This is probably my favourite comic. Corto Maltese. Even the name of the protagonist inspires adventures and dreams. Hugo Pratt’s drawing is rough and colourless. But once one manages to look beyond it, a new window appears filled by fragrances and mysteries. It is very rare to meet such a narrative exception. There are no happy endings, no big bad guy to defeat, and no common love stories… Corto is just following his desires and his aimless quests. He meets beautiful women, singular characters and hangs around with a crazy psychopath.
What I appreciate the most is the whole atmosphere. Pratt used a lot of historical facts and mystical episodes in his stories. The combination between hard reality and dreams create a very special feeling. What’s more, the characters all have a quirky charm. Eventually, the dialogues rock! They are a blend of poetry and simplicity.
ps: Here is a web map I made about 
It will give you a lot more information.
Last winter I was lost, rambling around midnight, I was missing you... Angie... I could not get satisfaction. I knew we could not always get what we wanted, yet I still felt shattered. I know I was a fool too cry for a honky tonk woman like you but I did not want to hide my love. I know, it was only rock and roll. I was a free street fighting man, you started me up, I jumped on you in a flash. I made love to you like a wild horse and you even called me your little monkey man…
Now that seems a 100 years ago. I barely remember the brown sugar taste of your lips or the stars in your eyes. Babe, you were my shelter, the salt of my earth. See babe, when you left me I had such sad days I tried everything to forget you. I knew that god could nothing else than make a saint of me… So I went to the devil and he showed me sympathy. He painted me in black and made me hear that music for broken heart which goes like doo doo doo doo doo… Eventually I got a heart of stone. And now each and every day of the year is a wondeful rainbow.
