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THE_CASE_OF_CORTO_MALTESE
June 29, 2018
Once upon a time, when I was living down around Stanford, just off
campus, a woman was visiting our place who was of a distinctly
liberal/left hippie cast (e.g. she was sporting a floral nose pin
back when facial piercings were still the province of neo-tribal
freaks).
She saw a copy of one of my collections of Corto Maltese
sitting on the dining room table....
Corto Maltese was a french comic strip,
of the adventure hero variety. He's an
immediately recognizeable character The anime character Spike from
throughout the world, except in the "Cowboy Beebop" is nearly
(often rather parochial) United States, identical to Corto Maltese.
where he's known only among hardcore
comics fans-- some collections in COWBOY_BEBOP
"graphic novel" format were published in
the early 90s, and endorsed by the likes TOON_DIAL
of Frank Miller.
Corto Maltese was a man of the era Other notable features: there
before World War I, an adventurer was an explicit (sometimes
after sunken treasure, artifacts of heavy-handed) attempt at being
lost civilizations, hijacked military anti-racist. In one
gold, and so on... story, a basic-white kid from
England is traveling to Jamaca
The opening panel of this strip was an to meet his half-sister for
instant classic: Corto, feet up on a cafe the first time, and he's
table, sleeping with a sailors cap pulled somewhat weirded out to find
down over his eyes: "One could see right that she's a black girl (his
away that he was a man of destiny." father remarried to a woman
*from Jamaca*... why wouldn't
she be black?).
So, as the hippie-ish woman
glanced at Corto Maltese, I said Particularly interesting was
something like: the character Gold Mouth--
she's supposed to be some sort
"Corto Maltese is my hero!" of voodoo priestess, but she's
also the head of the
Atlantic-Richfield Company.
She flipped though it, opening it At one point, Corto has been
up to one of the more violent going after some sunken
passages, with gun-fire amidst treasure, and he realizes he's
an avalanch, and Corto waking up been out-manuevered... by
in a hospital. "Atlantic-Richfield". The
basic white kid is incensed:
She looked at this dubiously, "How could Gold Mouth do that
and said quietly, very to us?" Corto's response:
seriously "You could be shot." "She didn't do anything I
wouldn't have done."
And this, I offer up as an excellent
example of completely missing the point.
It displays an understanding that's very
straightforward, and in some respects
obviously correct-- but it's also weirdly
limited: plodding, excessively literal...
an attempt at insight that's remarkably
dull-witted.
Plodding our way back through this:
"Corto Maltese is my hero!" is
an obvious joke, a humorous Though every once in a while you do
overstatement-- and even if it hear about someone who is stupid
were not, it wouldn't mean that enough to go there-- for example, a
I think it's a good idea to try fan of super-hero comics who wants
to become a clone of Corto to play good-guy vigilante-- but
Maltese, to try to live a life they're a weird exception, almost
identical to the stories. universally regarded as totally
insane.
E.g. Pheonix Jones of the
But what is it that it might really Rain City Superheroes in
mean to call Corto Maltese your hero? Seattle:
I think you're treating the [link]
character as a kind of ideal
rather than a precise model--
Corto Maltese deals with what
comes as well as he can with He is a man who
style, without losing "dreams with his
composure... you might say eyes open"--
"with courage".
I sometimes wonder if I'm being similarly
dumb in my own commentary, e.g. when
discussing nominally "women's fiction"
like shojou manga...
UNSYMP_RESYNC
There are connections
between fiction and
reality, but they're not
always tight connections.
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