2020 will see a live action based on Hugo Pratt’s comic anti-hero, the swashbuckling sailor “Corto Maltese”. Directed by Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf/Silent Hill) the movie will star Tom Hughes – who at the very least has the sideboards for the role. Nothing wrong with that, I say as a sideboard sporter myself.

Unfortunately, the picture has the tinge of a ‘throw everything in’ Euro-pudding, with a Paul W. S. Anderson vibe due to the the presence of Milla Jovovich in the cast, as well Gans regular Mark Dacacos (John Wick III). Real life character the randy Russian monk Rasputin puts in yet another fictionalized appearance – after the recent Hellboy reboot and upcoming The King’s Man.

As Maltese is little known to English-speaking audiences, will the movie follow the so-so performance of other relatively recent Euro comic adaptations such as Largo Winch, Valerian, Blueberry, Dylan Dog, Adele Blanc-Sec and Snowpiercer?

The little storyline of upcoming film “Corto Maltese”: At the dawn of the 20th century, Corto Maltese, a sailor and an adventurer, is hired by a Chinese revolutionary group, The Red Lanterns, to hijack an armored train carrying the gold of Russian Emperor Tsar Nicolas II from Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok. Corto Maltese will be joined in this task by his partner in crime Rasputin, but they won’t be the only ones chasing the coveted treasure in this land torn between the Chinese, Japanese and Russian armies.