The Real Corto Maltese

Cartoonist Frank Miller first "name checked" Corto Maltese as a fictional South American country in his seminal 1986 mini-series, The Dark Knight Returns—the "country" was subsequently referenced in the 1989 Tim Burton Batman film and, most recently and prominently, in Suicide Squad 2. It's also since been used in other DC Comics stories.

But the name is actually a direct homage and shout out to one of the great adventure comics series of the same name, Corto Maltese, by Italian cartoonist Hugo Pratt. 

Published from 1967 to 1989 (Pratt passed away in 1995) and set in the early 20th century in the years prior to and through World War I, Corto was a mysterious seafaring soldier of fortune who always found himself on the side of the underdog in remote far-away (and historical) settings like the Congo, the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Revolution and early fascist Italy, where he often encountered rogues and historical figures like Ernest Hemingway, Jack London and others along the way. 

Pratt's writing fused high adventure with lyricism and magic realism. His black and white art is evocative, striking and powerful even today, in the same tradition as some of my favorite cartoonists like Caniff and Toth, but even more stark and expressionistic.

Hugo Pratt