Corto Maltese #8

Plot

In 1923 Buenos Aires, while searching for a missing friend, Corto finds himself locked in a dangerous, yet elegant, game of cat and mouse.

His investigation brings him up against an organized crime syndicate known as the "Warsavia," crooked police officials, small-time crooks, investigative journalists, a worldwide prostitution ring, and--manipulating the events from above--the far-reaching arm of the Argentine oligarchy. Guiding his way through this labyrinth of deceit and intrigue is an old acquaintance from a long ago Patagonian escapade: the legendary outlaw Butch Cassidy, who, with the Sundance Kid, headed the notorious Wild Bunch and has been presumed dead for two decades!

Just as Fable of Venice was Pratt's homage to his hometown, Tango is a nod to Buenos Aires, where the cartoonist lived during his earliest creative successes in the late 1940s and 1950s. The atmosphere of the story is steeped in the sensual music of the tango, whose melodies almost seem to emerge from the artwork, with close-ups of the dance steps framed by Pratt with extraordinary effectiveness. The first English-language translation of Hugo Pratt's graphic novel set in Argentina.