“Corto Maltese” live-action series set produced by Rainbow

Italy’s Rainbow Group – the company led by IginioStrafi, creator of the hit animated series “Winx Club” – will hit the high seas with a live-action series adaptation of Hugo Pratt’s “Corto Maltese.”” Graphic novels. The comics are about the title character, a daring captain whose adventures take him around the world.

On Wednesday, Rainbow announced a partnership with Cong SA, the company that owns all of Pratt’s intellectual property. In addition to producing the new live-action TV series currently in development, Rainbow will manage worldwide licensing rights for “Corto Maltese,” the companies said in a joint statement.

Pratt, whose real name was Ugo Eugenio Prat, is a legendary figure in the international comics community and is best known for his work on “Corto Maltese,” the long-running historical adventure strip that appeared in several European publications from 1967 to 1989. His first and perhaps most revered graphic novel is 1967’s “Corto Maltese: A Ballad of the Salty Sea,” which introduced the world to the mischievous, chain-smoking sailor.

After Pratt’s death in 1995, the series was revived starting in 2015, with five new stories drawn and written by Spanish couple Juan Dìaz Canales and Rubén Pellejero and two drawn and written by French couple Bastien Vivès and Martin Quenehen. The Corto Maltese books have sold over 11 million copies worldwide and are translated and distributed in 35 countries.

In 2022, it was announced that American comic book writer, artist and film director Frank Miller – the man behind The Dark Knight Returns and 300 – was adapting Corto Maltese into a live-action limited series for France’s StudioCanal would convert. But this project did not come to fruition. Now Rainbow will try.

“This project is a dream come true. “I’m a big fan of Hugo Pratt and have always wanted to work on ‘Corto Maltese,'” Rainbow founder and CEOStrafi said in a statement. “I have been patiently waiting for the right time and artistic resources to pay homage to one of the most important Italian authors in the world. Finally this day has come and I am very excited, it is really a great honor for me.”

Patrizia Zanotti, a colorist who has collaborated artistically with Pratt since 1979 and is now head of Cong SA, added: “I am convinced that this new way of telling ‘Corto Maltese’, thanks to the insights and passionate professionalism of Iginio “Straffi will be successful.” Help expand the imagination of new generations by conveying the core values ​​of the character created by Hugo Pratt: adventure, freedom, curiosity, friendship and respect for different cultures.”