Preview: ‘War Picture Library: The Crimson Sea’ – More Of Hugo Pratt’s Lost Brit War Comics

by Richard Bruton

Another volume of the excellent Treasury Of British Comics War Picture Library reprints gives us page after page of beautifully reproduced, extra-size pages of Hugo Pratt artwork – the chance to see a master of comic art at work.

These War Picture Library volumes have been so important in bringing previously lost works by the Italian master of comic art and creator of the legendary Corto Matltese, Hugo Pratt, back into print.

More than that, the format of the original picture libraries, small digest comics with a couple of panels per page has been transferred to these big reprint volumes, meaning that you get the chance to see Pratt’s artwork in such glorious detail. You know, like this…

This volume of the Hugo Pratt War Library reprints has four stories drawn by the Italian comics master just a few years before he would go on to create Corto Maltese.

The title story of the collection, ‘The Crimson Sea’, tells the tale of the younger brother of an officer, both survivors of the sunken HMS Grapnel, who feels that he must step of from his brother’s shadow with acts of incredible, perhaps even reckless, bravery.

The other three tales are ‘Pathfinder’, telling the tale of an Australian pilot joining the RAF; ‘Up The Marines!‘ features Royal Marine Commandos on daring missions behind enemy lines; and ‘Dark Judgment’ sees two rescued POWs being suspected of being spies.

In themselves, these are perhaps minor war tales in a genre that filled page after page every month in Brit comics but they’re elevated so much by the artwork that you simply cannot avoid getting engrossed and involved in all the gung-ho action happening on the page.

These are books to be pored over by both fans of Pratt and for those of you who just love seeing fine artwork on the comics page, made all the better at this size, at this reproduction. Beautiful objects showing us the artwork of a glorious artist.