Hugo Pratt (1927 – 1995): The Nomadic Storyteller of Comics

Ugo Eugenio Prat, known around the world as Hugo Pratt (15 June 1927 – 20 August 1995), was an Italian comics visionary whose work blurred the boundaries between historical fact and literary fiction. A master of adventure storytelling with an encyclopedic knowledge of history, folklore, and literature, Pratt became internationally revered for his creation of Corto Maltese—a brooding, poetic sailor and reluctant hero whose journeys took readers on globe-trotting quests through war, myth, and political intrigue. Pratt’s legacy lives on as a foundational figure in European graphic literature, whose influence continues to shape the evolution of comics as a narrative art form.

Hugo Pratt (Ugo Eugenio Prat)

Biography

Early Years and Education

Ugo Eugenio Prat was born on 15 June 1927 in the coastal city of Rimini, Italy. He spent most of his formative years in Venice, a melting pot of cultures, languages, and artistic traditions that profoundly shaped his worldview. Growing up in a household of mixed heritage—his paternal grandfather was of English and Provençal ancestry, while his maternal lineage included Turkish and Jewish roots—Pratt was exposed early to a diversity of cultural influences and philosophical ideas.

In 1937, Hugo and his mother moved to Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) to join his father, Rolando Prat, a non-commissioned officer in Mussolini’s colonial army. During their time in Africa, Pratt experienced the harsh realities of imperialism, war, and displacement. His father was captured by British forces in 1941 and died the following year in a POW camp, a traumatic event that deeply affected young Hugo. Hugo and his mother were interned in a detention camp in Dirédaoua, where, despite the grim conditions, he discovered comics—bought from guards—and was captivated by their power to combine visual art with narrative storytelling.

After being repatriated to Italy by the Red Cross, Pratt returned to a country in ruins but with a renewed sense of purpose. He pursued art studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice and immersed himself in European and American literature. His early passion for drawing, combined with a fascination for history, mythology, and travel, laid the groundwork for a career that would redefine the graphic novel form.

The Venice Group and the Postwar Comics Revival

Following the end of World War II, Pratt became a founding member of the “Group of Venice,” alongside fellow artists Dino Battaglia, Fernando Carcupino, and Damiano Damiani. This collective of young creators launched Asso di Picche in 1945, an adventure comic anthology that fused American noir influences with European sensibility. The comic, especially the titular character Ace of Spades (Asso di Picche), garnered acclaim, particularly in South America, where it laid the groundwork for Pratt’s later move to Argentina.

During this period, Pratt developed a strong foundation in storytelling and sequential art, experimenting with pacing, dialogue, and the dynamic interplay between word and image. The Group of Venice represented the birth of a new Italian comics generation, and their shared commitment to art and storytelling signaled a renaissance in postwar European comics.

Argentine Years

In 1949, Pratt moved to Buenos Aires, a city that would prove crucial to his development as a comics auteur. Invited by the prominent publishing house Editorial Abril, he quickly became immersed in Argentina’s thriving comics industry. There, he collaborated with some of the country’s most celebrated creators, including Alberto Breccia and Francisco Solano López. His most impactful collaboration, however, was with writer Héctor Germán Oesterheld.

Together, they produced enduring works such as Sgt. Kirk, a revisionist Western that subverted American frontier myths by portraying Native Americans and marginalized groups with empathy and nuance. Ticonderoga, a historical epic set during the French and Indian War, and Ernie Pike, a series of anti-war vignettes told through the eyes of a journalist, further established Pratt’s gift for combining compelling characters with incisive social commentary.

During his Argentine sojourn, Pratt also wrote and illustrated solo works including Anna della jungla (Ann of the Jungle), Capitan Cormorant, and Wheeling, showcasing his growing mastery of historical settings and adventurous narrative. He also taught at the Escuela Panamericana de Arte, influencing a generation of South American artists and expanding his intellectual and artistic horizons.

Return to Italy and the Birth of Corto Maltese

In 1962, after more than a decade abroad, Pratt returned to Italy, bringing with him a wealth of international experience and artistic confidence. He resumed work with Corriere dei Piccoli, adapting literary classics such as Treasure Island and Kidnapped for young readers. These adaptations honed his skills in pacing and dialogue, while allowing him to experiment with framing and tone.

The pivotal moment in Pratt’s career came in 1967 when he joined forces with Genoese publisher Florenzo Ivaldi to create Sgt. Kirk magazine. Within its debut issue, Pratt introduced Una ballata del mare salato (A Ballad of the Salty Sea), a sprawling narrative set during World War I in the Pacific Ocean. This story marked the first appearance of Corto Maltese, a laconic, worldly sailor whose blend of cynicism, idealism, and poetic detachment would captivate readers for decades.

Corto Maltese was not a traditional hero. He navigated colonial outposts, anarchist plots, secret cults, and revolutions—not as a crusader, but as a thoughtful observer. Through Corto, Pratt explored philosophical themes, mythic archetypes, and the moral ambiguity of geopolitics. As the series expanded—serialized in France’s Pif Gadget and later published in album form—it redefined what comics could achieve in terms of literary depth and historical resonance.

The Birth of Corto Maltese: A New Kind of Hero

In 1967, back in Italy and collaborating with publisher Florenzo Ivaldi, Pratt debuted his magnum opus: Una ballata del mare salato (A Ballad of the Salty Sea). Here, readers met Corto Maltese, a laconic anti-hero, sea captain, and philosophical wanderer. Part Jack London, part Odysseus, part Rimbaud, Corto quickly became one of the most iconic characters in European comics.

Corto’s stories, serialized first in Pif Gadget and later collected into albums, took him across Africa, the Balkans, China, Siberia, and the South Pacific, always on the fringes of empires and revolutions. Pratt’s mastery lay not just in conjuring lush, historically grounded settings, but in populating them with rogues, mystics, real-life figures, and ancient legends. His narratives, though full of action, were poetic, meditative, and steeped in existential doubt.

Each Corto Maltese tale could stand alone, yet they collectively formed a web of recurring characters and themes—a tapestry of early 20th-century turmoil and mystery filtered through the eyes of a reluctant idealist.

Visual Storytelling and Literary Depth

Influenced by American artist Milton Caniff, Pratt refined a style that merged expressive brushwork with European elegance. His black-and-white artwork emphasized mood, gesture, and silence over cinematic spectacle. In many ways, Pratt treated the comic book page like a film storyboard—and often, a poem.

His literary influences were vast: Robert Louis Stevenson, Joseph Conrad, Jack London, James Oliver Curwood, and Herman Melville can be felt in his tone, while philosophical and spiritual themes echo from kabbalah, Freemasonry, and mysticism.

Through stories like Favola di Venezia, The Celts, Corte Sconta detta Arcana, and The Golden House of Samarkand, Pratt explored myth and history with dreamlike ambiguity. Recurring characters like Rasputin, Corto’s foil and occasional friend, brought dark energy and comic chaos, grounding the stories in messy human duality.

Collaborations and Later Works

In his later years, Pratt expanded his creative reach through collaborations with Milo Manara, producing acclaimed works like Indian Summer and El Gaucho. He also revisited solo series like Gli scorpioni del deserto (The Scorpions of the Desert), inspired by his time in North Africa and rich with historical military detail.

From 1970 to 1984, he lived mostly in France, the country where he achieved the most critical and commercial success. From 1984 until his death, he lived in Switzerland, traveling widely and collecting the raw material of his life’s obsessions: old maps, political revolutions, forgotten cultures, and esoteric doctrines.

Death and Legacy

Hugo Pratt died of bowel cancer on 20 August 1995, in Switzerland. Though he left behind an extraordinary body of work, his myth continued to grow posthumously.

In 2005, he was inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame. That same year, French publisher Casterman continued the Scorpions of the Desert series with new artists, while IDW’s EuroComics imprint began releasing definitive English-language editions of Corto Maltese starting in 2015, bringing his work to new generations.

A Life as Epic as His Stories

Much like Corto Maltese, Hugo Pratt was a traveler, a loner, and a quiet rebel. He lived in Italy, Ethiopia, Argentina, England, France, and Switzerland. He crossed the Amazon, roamed Patagonia, and wandered the Horn of Africa—never quite belonging, but always observing. As Swiss director Stefano Knuchel documented in Hugo en Afrique (2009) and Hugo in Argentina (2021), Pratt’s life mirrored his stories: mysterious, philosophical, and always in motion.

Awards and Honors

• 1969: Gran Guinigi Award, Lucca Comics
• 1976: Best Foreign Comic, Angoulême Festival
• 1987: Angoulême Best Foreign Comic (Indian Summer)
• 1988: Grand Prix de la ville d’Angoulême
• 1994: Max & Moritz Prize (Germany)
• 2005: Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame induction

Selected Works

• Corto Maltese series (1967–1992)
• A Ballad of the Salty Sea
• The Scorpions of the Desert
• Indian Summer (with Milo Manara)
• El Gaucho (with Manara)
• Ann of the Jungle
• Ernie Pike, Sgt. Kirk, Ticonderoga (with Héctor Oesterheld)

Hugo Pratt did not merely draw comics—he created literary cartographies of the soul. In Corto Maltese, he gave us not a superhero, but a man adrift in the currents of history, pulled forward by curiosity, conscience, and a poetic heart. Through pen and ink, Pratt mapped the world—and the wandering soul within it.

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