Corto Maltese: Beyond The Windy Isles Paperback – July 14, 2015

An ocean, a continent, and many, many years now separate me from my first encounter with Corto Maltese, back when I picked up several albums with a Danish translation of some of the stories in my native Norway. One of those albums still remain with me, and I have re-read it with great pleasure in the last year. Now, as I read the IDW translation and publication of some of the same stories, I realize for the first time that the Danish publication in some ways was below the standard it should have been. It is credit to the original art and story telling that the books still made an unerasable impression. But with this version from IDW, it's like having that same first experience over again. This is a beautiful work of art, and the publisher have done everything right: the paper weight of the pages is great, and the print is pristine (putting in contrast what I now see is the photocopy quality of my youth's Danish version). Without knowing the original Italian text I can't speak hundred percent for the translation but I can say that the English story reads splendidly (and better than the Danish version). I now have the two first albums in this series from IDW and can't wait for the rest of them. Please release them faster!

A fan of Corto for more than 40 years, I own various editions in both black&white and colour. All of them translated in Dutch. Thats why I hesitated in buying again the same books but in English language. Heart prevaled ratio and I don't regret it. Thick paper pages, sharp black & white drawings and most important great translations in English. As if I read the comic for the first time! Reasonable price, great buy!

Very excited about these new publications! It feels really good, well printed and the editions are beautiful. Not gonna say much about the stories since if you are here you likely know something about Corto Maltese but if that's not the case give it a try and you will be hooked for the rest of your life. Sail on!

thank you very much!

Harkens back to the old days of adventure stories in the Sunday comics.

Art, story perfectly blended into a real adventure

very well done

Well EuroComics and IDW brought us their excellent first edition of this European Masterpiece in January, now six short months later we get another volume. I hope this means can look forward to another volume around the beginning of the year. In total this series will be 12 volumes. EuroComics started with volume 3 , since the earlier material was released recently by another publisher. That publisher did an inferior production and that material will be correctly done at some future point by EuroComics.Anyways, that makes this volume four. While you can start with this volume , and it makes perfect sense, I recommend starting with the the third volume since it introduces a few characters you will meet again here.For those of you unfamiliar with Corto Maltese, he is a legend in European Graphic Novels. Think Tintin , but for adults. Created by Italian artist Hugo Pratt with a style that influenced many of the American greats. It is one beautifully composed panel after another of stark black and whites. EuroComics has done a new translation and released it in an oversized edition of that matches the original size.Corto Maltese was a Captain and an explorer who sailed the Islands of the Caribbean and the continent of South America in these early adventures all set in 1917.When last we left our hero he was suffering from Amnesia after being shot in the head. In the first story Mushroom Head Professor Steiner ( Corto's elderly alcoholic companion) seeks to restore his mind. We meet Levi Colombia a reoccurring character who is a wealthy Treasure Hunter. The story concerns a shrunken head of a white man and how it came to be.In the second story Banana Congo, Corto gets caught up in a local revolution and we meet for the first time the beautiful mercenary Venexiana Stevenson.In Voodoo For President we meet back up with the girl who accidentally shot Corto in the head. She has come to a small island and bought a sugar plantation. But now she is accused of using Zombies for workers.In the next story Sweet Dream Lagoon , a British deserter is hiding in a South American jungle. He is deliriously sick and his life is cleverly revealed through a series of fever dreams.In the final story in this volume A Tale Of Two Grandfathers Corto is recruited by Levi Colombia to find a white man's grandson who is half native . His parents have been killed and It is discovered he is being raised by his other Grandfather, a primitive native.All five of these stories are excellent and each has its own distinct tone.Highly Recommended

Beyond the Windy Isles is the second instalment of twelve books about the adventures of Hugo Pratt's legendary anti-hero, Corto Maltese that IDW/Euro Comics have issued to the English reading world. It is nothing short of a marvel. No, scratch that, for me it is a whole universe better than anything Marvel have ever produced.For the uninitiated, Corto Maltese has been huge in Europe for over 45 years, originally printed in Italian, then French and then released to the rest of Europe, with the exception of the UK. It has never taken off in North America, save for French reading Quebec (not sure about New Orleans), nor in Britain where I grew up. I suspect this is most likely due to the fact that what limited publication there has been in English was of pretty disappointing quality and the victim of dodgy translation. But that was then and this is now.IDW/Euro Comics have done an amazing job on the two releases to date ("Under the Sign of Capricorn" was released in Spring of 2015). They are large format, printed in black and white on high quality paper, with beautifully illustrated gatefold covers. Hugo Pratt's gorgeous, clean and simple artwork has been kept in the original format. These editions have been lovingly and painstakingly created, with the best of both the Italian and the French originals being combined to make a worthy edition of Pratt's masterpiece (I have it on good authority that the Italian versions are generally much better for the art as they contain all the thin lines, but the word balloons tend to be very large; the French versions are very good in most cases, especially with the balloons - thanks Dean Mullaney). The English translation has clearly been given priority and is a joy to read and a vast improvement on previous efforts. I have read most of the French editions and feel the translation capture the spirit of the characters and Pratt's prose perfectly, as well as maintaining the literary qualities of the originals. And reading it in English is considerably more enjoyable that struggling through with my schoolboy French and a dictionary.The content is as it has always been: On the surface it is action, intrigue and adventure from the first half of the 20th Century, But underneath it is filled with complex issues and themes, literary references, mysticism, cultural detail, well rounded characters whose personalities belie their black and white appearance. Umberto Eco said, "When I want to relax, I read essays by Engels. When I want something more serious, I read Corto Maltese".Beyond the Windy isles is set in 1917 and spans five different stories, 'Mushroom Head', 'Banana Congo', 'Voodoo For President', 'Sweet Dream Lagoon' and 'A Tale Of Two Grandfathers', taking Corto from the Mosquito Coast to Barbados to a deadly struggle among Jivaro head-hunters in the Peruvian Amazon. Along the way we also meet Zombies, revolutionaries, mercenaries, treasure hunters and shrunken heads.The next book (“Celtic Tales”) is scheduled for January 2016, and the publishers hope to get two more books out in 2016.If you love comics, you should buy this. If you love a literature you should buy this. If you love art you should buy this. If Italian or French is not your first language and you love Corto Maltese and Hugo Pratt then like me you have already bought it and are longing for January 2016 and arrival of 'the Celts'. Enjoy!

Again, a very good piece of work from Eurocomics. I love Corto Maltese, and I read them in Spanish (because I don't speak Italian), albeit with some serious problems in translation. They shifted the release date about 5 times, which annoyed me, but it's well worth the wait, and it's a brilliant English edition.

An adventure for everyone. Loved the stories and the art. All Corto Maltese books are interesting but this one could be my favourite!

Every 'Corto Maltese' graphic novel is simply a masterpiece.A truly mature and sociopolitical perspective of world.Recommended

Amazing comic. I warmly recommend!