In Praise of Hugo Pratt While Lamenting How He Was Published

I love Hugo Pratt's early drawing style. Here are some examples from Misterix magazine # 228 (January 30, 1953; pages 24, 25 of the "Sgt. Kirk" series, "Hermano de sangre" - blood brother story arc):

As you can see the production values are incredibly poor ruining what, I'm sure, were great original art pages. The layout is great with splash panels on the upper left, three tiers with great action scenes, more suggested than shown, drawn with a miniaturist's art (the effect almost reminds the American flag). The talking heads, full shots and silhouettes at the end increase the range of technical effects shown. Needless to say that I find the splash panels particularly well drawn and impressive. Here's another one from the same issue (page 26 of the series):

I'm not a formalist, but here's what would happen if I were and here's a practical demonstration of what happens when an actual formalist praises racist art; my favorite comment comes from Peter Sattler (even if Jacob´s and Darryl´s are great too); he puts the following line in a formalist's mouth: "I really like the subtlety of hue of this decapitation." As I was saying, not being a formalist I have to point out that this is not Héctor Oesterheld's finest hour. He dehumanized the Pawnees who became cannon fodder (the fact that Sgt. Kirk doesn't kill them - my translation -, "The sergeant's carbine was still loaded. Why didn't he shoot at that moment? In the past he would have[,]" doesn't change anything, really). It's also not credible that he would beat three Pawnee  warriors singlehandedly or almost... (with just the help of young Maha). Oesterheld was still at the beginning of his anti-racist Western, so, many genre conventions were still pretty much in place.

Anyway...

I dream of a true complete Sgt. Kirk reprint with today's production values and a respect for the comics' integrity (I mean the original layouts; the landscape format; original colors when colors were originally applied - by a great Stefan Strocen -; and black and white in the original black and white pages).

To give you an example of what I mean, here's how two of the series' pages were published in Portugal by Bertrand Editora (Sargento Kirk, Vol. 2, 1985, page 11; following the Italian Mondadori edition, which credits just Pratt, but that's a dead horse to beat on this blog by now, 1974):

And here's how these two pages (merged into one above) were originally published:

"Sgt. Kirk: ¡Traicion!" [treachery] Misterix # 245, May 23, 1953 (page 99, as you can see).

"Sgt. Kirk: Deuda de sangre" [blood debt] Misterix # 247 (there's no Sgt. Kirk in issue # 246), June 12, 1953 (page 100).

As you can see not only did one panel (the most spectacular of the lot) disappear because it didn't fit in the new format, but the "missing" parts of the last panel were added by some hack or by Pratt himself in a rush (other additions can be detected in other panels). I can't also stress enough how Strocen's colors are great. According to Dominique Petitfaux in Bananas (see below in another post) # 4 (page 36 - my translation): "Stefan Strocen's colors are remarkable: [he used] anti-naturalistic huge violent flat tints. A sky that can be lemon yellow in one panel, is violet in the next, and green after that... We feel in his choice of colors the influence (which Flora Rey [Strocen's widow] confirmed me) of Pop Art." How can anyone forget all this and butcher the series' reprint?... Wait!...Don't tell me... the answer is: a comics publisher not only can, he's willing to!

"Sgt. Kirk: La Caza del Comanche" [The Comanche's Hunt] Misterix # 226, January 16, 1953 (page 8).

Hugo's Swipe File - Coda

My good friend Manuel Caldas wrote the following comment below: “You really hate the poor Pratt!” I have a few comments to comment the comment:

1) I love his drawing abilities, at least while he was in Argentina (the last highly mannered Pratt leaves me cold);

2) I hate his writing (he couldn’t write to save his life, but that’s what happens to most comics artists); he disguised this with tics borrowed from Oesterheld;

3)  He was a sloppy storyteller at times (I mean his layouts, editing and continuity), but I’ll leave that to Faustino Arbesú, as I wrote on this blog already.

All this is irrelevant if we don’t attack the crucial problem of why is the comics canon such a travesty? There are lots of sociological and other reasons, but one of them is because most comics readers (babymen and fanboys, really) can’t spot good writing even if it hits them on the head… hard… But it gets worse: they can judge a good drawing from the tech point of view, but that’s it… They are completely oblivious to what really matters: relevancy, meaning, the artist’s vision of the world.

Do I hate Hugo Pratt’s work? Not really… there are far worst things on the face of the earth. Do I resent the fact that he’s in the comics canon while the true genius behind him isn’t? You bet your pants I do!

That said don't forget that this still is Hugo's Swipe File, so, here goes another one...

On the left: Hugo Pratt, cover of HoraCero Extra! # 1, April 1958.
On the right: William Eugene Smith, Sgt. Aggelos Klonis, Saipan, August 1944.

Hugo's Swipe File

The Crib is dangerously becoming the debunk the Pratt myth blog (this must be the only anti-Pratt blog on the whole Internet!). Hugo Pratt the solo creator doesn't interest me in the least, mind you. The comics creator that really interests me is Héctor Germán Oesterheld. Speaking of which... I read another outrageous claim in the Petitfaux book about the little gem that is "Lobo Conrad." It really gave me the creeps. The man can't even remember the story and then, unceremoniously goes on congratulating himself because "Jesuit Joe" is oh, so much better... but, hey,  big news, right? Anyway I'll talk about that another day. This time, and just for the fun of it, I give you, gentle readers, a well known swipe... Notice also how the Caniff half page is a lot better.

The last page of Hugo Pratt's "Ann y Dan" as it was originally published (with the washes; why do they wash away the washes in the Euro versions? They do the same thing with the Ernie Pike stories, let alone, sacrilege!, when they add color!!...). Frontera Extra # 35, September 1961.

Milton Caniff, Terry and the Pirates, the two bottom tiers of the last page, December 29, 1946 (repro from the NBM edition).

Hugo Pratt: The Misinformation Continues (It Never Ends)

Juan Sasturain, Buscados Vivos, 2004.

Let's remember again which Ernie Pike stories Dominique Petitfaux and other European critics claim that Hugo Pratt wrote: "Un blando" ("On ne se refait pas...") Hora Cero # 11, March 1958; "Un buen susto" ("Une aventure dangereuse"), Hora Cero Extra! # 53, November 21, 1961; "Tarawa" ("Tarawa"), Hora Cero Extra! # 1 April 1958; "Untitled" ("Les Dix-sept de la sapinière"), Hora Cero # 13, May 1958; "Guardia nocturna" ("Garde nocturne"), Hora Cero Extra! # 39, April 6, 1961.

Why did I write the titles of the stories in Spanish (the original language of publication in Argentina) and French? Because the smoking gun of this affair comes from an interview with Hugo Pratt by Dominique Petitfaux published in De l'autre coté de Corto [a name invented by Oesterheld by the way]: Hugo Pratt - Entretiens avec Dominique Petitfaux (1990; from the other side of Corto: Hugo Pratt - interviews with Dominique Petitfaux). In this book Hugo Pratt said (45 of the 1996 edition; my translation):

[...] as a matter of fact I wrote myself some of these [Ernie Pike] stories: On ne se refait pas...,Une aventure dangereuse, Tarawa, Les Dix-sept de la sapinière, and Garde nocturne. [Sic for the italics.]

The problem with this is that in another interview published in the above Sasturain book, but conducted by him in 1982, Pratt said (37):

[...] in ERNIE PIKE there are one or two scripts that are entirely mine like the one with the pilot who falls in the jungle and stumbles across a patrol entirely composed of Fidji natives whom he doesn't recognize. There's in there a huge ironic component. I think that my contribution to comics, as far as the stories are concerned, is, precisely, the ironic touch. 

Also (54, 55):

[Juan Sasturain] - What are the [Ernie Pike] episodes that you remember with more fondness or you feel more identified with?  

[Hugo Pratt] - "Francotiradores" in the first place. The ending is very beautiful. There's the best Oesterheld in it: when the two rivals fall dead helping each other and "the same wind scattered their hair." I also remember "Un teniente alemán" as being great. 

[...] [Juan Sasturain] - What about "La patrulla"? It has the atmosphere of JUNGLEMEN.

[Hugo Pratt] - It is set in New Guinea, of course. But the drawings are different. Here I applied some new techniques like the direct inks, without pencils. There's also "Tarawa" that I like a lot because of the atmosphere. With all those palm trees inclined to one side... "Tarawa" is the end of the romantic war, with those individualized marine veterans. 

In the Argentinian interview Pratt would never dare say that he wrote "Tarawa," he just says that he likes it. On the other hand it's curious that he throws a vague "one or two scripts" that he wrote entirely, but just describes the one that he effectively wrote ("Un buen susto"). Unfortunately Sasturain didn't ask him about those other "or two" scripts. Finally Hugo Pratt himself gives us the key to unlock the problem. He clearly states that his trademark is the use of irony and we can't find a shred of irony in, at least, three of the other four stories. Besides, there are two details that are telling: 1) these stories are too wordy for Pratt (he even complained about Oesterheld being too wordy); 2) the main character (or one of the main characters) dies at the end. In "Un blando" lieutenant Leopardi is killed by the Danakil because he tried to save his British prisoner. In "Tarawa" soldier Melvin Levine died because, after being terribly afraid (he shit himself), he lost his mind wanting to avenge his fallen comrades. In the untitled story published in Hora Cero # 13 seventeen Brazilian soldiers are killed on a mad German captains's orders because, after being captured, they refused to talk. "Guardia nocturna" is the only story that I could believe was written by Hugo Pratt (it was published in 1961, it's a bit ironic - dark humor ironic, I mean... -, people die in it, but not in the usual way). The prose style is clearly Oesterheld's though.

If Hugo Pratt wanted to say that, in comics, drawings are the story too, it's fine...In that sense he wrote those stories, but, in that case, didn't he write all the stories that he co-created with Oesterheld? Why stop at five?

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.