Corto Maltese

A French vagabond and friend of mine recently told me of my resemblance to French comic book character Corto Maltese. The 1970 creation of Italian artist Hugo Pratt, though popularized in France in the 80's. Matlese is a badass and I can't help but claim him as a comrade and kin.

Corto Maltese is a laconic sea captain adventuring during the early 20th century. A "rogue with a heart of gold," he is tolerant and sympathetic to the underdog. Born in Valletta, Malta (south of Sicily) in 1887, he is a son of a British sailor from Cornwall and a gypsy Andalusian prostitute known as "La Niña de Gibraltar". As a boy growing up in the Jewish quarter of Córdoba, Maltese realized he had no fateline on his palm and therefore carved his own with a razor, determining that his fate was his to choose.

Mon frère d'armes