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Corto Maltese back in English Sept 11

Started by Colin YNWA, 06 February, 2011, 07:37:40 AM

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Colin YNWA

GET IN! Been hoping this would happen for a while. One of the major influence's on Carlos' work is coming back in print in English for the first time in an age. Details

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/02/05/hugo-pratts-corto-maltese-back-in-print-after-fifteen-years/

Blueberry next please!

Daveycandlish

An old-school, no-bullshit, boys-own action/adventure comic reminiscent of the 2000ads and Eagles and Warlords and Battles and other glorious black-and-white comics that were so, so cool in the 70's and 80's - Buy the hardback Christmas Annual!

Ignatzmonster

It's about damned time! Love Hugo Pratt. Have five of the volumes from the eighties but I've never been able to increase my stash. Also Vol. 1 is so badly translated I occasionally get confused about what's happening.

House of Usher

I hope my library gets it in. A pity the Tories and LibDems took all the money.
STRIKE !!!

satchmo

Oh that is good news! Looking forward to this immensely. Dylan Dog next if you please, my cousin in Italy has got better things to do than translate my comics for me :)

(she got me a Diabolik fag lighter for Christmas which is awesome!)

I, Cosh

Well, I snapped up the last copy of this in FP this evening. Not had a chance to look at it yet and probably wont until next week but it's a nice chunky book.
We never really die.

Colin YNWA

Get in - thanks for the heads up. Alas missed by window to get it in town but order it via Book Depositary just now. Thanks for the heads up been wanting to read this for an age.

Third Estate Ned

This is good news. I have the Italian versions but I can't really appreciate any subtlety in the language, my Italian being what it is. If anyone knows the language, there's a really cool "hidden" Venice city guide written by Pratt I can recommend called Corto Sconto set in the aesthetic of the character. A kind of Corto Maltese's Venice. With it we found some really unusual places and in particular a restaurant decorated with framed pix that comic artists had drawn on their place mats.

Not so keen on Dylan Dog myself but I have some Diaboliks that I found in our apartment building's paper skip! It's Nathan Never which people seem to regard as quality round here, even if they call it Nah-tan Neverr. Regarding Italian comics, my weak claim to fame: one of my students and her husband were both Martin Mystère artists.

Colin YNWA

Well my copy arrived and it looks like an absolute great piece of work. Hope this sells shed loads so we get more, my reading list is going to be abused again it seems, though my wife saw it and immediately said "Oh that looks good" and flicked through it so I might let her have dibs.

What with a new Pogo collection, this and the Battle reprints finally getting a bit of momentum I can only assume I'll get those long dreamed of tickets too see Tom Waits soon!

satchmo

Just ordered it, man it looks beautiful.
My above mentioned cousin has just got engaged to a lovely Italian who has a complete collection of Dylan Dog. ONE OF US ONE OF US ONE OF US  :D

Colin YNWA

Well my wife really enjoyed it, loved the art said the story was good if the translation seemed to kill some of the dialogue. Her only real complaint was that the pages were too thick and she didn't always intuitively know if she'd turned one page or two... don't ask me I'm only tellin' ya!

Colin YNWA

Hmmm this is interesting,

http://www.bigplanetcomics.com/how-to-destroy-a-comics-classic

Now I've not read this yet, its still working its way up my read pile, though its near the top as I was so looking forward to reading it I gave it a significant boost. Anyhoo look like this edition might be far from ideal. Will probably read it anyway but its both annoying and a relief that it might be a wonky version. Good to know that if I have problems with it, or spot stuff (and some does seem glaring, some I guess I'd have never known about) that it might well be down to the edition I have. Annoying cos however much I enjoy it I'll know its not the finished product.

ho hum.

Colin YNWA

Too late to modify but here's some more about this. Its a bit of a catch 22 really. Don't buy it and publishers don't think there's a market for this stuff. Buy it and publishers will think people don't care about the quality anyway.

Well not an issue for me as I bought it was soon as it came out, but you know what I mean.

Colin YNWA

Sorry for the repeated posting but, well we now know... at least we now know what the sound of one comic fan whittering on about reprints of European classics sounds like... THIS!

Anyway the publishers respond.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/03/20/the-universe-addresses-a-comic-store-owner-over-corto-maltese/

Colin YNWA

Hmmm five in a row, maybe no one is listening?

Anyway read this and while its fair to say the printing is a bit rubbish in places and knowing that its been chopped and changed in places played away in the back of my mind it was still BLOODY BRILLIANT.

It could seem that a tampered and abused classic is still a classic and since there was no way I was going to get hold of it in any other way I'm so glad this exists and that I own it. Bloody superb. If a better edition comes out yep I'll snap in up in a second this is gold. A wonderful story with wonderful characters. The art is astonishingly good. Shame that the printing is bad, as it all about perfect lines in perfect postion and so the printing does detract a little but I got over it.

The translation is pretty stilted in places, but given that so many of the characters are clearly not talking in there native tongues a lot of the time I actually quite liked that in places (though in others it was annoying).  I personally really liked the colouring, you could feel the heat and taste the salt in the air. Fantastic.

This may be a flawed presentation but since its the best we have for now I'd heartily recommend it as a great story is still a great story and this is a classic in every way.