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Corto Maltese: The Early Years
This short adventure tells the backstory of Corto Maltese first meeting Rasputin at the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.
The protagonist of this tale, actually, is not the 18-year-old Corto, but Rasputin, a deserter from a Siberian rifle regiment, and the writer Jack London, who was a war correspondent in the region at that time. London is already friends with Corto and introduces the sailor to the unpredictable Russian, who even as a young man kills with disconcerting ease and is ready to lie and betray without hesitation. It is, however, "the beginning of a beautiful friendship" that continues throughout the series. As a bonus, the book includes additional material that sets up the entire series, as well as several never-before published pages that Pratt intended for a continuation of the tale, in which Corto and Rasputin were to embark on a search for King Solomon's mines.
The protagonist of this tale, actually, is not the 18-year-old Corto, but Rasputin, a deserter from a Siberian rifle regiment, and the writer Jack London, who was a war correspondent in the region at that time. London is already friends with Corto and introduces the sailor to the unpredictable Russian, who even as a young man kills with disconcerting ease and is ready to lie and betray without hesitation. It is, however, "the beginning of a beautiful friendship" that continues throughout the series. As a bonus, the book includes additional material that sets up the entire series, as well as several never-before published pages that Pratt intended for a continuation of the tale, in which Corto and Rasputin were to embark on a search for King Solomon's mines.
64 pages, Paperback
Published August 20, 2019
About the author
Hugo Pratt
744 books431 followersHugo Pratt, born Ugo Eugenio Prat (1927–1995), was an Italian comic book writer and artist. Internationally known for Corto Maltese, a series of adventure comics first published in Italy and France between 1967 and 1991, Pratt is regarded as a pioneer of the literary graphic novel.
Born in Rimini, Italy, Pratt spent his childhood in Venice in a cosmopolitan family environment. In 1937, ten-years old Hugo moved with his parents to Ethiopia, East Africa, following the Italian occupation of the country. Pratt's father eventually died as a prisoner of war in 1942. Hugo himself and his mother spent some time in a British prison camp in Africa, before being sent back to Venice. This childhood experiences shaped Pratt's fascination with military uniforms, machineries and settings, a visual constant in most of his adult works.
As a young artist in post-war Italy, Pratt was part of the so-called 'Venice Group', which also included cartoonists Alberto Ongaro, Mario Faustinelli. Their magazine Asso di Picche, launched in 1945, mostly featured adventure comics.
In 1949 Pratt moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he worked for various local publishers and interacted with well-known Argentine cartoonists, most notably Alberto Breccia and Solano López, while also teaching at the Escuela Panamericana de Arte. During this period he produced his first notable comic books: Sgt. Kirk and Ernie Pike, written by Héctor Germán Oesterheld; Anna nella jungla, Capitan Cormorant and Wheeling, as a complete author.
From the summer of 1959 to the summer of 1960, Pratt lived in London drawing war comics by British scriptwriters for Fleetway Publications. He returned to Argentina for a couple more years, then moved back to Italy in 1962. Here he started collaborating with the comics magazine Il Corriere dei Piccoli, for which he adapted several classics, including works by Robert Louis Stevenson.
In 1967, Hugo Pratt and entrepreneur Florenzo Ivaldi created the comics magazine Il Sergente Kirk, named after one of Pratt's original characters. Pratt's most famous work, Una ballata del mare salato (1967, The Ballad of the Salty Sea) was serialised in the pages of this magazine. The story can be seen as one of the first modern graphic novels. It also introduced Pratt's best known character, mariner and adventurer Corto Maltese. Corto became the protagonist of its own series three years later in the French comics magazine Pif gadget. Pratt would continue releasing new Corto Maltese books every few years until 1991. Corto's stories are set in various parts of the world, in a given moment in the first three decades of the 20th century. They often tangently deal with real historical events or real historical figures. The series gave Pratt international notoriety, being eventually translated into fifteen languages.
Pratt's other works include Gli scorpioni del deserto (1969-1992), a series of military adventures set in East Africa during WWII, and a few one-shots published for Bonelli's comic magazine Un Uomo Un'Avventura ('One Man One Adventure'), most notably the short story Jesuit Joe (1980, The Man from the Great North). He also scripted a couple of stories for his pupil Milo Manara.
Pratt lived in France from 1970 to 1984, then in Switzerland till his death from bowel cancer in 1995.
Born in Rimini, Italy, Pratt spent his childhood in Venice in a cosmopolitan family environment. In 1937, ten-years old Hugo moved with his parents to Ethiopia, East Africa, following the Italian occupation of the country. Pratt's father eventually died as a prisoner of war in 1942. Hugo himself and his mother spent some time in a British prison camp in Africa, before being sent back to Venice. This childhood experiences shaped Pratt's fascination with military uniforms, machineries and settings, a visual constant in most of his adult works.
As a young artist in post-war Italy, Pratt was part of the so-called 'Venice Group', which also included cartoonists Alberto Ongaro, Mario Faustinelli. Their magazine Asso di Picche, launched in 1945, mostly featured adventure comics.
In 1949 Pratt moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he worked for various local publishers and interacted with well-known Argentine cartoonists, most notably Alberto Breccia and Solano López, while also teaching at the Escuela Panamericana de Arte. During this period he produced his first notable comic books: Sgt. Kirk and Ernie Pike, written by Héctor Germán Oesterheld; Anna nella jungla, Capitan Cormorant and Wheeling, as a complete author.
From the summer of 1959 to the summer of 1960, Pratt lived in London drawing war comics by British scriptwriters for Fleetway Publications. He returned to Argentina for a couple more years, then moved back to Italy in 1962. Here he started collaborating with the comics magazine Il Corriere dei Piccoli, for which he adapted several classics, including works by Robert Louis Stevenson.
In 1967, Hugo Pratt and entrepreneur Florenzo Ivaldi created the comics magazine Il Sergente Kirk, named after one of Pratt's original characters. Pratt's most famous work, Una ballata del mare salato (1967, The Ballad of the Salty Sea) was serialised in the pages of this magazine. The story can be seen as one of the first modern graphic novels. It also introduced Pratt's best known character, mariner and adventurer Corto Maltese. Corto became the protagonist of its own series three years later in the French comics magazine Pif gadget. Pratt would continue releasing new Corto Maltese books every few years until 1991. Corto's stories are set in various parts of the world, in a given moment in the first three decades of the 20th century. They often tangently deal with real historical events or real historical figures. The series gave Pratt international notoriety, being eventually translated into fifteen languages.
Pratt's other works include Gli scorpioni del deserto (1969-1992), a series of military adventures set in East Africa during WWII, and a few one-shots published for Bonelli's comic magazine Un Uomo Un'Avventura ('One Man One Adventure'), most notably the short story Jesuit Joe (1980, The Man from the Great North). He also scripted a couple of stories for his pupil Milo Manara.
Pratt lived in France from 1970 to 1984, then in Switzerland till his death from bowel cancer in 1995.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 12, 2020
First a little word play. This is not the first Book about Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese but it was the last written, I think. It was not the first one I read but will not be the last. Had it been the first one I read, likely it would have been the last.
And that was the most fun I have had with Corto Maltese ; The Early Years. If this is the young Corto, there is nothing young about how he handles himself. A fact made plain in the introduction. He may appear a tad younger than in books that portray him in later periods, but there is nothing in the Early Years that suggest this is an early Corto Maltese. Also explained in the intro is that unique among the Corto books this was commissioned to be a newspaper comic series. This explains much and begs the question of the proper definition of a graphic novel.
This adventure finds him in the immediate after math of the Russo-Japanese war. Here he will do next to nothing while various characters, real and not so real do all that needs to be done. We are introduced to the ‘real’ Jack London doing almost what he was doing in Korea trying to cover the war. The full story of JL’s adventuring in Alaska then conducting a one-person invasion of a war zone where he was not wanted should have been this book. But that would have made this a better adventure story.
We also meet Rasputin. I guess because London and Rasputin are supposed to have met there.
Stuff happens. Most of it without Corto doing much but showing up now and again. This is a short adventure, and perhaps the better for it. The book is augmented with the beginnings of an incomplete sequel and a few scattered panels and drawings. Many of the drawings are the best aspect of the book.
Having now read 2 from Hugo Pratts works, I plan to read more, but only as cheaper used copies catch my eye.
And that was the most fun I have had with Corto Maltese ; The Early Years. If this is the young Corto, there is nothing young about how he handles himself. A fact made plain in the introduction. He may appear a tad younger than in books that portray him in later periods, but there is nothing in the Early Years that suggest this is an early Corto Maltese. Also explained in the intro is that unique among the Corto books this was commissioned to be a newspaper comic series. This explains much and begs the question of the proper definition of a graphic novel.
This adventure finds him in the immediate after math of the Russo-Japanese war. Here he will do next to nothing while various characters, real and not so real do all that needs to be done. We are introduced to the ‘real’ Jack London doing almost what he was doing in Korea trying to cover the war. The full story of JL’s adventuring in Alaska then conducting a one-person invasion of a war zone where he was not wanted should have been this book. But that would have made this a better adventure story.
We also meet Rasputin. I guess because London and Rasputin are supposed to have met there.
Stuff happens. Most of it without Corto doing much but showing up now and again. This is a short adventure, and perhaps the better for it. The book is augmented with the beginnings of an incomplete sequel and a few scattered panels and drawings. Many of the drawings are the best aspect of the book.
Having now read 2 from Hugo Pratts works, I plan to read more, but only as cheaper used copies catch my eye.
November 11, 2019
These Corto Maltese collections have been wonderfully presented and, thankfully, reproduced at the correct size. At first glance the publisher made the odd decision to start with book 3, Under The Sign Of Capricorn and is only now, years later, returning to book 1. There seem to be two reasons for this. Firstly, another publisher had already printed volume 2, The Ballad Of The Salty Sea, some years before, so anyone who had already bought that was unlikely to dip their hand into their pocket again. But secondly, The Early Years really doesn’t feature much Corto Maltese, instead focusing primarily on the recurring character of Rasputin. It’s logical, but could indeed confuse some.
The Early Years is set at the end of 1905, during the end of Russian and Japanese war. Rasputin is a deserter from his Siberian regiment and is trying to outwit both his countrymen and the Japanese still willing to take a prisoner (or worse). The author Jack London is a war correspondent who ends up introducing Rasputin to Corto Maltese, then just 18 years of age, and although it’s a strange friendship it is one that endures in its own way throughout the rest of the books.
It’s a very short story and pages have been discovered (in reality, they are newspaper strips and are included here at the back of the book) of a continuation where Pratt intended to send Corto and Rasputin in search of King Solomon’s Mines. Alas, they were never completed.
The fluidity and looseness of the Corto Maltese stories, coupled with their daring flirtations with history and period travel make the books a genuine eye-opener, and The Early Years is no exception. You won’t read anything else quite like it.
The Early Years is set at the end of 1905, during the end of Russian and Japanese war. Rasputin is a deserter from his Siberian regiment and is trying to outwit both his countrymen and the Japanese still willing to take a prisoner (or worse). The author Jack London is a war correspondent who ends up introducing Rasputin to Corto Maltese, then just 18 years of age, and although it’s a strange friendship it is one that endures in its own way throughout the rest of the books.
It’s a very short story and pages have been discovered (in reality, they are newspaper strips and are included here at the back of the book) of a continuation where Pratt intended to send Corto and Rasputin in search of King Solomon’s Mines. Alas, they were never completed.
The fluidity and looseness of the Corto Maltese stories, coupled with their daring flirtations with history and period travel make the books a genuine eye-opener, and The Early Years is no exception. You won’t read anything else quite like it.
October 20, 2019
I've written previously about the quality of these books and the effort to give an excellent take on classic European fiction.
This goes even further with an extended introduction and some, frankly, superb colour plates up-front where Pratt has worked on and elaborated his character sketches.
These additions are very welcome and help add solidity, definition and weight to characters that we've been following around the world to this point (I still want to explore Corto's Venice).
They're also needed. This is the slimmest volume in the series. Almost duplicitous in it's name as well as Corto isn't really the star of the show. Jack London and Rasputin are the key characters, caught in the dying throes at the end of the Manchurian war. London finds himself set-up for an impossible duel. Rasputin's character is created and sketched, so deftly, in mere moments. A few panels and we know the nature of his personality, his raison d'etre, his motivations. Bloody brilliant!
Corto does come into this, almost as a filler. If I hadn't been aware of the rest of his adventures, I'd have said that Rasputin and London would be the key protagonists going forward... right up to the last panels.
Pratt masterfully sets the scene for more adventures and we do now understand where the relationship between his key protagonists has its' germination. Go read all of the books and enjoy - you will not regret it!
This goes even further with an extended introduction and some, frankly, superb colour plates up-front where Pratt has worked on and elaborated his character sketches.
These additions are very welcome and help add solidity, definition and weight to characters that we've been following around the world to this point (I still want to explore Corto's Venice).
They're also needed. This is the slimmest volume in the series. Almost duplicitous in it's name as well as Corto isn't really the star of the show. Jack London and Rasputin are the key characters, caught in the dying throes at the end of the Manchurian war. London finds himself set-up for an impossible duel. Rasputin's character is created and sketched, so deftly, in mere moments. A few panels and we know the nature of his personality, his raison d'etre, his motivations. Bloody brilliant!
Corto does come into this, almost as a filler. If I hadn't been aware of the rest of his adventures, I'd have said that Rasputin and London would be the key protagonists going forward... right up to the last panels.
Pratt masterfully sets the scene for more adventures and we do now understand where the relationship between his key protagonists has its' germination. Go read all of the books and enjoy - you will not regret it!
November 30, 2024
A post-written prequel to Pratt's Corto Maltese series. My son's illustration friend I believe recommended this to him, along with other European comics. The story and hero definitely involves a host of passports, and while written in 1989 it goes back to the early 1900's. Quite lovingly packaged circa 2019 (Pratt perished in 1995, but I believe the watercolor art sketches of characters were from his later years - well worth a long look. ) There's even a post-prequel sequel discovered and revealed here, in rough form on rougher seas.
The tale aims to cross bad-boy paths of adventurist author Jack London, madman extraordinaire Rasputin and of course Pratt's anti-hero hero, the titular Corto Maltese. I look forward to traveling to the Salty Sea with Maltese. The style one of grim and extreme contrast, such stark black and white while the characters operate at best in gray areas between war zones and maritime regions.
Cut-throat behavior and chiseled jawlines for the good bad guys, while Rasputin gets a more simple bad bad guys gets a consistent cartoon look and prominent nose.
Back when toxic masculinity might have been the only antidote to an early death? Glad to read this before it was turned into cigarette adverts in the 70's and to then be stamped out by kinder, gentler readers. Though still has a bit of a smolder to this day if you can find it.
The tale aims to cross bad-boy paths of adventurist author Jack London, madman extraordinaire Rasputin and of course Pratt's anti-hero hero, the titular Corto Maltese. I look forward to traveling to the Salty Sea with Maltese. The style one of grim and extreme contrast, such stark black and white while the characters operate at best in gray areas between war zones and maritime regions.
Cut-throat behavior and chiseled jawlines for the good bad guys, while Rasputin gets a more simple bad bad guys gets a consistent cartoon look and prominent nose.
Back when toxic masculinity might have been the only antidote to an early death? Glad to read this before it was turned into cigarette adverts in the 70's and to then be stamped out by kinder, gentler readers. Though still has a bit of a smolder to this day if you can find it.
November 13, 2020
I have to explain three stars first - the story is fantastic, a prequel to wish for, with Corto appearing almost at the end (only that was not deliberate. Pratt planned a much longer story yet he never finished it due to a disagreement with the publisher). The edition is also beautiful including watercolors this time, but it does not fit with the other parts of the serial which are minimal and stark. It feels like people at IDW thought this volume will be too slim to justify the cost and decided to include introduction including watercolor done by Pratt. I would even fall for it had it been done as an introduction to the whole series, and not just for this volume. Too bad something that would have been an improvement in general, spoiled it instead.
Regarding the story, I especially like how Pratt bookended it with Soong family here and in Corto Maltese: Mu: The Lost Continent, especially since one member of that family presented a mysterious (and almost fatal) love interest for Corto. Magnificent and unforgettable!
Regarding the story, I especially like how Pratt bookended it with Soong family here and in Corto Maltese: Mu: The Lost Continent, especially since one member of that family presented a mysterious (and almost fatal) love interest for Corto. Magnificent and unforgettable!
September 17, 2019
First thing first: This one's real skinny. They have to pad it out with sketches amd articles to hide the fact that are about 40 story pages. The back-matter is basically "this isn't really a complete story because Pratt had a tiff with the publisher but we have JUST ENOUGH story to print and sell."
Second: despite the name Corto is barely in it, the plot is focused on his eternal frenemy Rasputin and real-life author Jack London.
Third: it still works. It's Pratt. so of course it does. He has that magic that lets him get away with a no-ending story that's basically one incident after another. I think it's because he actually liked other people, and other cultures and looked at them as more than exotic exhibitions (though there is some nonsense about 'ninjas' mentioned in the volume that's probably not historically accurate in the slightest).
The art's good, that character's are great - London's desperate need to prove himself, Rasputin's desire to master his own fate above any rule of man or god, Corto's laid-back self-assurance.... even half-baked Corto Maltese adventure is better than most comics.
Second: despite the name Corto is barely in it, the plot is focused on his eternal frenemy Rasputin and real-life author Jack London.
Third: it still works. It's Pratt. so of course it does. He has that magic that lets him get away with a no-ending story that's basically one incident after another. I think it's because he actually liked other people, and other cultures and looked at them as more than exotic exhibitions (though there is some nonsense about 'ninjas' mentioned in the volume that's probably not historically accurate in the slightest).
The art's good, that character's are great - London's desperate need to prove himself, Rasputin's desire to master his own fate above any rule of man or god, Corto's laid-back self-assurance.... even half-baked Corto Maltese adventure is better than most comics.
February 25, 2024
A prequel to the earlier Corto Maltese tales, Hugo Pratt decides to go back and tell the story of how Corto and Rasputin first met. Set during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Rasputin is amongst the Russian forces that learns of their nation's surrender. Embedded deep within the trenches, a whistle blows out indicating that an armistice is in place. But Rasputin's impulsive nature gets ahead of him and he boldly shoots a Japanese officer out in no man's land. Before his commanding officers can discipline him, Rasputin murders a few more of his own fellow troops before fleeing into the countryside. Relying on Jack London for assistance, Rasputin is put into contact with Corto Maltese who is planning on leaving the region via ship. It's not much of a Corto adventure as it is a story about Rasputin and London, but it's definitely a thrilling and bloody action romp. It's not one of the better stories Pratt has laid out, but it's undoubtedly an entertaining but brief little adventure.
April 21, 2020
This was the first Corto Maltese comic book I found, stumbling on it in the intractable stacks of Wilson Library at the University of Minnesota in my third year of college, intrigued by its evocative time and place, enigmatic characters, approaches of literary deepness, and expressive artwork. By coincidence, The Early Years serves as an origin story for when the enigmatic sailor Corto Maltese met his frenemy, the unpredictable and amoral Russian drifter, Rasputin, though it is not the first published adventure of Corto Maltese.
Set in Manchuria at the close of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, and featuring cameos from Jack London, an American war correspondent at the time, The Early Years was a particularly good place to get into the series, rife as it is with allusions to historical events, vaguely mystical undertones, and at times abstruse philosophizing. With this new edition, I’ve enjoyed returning to this comic, so difficult to come by in English for so long before.
Set in Manchuria at the close of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, and featuring cameos from Jack London, an American war correspondent at the time, The Early Years was a particularly good place to get into the series, rife as it is with allusions to historical events, vaguely mystical undertones, and at times abstruse philosophizing. With this new edition, I’ve enjoyed returning to this comic, so difficult to come by in English for so long before.
November 16, 2020
A very slim story (apparently meant to be continued if not for a dispute with the publishing newspaper) is padded out with a short essay introduction and some nice full page water colour sketches. The story is a prequel that takes place in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War and shows the introduction of Rasputin and Corto. Primarily centred around real-life American novelist (and sometimes war correspondent) Jack London, Corto only shows up about 80% of the way through the story and barely plays a role (again, his involvement would have picked up had the story continued). This doesn't really detract from it being a well written tight story of the confusion and danger of the region at the time and the type of character that we'll continue to see from the loose cannon Rasputin as Corto's adventures continue.
August 17, 2021
half-baked and obviously very much lacking, this is a less-than-stellar introduction to corto maltese than what i had hoped to have. nonetheless, despite its many weaknesses—but perhaps mainly the incoherence of the plot, which has no overarching theme or message, save that it inconceivably happened to a certain set of people in a certain span of time—the introduction of the titular character seemed like a well-deserved enough pay-off that a reader might be left intrigued for more.
fortunately, for me, i do have the interest to continue this series, because reading the wikipedia page alone for this comic book series does promise an enriching reading experience—far more enriching, i hope, than this fare.
fortunately, for me, i do have the interest to continue this series, because reading the wikipedia page alone for this comic book series does promise an enriching reading experience—far more enriching, i hope, than this fare.
October 4, 2020
Corto is basically a walk-on cameo in this, his chronological first adventure. It's really the story of Jack London, American war correspondent, and Rasputin, Russian soldier-turned-anarchist, as they cross paths and struggle to survive the tail end of the Russian-Japanese war in 1905. It's an egaging story, with London running afoul of a Japanese soldier's sense of duty and honor and Rasputin being his cagey, manipulative self. It's not the most compelling piece of the Corto Maltese saga, but that's more a commentary on how good the rest of the story is than an indictment of this volume. Pratt tells a ripping good yarn with plenty of twists here.
September 13, 2019
Once again, IDW/EuroComics does a great job bringing Hugo Pratt's comic strip masterpiece to collected format. This beautiful volume is rather slim with story, the publisher has added an essay and several of Pratt's renditions of Corto and the characters in this story.
Although the book is titled the Early Years, Corto himself barely appears. Instead we meet a youthful Rasputin along with American writer Jack London. The way Pratt writes London, an adventure strip starring him would be an excellent read all around. Corto is barely 18, and it seems the story is more about introducing Corto's background than anything else about him.
Although the book is titled the Early Years, Corto himself barely appears. Instead we meet a youthful Rasputin along with American writer Jack London. The way Pratt writes London, an adventure strip starring him would be an excellent read all around. Corto is barely 18, and it seems the story is more about introducing Corto's background than anything else about him.
February 28, 2026
A prequel story setting up (somewhat since the later parts were never finished due as mentioned in this collection) Corto Maltese knows Rasputin
One of the smaller collections in this series but I'm a massive fan of Hugo Pratt so regardless I still enjoyed it
I do remember these being released in a bizarre order though
One of the smaller collections in this series but I'm a massive fan of Hugo Pratt so regardless I still enjoyed it
I do remember these being released in a bizarre order though
April 3, 2022
Prequal of sorts. Rasputin deserts from the Russians during the 1905 Russo-japanese war in 1905 . He bumps into Jack London covering the war for England. Despite rasputin's psychopathic tendencies, London introduces Rasputin to Corto Maltese and together they leave on a steamer.
August 22, 2020
A tale from Corto Maltese's youth that mainly focuses on Rasputin and Jack London at the end of the Russo-Japanese War. As always it's a gripping tale, superbly illustrated.
April 26, 2022
The characters are alright here, but I love the setting, the character design, and the art. Some really excellent watercolors.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews