larsivi

I have to admit it, I love to read books. Not only that, I love books in general, long bookshelves of them, libraries, old books, new books, books on most types of subjects, fiction and non-fiction, and far from least of all, comic books ;) In short, I'm a bookworm, and will use this smallopportunity to force my taste within reading on those who feel like knowing.

As mentioned above, I also like comic books or graphic novels. There are large amounts of truly great litterature out there, also of the highly illustrated sort. With time I have gained a pretty nice collection, most of it Vertigo labeled, and in English as far from everything is translated into Norwegian, and particularly not immediately after release. Some time ago, though, I got an offer from a recently started book club specializing in comic books and graphic novels, all of which are translated into Norwegian. The introduction offer included two books, A Contract with God by Will Eisner, and Corto Maltese - Fable of Venice, both classics in their own right.

I believe I had read both of them in the past, but not less than 15 years ago, and then on loan from the library, so I appreciated the opportunity to put them in my own bookshelf.

A Contract with God should be fairly well known to those interested in graphic novels, whereas Corto Maltese may be a different matter.

Corto Maltese is written and drawn by Italian Hugo Pratt, and is a character who befriend most and seems to judge few. In Fable of Venice, the reader gets a glimpse of Pratt's childhood, and is introduced by a section where he talks about a specific period where he stayed in a particular area in Venice. During this period he discovered many notions on religious ways that are not commonly known, and that were kept mostly secret in venezian backyards.

These notions are together with a chapter of masons, the backdrop for the story where Corto has come to Venice to solve a riddle posed to him in a letter from a deceased friend. Pratt is in my opinion really good at presenting the look and feel of the time Corto Maltese lives in, early in the 20th century, and tries to tie the story in with real historical events, although these aren't as evident in this story.

Instead venezian spots and quarters are explored together with a person gallery with good imagination and hallucinative drugs. The story is far from action free, and neither free of riddles. It is fairly fast paced, and with an ending that suggests that the resolution may not have been the only mystery at hand. Some of the subjects taken up, are often related to controversy, myths and conspiracy, giving you a feel that you have learned about something that is secret, but at the same time still know nothing of what may be hidden in the world. All in all, an adventure very much after my taste.

Technorati Tags: Books Comic books Corto Maltese Hugo Pratt