Corto Maltese #[2]

Corto Maltese returns in this 2023 Casterman volume, La Reine de Babylone, with Bastien Vivès's clean, elegantly modern linework bringing the brooding, dark-haired adventurer front and center — rifle slung at his side, his expression somewhere between watchful and weary. A woman in camouflage rests her arm across his shoulders, her presence commanding even as her face remains just out of frame, lending the composition an air of intrigue that feels entirely at home in this world. Writer Martin Quenehen joins the creative legacy of Hugo Pratt to keep Corto's restless, romantic spirit very much alive.