Hergé: Did he know Hugo Pratt?

Alright, my wife and I are pretty hardcore board-gamers and we recently bought a game themed on the Corto Maltese books by Hugo Pratt, which I had never heard of before. Of course, this got me interested, and I started looking for copies.

It turned out that the complete Corto Maltese series - which had evidently been difficult to acquire in America for some time - is being freshly collated and released by Euro Comics, a new imprint under IDW Publishing.
The first installment, Under The Sign of Capricorn, was just released December 2014. I picked up a copy, and have been impressed.

Does anyone know if Hugo Pratt and Hergé ever collaborated, or knew each other?
Their time periods overlap a bit, and I'm curious if Hergé provided some influence on Pratt's work...

Also, as an aside, the new edition of Under The Sign of Capricorn was very nice. Reasonable binding, good printing. Thick paper, which I thought was nice. Well printed.

I would certainly recommend it... Anyone who enjoys Tintin would most probably find Corto an intriguing character. I think that saying he is almost a cross between Tintin and Travis McGee would be a good way to describe him and the stories.

The next installment is due out this march, and I will certainly be acquiring it as well.

If you Google "Hugo Pratt Hergé" (without the quotes) you should come across a photo which purports to be Pratt and Hergé chatting together - probably during a TV interview since you can see a TV microphone being held.

Hergé is mentioned in a biography as being "interested" in Pratt's work and to have met him in Venice but does not go into details.

I like the opinion that Maltese is a "cross between Tintin and Travis McGee". Very good. :)

mct16
Very interesting... I'd love to have been a fly on the wall for their conversation!

Also, correction - The new installment is being released in May, not March like I said...

It doesn't just purport to be of Hugo Pratt and Hergé, it is of Pratt and Hergé...! ;-)
It shows them at the Angoulême Festival in January 1977; I don't know if the microphone is for TV, radio, or just to make them audible to people at the Festival.

It can be found on page 456 of Michel Daubert's Tintin: The Art of Hergé.


Well, if the microphone was on, it's just possible that there is some record of it...!


I've no idea who Travis McGee is, I'm afraid... :-)

Publisher's Weekly ran a feature on the new Pratt series from IDW this week, The Worldly Magic of Hugo Pratt's 'Corto Maltese', explaining why they chose not to start with the first book, and talking with one of the translators about how they approached the task in this new edition.

In the book that I recently read - "The desire to be useless: Memories and Reflections" (by Hugo Pratt and Dominique Petitfaux, Hugo Pratt mentioned that he met Hergé during 70s, and that they went together to Angoulême Festival in 1977.

He particulary mentioned one meeting, when Hergé and his wife visited Venice. Pratt said that Hergé telephoned him, and that they spent whole day together in Venice and didn't discuss comics at all.

It it really interesting book, written in the form of one long interview about the Hugo Pratt's life. He was a really unique character who basically lived the adventurous life just like his hero, Corto Maltese. :)