I Classici Del Fumetto Nr 01 Corto Maltese • Trusted

But Corto is faster. He doesn’t grab the Egg. He grabs the U-boat’s keel and kicks a loose stone. The stone flies into the Egg’s field – and hovers, perfectly still, defying gravity.

Corto sits on a dock, fishing. Achille is beside him, drawing the cave in a notebook.

Next issue: I Classici del Fumetto Nr. 02 – “Corto Maltese and the Cobalt Cipher of the Inca” I Classici del Fumetto Nr 01 Corto Maltese

Rasputin ignores her. He lunges.

They are intercepted by a sleek British schooner. Aboard is , a pale, red-haired archaeologist with the eyes of a starving hawk. She is financed by a secret committee of London bankers who want the Serpent’s Egg to control the new oil routes in Persia. But Corto is faster

She offers Corto a fortune. He refuses.

As Achille runs off, Corto Maltese lights his last cigarette. The sun sets over the Pearl River, painting the world in shades of gold and blood. He has no treasure. No prize. No glory. The stone flies into the Egg’s field –

One night, the boy, , asks Corto: “Why do you help people who betray you?”

The promise of the impossible is Corto’s only true addiction. He tosses a coin to the owner. “Find me a junk. And a reason not to throw you overboard halfway there, Cossack.”

Here is the story, presented as if it were the lead tale in I Classici del Fumetto Nr. 01: Corto Maltese . Corto Maltese “The Serpent of the Magnetic Moon” Venice, 1921. A damp fog clings to the canals like a ghost’s shroud. In a dimly lit trattoria near the Ghetto, a man sits alone. Gold earring, dark curly hair, a slight smile that has seen too much. He stirs his coffee, watching a drop of milk spiral into oblivion.

Corto raises an eyebrow. “The war is over, old friend. Let the Kaiser keep his rust.”