IDW Publishing/EuroComics; $34.99
Hugo Pratt’s epic adventure series, newly translated by Dean Mullaney and Simone Castaldi, continues to embody the term “must read graphic novel.” Simultaneously laconic and adventure-packed, Platt’s vibrant Hemingway-meets-Caniff storytelling transports the reader along with Corto Maltese on his journeys, in the case to Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the Caspian Sea in 1921-1922 as he hunts the fabled treasure of Alexander the Great. Like many great films or works of prose fiction, the deceptively simple storytelling pulls the reader in subtly but then suddenly won’t let go. Another superb entry in this series.
-J.C. Vaughn