote from: Apestrife on 28 February, 2016, 07:19:52 PM
Out of Celtic Tales, Under the Sign of Capricorn and Beyond the Windy Isles, which is the best starting point for a new reader?

Saw more than one episode of the animated series of Corto when I was a kid, and I remember liking it alot. Love a good adventure out on the sea, and I really like what I've seen of the art.

Hmmmm. Tricky. I've found Celtic Tales the most enjoyable so far, but I suspect that's because 3 books in I've got something of a grip on the character. The stories in this volume are exciting, but disparate, so I suspect they're not the best starting point. Under the Sign of Capricorn is probably the best place to jump in.

Hawkmumbler

Celtic Tales has landed in Hawk Falls and it's once again a masterful reproduction and awesome job from IDW. Three down, nine to go (christ, it'll take another 4 years at least for them to all be released!).

Colin YNWA

Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 08 March, 2016, 12:09:21 PM
Three down, nine to go (christ, it'll take another 4 years at least for them to all be released!).

Now listen here young man, I've had to wait 44 years to get this far (well yeah okay that's kinda a massive exaggeration) so waiting 4 years is nowt! Let me tell you, you whipper snappers don't know your born. These days you can get pretty much any comic you want if you have a little patience. In my day you had access to The Beano, The Dandy, 2000ad, some comic a lad at school drew on some bark and when you got a little older some Hunt Emerson cat thing when the porn fairy visited. Grumble, moan, oh my back...

... or thanks hadn't released this was out, thought I'd done a pre-order, turned out I hadn't so just ordered it. Good times. 

Hawkmumbler

Hey, i'll be closer to 30 than 20 by the time it's done, i'll have you know! That's a big difference! I'll nay be able to pull of this smashing dye job bye then!

Decided to let Celtic Tales cut to the top of my reading pile. Few titles have recieved that treatment (COPRA and O-Men are the inly exceptions). My god these books are just magnificent to look at.

Colin YNWA

Ha! I'm such a numb nut. Turns out I had pre-ordered it as I thought (no idea how I missed it when I looked!) so it arrived today. Lucky the other order (the cheaper one alas, really must remember to check Wordery before I order anything off of Amazon) I'd made hadn't been dispatched yet so I was able to cancel it.

ANYWAY Flippin' 'eck these are handsome volumes, I mean really nice objects, beyond brilliant comics. Kinda like even better versions of the old Yearbooks. So yeah this one gets a massive boost up my reading spreadsheet too!

Apestrife

Read the Capricorn book last night with two beers in my system. Must say I really enjoyed it, in every way.

I really like his character. A living legend. He's one of the underdog and honest enough to tell everyone around a poker table (playing over a man's life) that he is a cheater. And his good manners doesn't stop him from throwing the first punch or blowing up someone with dynamite. Love it.

And with vooodoo and stuff thrown in, I was pleased to see that characters remained characters and didn't become caricatures. Specially since there'll be more supernatural stories (I really liked the episodic story.)

I'm sure to pick Windy isles next weekend :)

Thanks everyone for recommending it!

Hawkmumbler

A very, very kinor quible about Celtic Tales from me. Does it appear that the cover image is somewhat pixelated? Like they chose an incredibly small panel and blew it up and didn't quite manage to oull it off? The previous two didn't have this problem, or maybe Pratt's style of the time was just a bit....sketchy.

Hawkmumbler

Finished Celtic Tales last night and it's yet another superb comic, and utterly bewildering also. The decision to call it Celtic Tales is lost on me, as only one story is actually set in Ireland and the best of the bunch it is too, but as a tour of Europe after the tour of the west indies over the last two volumes it made for a nice change of scenery and I can't wait to see Pratt draw more of Venice, one of the best visual representations of one of my favourite cities in the world. Oh, and it should go without saying it was gorgeous to look at. Hugo Pratt was quite the artist.

Apestrife

Thought it was ink at first, but now it seems like it's a bit pixely.

Btw. I just spotted this.



To me the choice of covers are a bit strange. Looks a bit like stand in covers. Perhaps I've been spoiled by the Judge Dredd Mega Collection covers  :)

Colin YNWA

Good find, where did you spot them?

I really like the covers and think the whole design and production of the books as been pretty much spot on. Just started Celtic Tales... more later.

Paul Moore

I picked up Celtic Tales still to read, but so long as i get 'The Ethiopian' (the old 'in Africa') and the 'in Siberia' ill be more than happy, theyre the best of the ones i read
My Twitter account
@pmoore121
https://twitter.com/PMoore121
My Instagram site
https://www.instagram.com/paulmoore121/