We had a brief conversation this afternoon with Howard Jurofsky of Heavy Metal. He says that they will be publishing the first CORTO MALTESE book, THE BALLAD OF THE SALTY SEA, and see how it goes before doing any more of the books. The book will be in the 6 x 9 format, smaller than previous U.S editions or the “album” size usually seen worldwide. Jurofsky says they also hope to use the English translation as opposed to the much-maligned translation used in the NBM editions.
Heavy Metal already has many relationships in place with French publishers, and that’s how this deal came about.
More details when they become available.
UPDATE: We’re going to assemble a more definitive FAQ on this, but several people have pointed out that when NBM published THE BALLAD OF THE SALTY SEA, they used the translation from the English Harvill edition which goes for $132 on eBay. So there is only ONE English translation available and it is one that has been widely praised.
Aw, man, I liked the bigger albums better! The Heavy Metal people should take lessons from Russ Cochran and the people behind the recent Little Nemo Sunday pages on how to present comic pages!
I’ll still try it, but the downsizing of the pages is very disappointing.
or…you could learn italian ! and read it in big size ! :)
sorry, the emoticon was supposed to be ;)
I’ve got the Harville editions and they’re wonderful.
I’m Italian and I’ve read lots of Corto Maltese comics. I wish the new American Publisher can give him the right chance to be appreciated by all good-tasted readers in the US.
that’s the cover of Fable of Venice. It has the most AWESOME DEUS EX MACHINA ending ever. (The Golden House of Samarkanda (spelling?) has a cool ending too)
oh yeah, do youself a favor and look at the watercolor paintings of Pratt.
http://cortomaltese.com/EXPOSIENAen/ilViaggio.html
They’re really something else.
when we will get these already. Kaman heavy metal…lets do it and please publish them like 11 x 15 inches with all the includes watercolor sketches, maps and extras in each book present in french editions and italian.
kamaaaaaan [common]….lets have the best comic book ever published in superb hardcovers only heavy metal in the USA can do it like that.
anyone heard when is it being published?
It’s about time! I really wish I would have kept my books. They were prized treasures, but prized treasures are hard to keep while in the middle of a vagabond life. Now I’d need to pay $100 to get a used copy. Thankfully, they’re finally being reprinted.