Corto Maltese - En noir et blanc #2

Hugo Pratt's seafaring adventurer dominates this elegant black-and-white edition, his captain's cap and brooding gaze rendered in Pratt's signature spare linework against a soft rose-tinted background with distant palm trees and ocean. La Ballade de la Mer Salée is presented here in its stripped-down monochrome glory, exactly as Pratt originally conceived it — no color to distract from the expressive economy of his brushwork. Published by Casterman in 2011, this 24€ volume is a beautifully understated package for anyone drawn to adventure comics with a genuinely literary sensibility.