Perhaps nowhere is the eclecticism and complexity of Hugo Pratt’s work more evident than in this story – a quality that Umberto Eco famously praised in his writings about Pratt. In this volume, Corto Maltese, the eternal wanderer and reluctant hero, arrives in Switzerland accompanied by Professor Steiner, only to immediately step into a different kind of adventure. One where the boundaries between reality and dream dissolve, and time becomes fluid.

Within this surreal realm, Corto encounters a range of symbolic and fantastical figures: Klingsor, his enigmatic straw doppelgänger; the Alchemical Rose; even King Kong – all woven together with the haunting presence of the Danse Macabre and a trial before a diabolical court. Pratt masterfully blends the mystical, the mythical, and the introspective into a narrative that defies convention.

Is this a literal search for the Holy Grail? Or is the Grail merely the starting point – a pretext – for a deeper inner journey? As always in Pratt’s universe, answers are not handed to the reader. Instead, you are invited to wander, to question, to seek meaning in symbols and shadows.

This dreamlike adventure of Corto Maltese is far more than a comic – it is a poetic, hermetic work that challenges the reader to go beyond entertainment. Pratt reminds us that the true adventure is always a journey within.

Binding: Hardcover
Color: Color
Number of pages: 94
Publisher: Darkwood