Corto Maltese embarks on a new adventure – La Vanguardia

The myths have no expiration date. Twenty years after the death of its creator, Hugo Pratt, Corto Maltese iconic sailor sets sail for a new adventure planned for October 2015 Managers give a second life to the character are two authors with a strong and recognized professional: the writer Juan Diaz Canales , author of the bestseller Blacksad , and artist Reuben Tanner , responsible for works such as The Silence of Malka or Dieter Lumpen .

Corto Maltese is a comic that has overstepped the limits of the vignettes. He has served as a promotional image of a Dior perfume, inspired novels as suggestive as he dedicated Susana Fortes ( Dear Corto Maltese , 1994) and, of course, has helped broaden the horizons of the Cartoon practicing graphic novel long before this label became a fad.

But the personality of Corto Maltese is closely linked to its creator, so much so that both biographies confused. The spacious living and cultural background of Hugo Pratt moved to the pages of the Corto Maltese series since its debut in The Ballad of the Salt Sea (1967) until his album that marked his dismissal, Mu (1988), set in Easter Island. Hence the idea of ​​resuming the character is so suggestive as bold initiative. A real challenge.

The new ‘parents’ Corto Maltese

Juan Díaz Canales (Madrid, 1972) is the writer of this new adventure of the unbeliever sailor. “It will be a new creation story, because it is regarded as the next album. It is the continuation of the series, “he explained to EFE. Canales has in its curriculum a series of successful call Blacksad , whose last album, Amarillo , enjoyed an initial print run of 220,000 copies in France.

Meanwhile, Ruben Tanner (Badalona, ​​1952) is the author of Dieter Lumpen series, written by screenwriter and novelist Jorge Zentner. The series was originally published inthe journal Cairo (1985) and has just been recovered by Astiberri publishing a complete edition.

Tanner has been working directly for the French market years, especially After the success in the neighboring country The Silence of Malka (1994), which received the award for best foreign album in Angoulême Comics Festival. It is a cartoonist with an exquisite line, which has demonstrated its ability both when the black and white works as when using the color (and this coincides with Pratt).

An editorial selling

The new book Corto Maltese is a co-production between three editorials: Norma (Spain), Casterman (France) and Rizzoli-Lizard (Italy). And no doubt it will be one of the biggest launches of 2015 It’s no news that famous cartoon characters are resurrected by new authors after the death (or retirement) of their creators. And so far, sales have accompanied these operations, at least in the French market, where the cartoon has a major publishing weight.

Among the classic characters taken up by other hands listed for Lucky Luke to Blake and Mortimer , which reached 450,000 copies print runs for their last two albums (published in 2012 and 2013 respectively). The last case was that of Asterix, whose new album, released last year, brushed 2.5 million copies according to the French Association ACBD.

It is already known that myths also durable They can also be very profitable.