Hugo Pratt: The Misinformation continues! - Coda (the real one this time)

Will this bullshit never stop? I guess that the great man himself, Hugo fucking Pratt is to blame. Li... er... daydreamer that he was he li... fantasized that he wrote those Ernie Pike stories and everybody in Europe believed his li... delusions. Here the same stories as indicated below are recorded as being by Pratt, plus, this one:

Hora Cero Suplemento Semanal # 1, September 4, 1957.

Visado Pela Comissão de Censura - Coda

The editor of the magazine (director) as he appeared in Mundo de Aventuras # 437, January 2, 1958.

In the last post I wrote: "A no guns policy [...] chopped arms off and forced editors to change plots." In the highly recommended (if you read Portuguese) book by Leonardo de Sá Dicionário Universal da Banda Desenhada (universal dictionary of comics, 34) I learned that the editor of Mundo de Aventuras, José de Oliveira Cosme was part of the censorship committee that censored the mag. Talk about being schizo... My phrase isn't wrong though: this is a case of self-censorship. The censor Oliveira Cosme forced the editor Oliveira Cosme to erase guns, chop arms off and change plots.

Visado Pela Comissão de Censura

The Cisco Kid, by Rod Reed (w) and José Luis Salinas (a), February 21, 1951.

Mundo de Aventuras # 94, May 31, 1951. (Cisco just walks in the thug's direction: is he a fool?)

The Cisco Kid, by Rod Reed (w) and José LuisSalinas (a), February 27, 1951.

Mundo de Aventuras # 95, June 7, 1951. (Cisco just "fell" instead of "being hit.")

The indicia of Mundo de Aventuras # 94.

It's a known fact that an anti-comics campaign existed almost everywhere during the 1950s. In Portugal, on top of that, there was a Fascist dictatorship practicing censorship to all media. A no guns policy, as seen above, chopped arms off and forced editors to change plots. What can be read in bold letters at the bottom of the indicia above is "Visado Pela Comissão de Censura" (surveyed by the censorship committee).

By the way "editor" is a false friend in English and Portuguese. The editor in Portugal is the publisher.

Terceiras Conferências de Banda Desenhada em Portugal, 2013

No próximo dia 18 de Setembro vou participar nas Terceiras Conferências de Banda Desenhada em Portugal, 2013, com uma comunicação intitulada "Héctor Germán Oesterheld na Editora Columba". Desde já agradeço a presença dos que estiverem presentes (o pleonasmo é propositado). 

O cartaz acima é de Marta Monteiro, mas, já agora, uma nota: claro que poderia fazer uma pequena desconstrução e dizer algo assim como "os conferencistas vão dar a voz a quem não a tem (os animais, com a excepção do papagaio que é a voz do dono) por cima dos poderes instituidos." (Neste caso, o poder colonial, mas por que é que o colono é negro?, ou será a sombra da selva que lhe enegrece o braço?) Por outro lado, e esta leitura é que me chateia: poder-se-ía dizer que, mais uma vez, o cartaz veícula o cliché da literatura de cordel, do filme do pobre, da aventura juvenil, da fantasia desabrida, da literatura de evasão... Essa não é, afirmo-o vigorosamente, a "minha" banda desenhada. Se bem que desta vez, e por acaso, até é tudo isso que tem a ver com a minha comunicação a qual se poderia resumir da seguinte forma: o que é que acontece quando um grande artista se vê obrigado, pelas circunstâncias da vida, a exercer o seu ofício numa empresa grosseiramente comercial?    

Hugo Pratt: The Misinformation Continues! A coda of sorts...

We all know the story... Hugo Pratt used Oesterheld's likeness to portray Scribe in the Sgt. Kirk series. He did the same thing in Ernie Pike. Pike's writing may be inspired by Ernie Pyle's, but his looks are a caricature of Oesterheld's face. What Pratt did with Oesterheld he did with himself also. Look who's below in the first page of "Tarawa" playing sergeant Burger.

Maybe Ernie Pyle's looks weren't that different (at least with his helmet on) from Ernie Pike's though...

Hugo Pratt: The Misinformation Continues!

This is outrageous: the misinformation about the great Héctor Germán Oesterheld in Europe continues!

Here I found the following incredible claims:

"(13) SGT. KIRK, dessins de Pratt (quelques encrages par Ivo Pavone, en 1954-55, par Carlos
Ruiz et par Juan Cruz, collaboration de Gisela Dester pour le dernier épisode, des planches
mises en couleur par Stefan Strocen, probablement du n°225, 9-1-53, au n°475, 20-12-57),
scénario d’Oesterheld et Pratt."

"(15) TICONDEROGA, dessins de Pratt (assisté de Gisela Dester à partir de la septième
livraison), scénario d’Oesterheld et Pratt. Gisela Dester (dessins) succède à Pratt en 1959."

"(16) ERNIE PIKE, dessins de Pratt, scénario d’Oesterheld, sauf pour les épisodes 13, 14, 16,
33 et 34, scénario de Pratt, et pour l’épisode 18, scénario de Jorge Mora, frère d’Héctor Oesterheld."

Hora Cero # 11, March 1958

Hora Cero Extra # 1, April 1958

Hora Cero # 13, May 1958

Hora Cero Extra! # 39, April 6, 1961

These are the first pages of 13, 14, 16, 33, mentioned above as written by Hugo Pratt. As you can see the script (Guión) is clearly indicated as being written by Oesterheld. Number 34, below, was indeed written by Pratt, but the story is indicated as being "Por Hugo Pratt" (By Hugo Pratt). (Oh and I bet that "Juan" Cruz is really Carlos Cruz.)

Hora Cero Extra! # 53, November 21, 1961

As for Sgt. Kirk and Ticonderoga I will just post a cover of Misterix magazine and the first page of Ticonderoga. In both cases the script is, obviously, by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Héctor Germán Oesterheld alone.

To show you that I'm fair though, I want to publicly thank Dominique Petitfaux and José Muñoz for the information about the great colorist: Stefan Strocen.

Misterix # 312, September 10, 1954

Frontera # 1, April 1957

PS I really should do a comparative study of themes explored in Ernie Pike and Corto Maltese! 

When Worlds Collide - Coda

Browsing through all the tables of contents of the Journal of Popular Culture online I discovered that said anthology published another "In-Depth" section about comics in 1979: Volume XII, issue # 4, Spring. Judging from what I saw I guess that this is the real McCoy. The academic as drooling fanboy is really here, not in 1971. I'll write a review as soon as I confirm my suspicions, that's a promise...