Corto Maltese and the process of endless semiosis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Corto Maltese from the eponymous series is usually regarded as one of the last great romantic heroes in comic books. This qualification is related to his persistent idealism. In various episodes, he typically ends up renouncing the material gains (e. g. a treasure he is after) in the name of friendship and solidarity. Corto Maltese consequently appears as a politically subversive figure, but in fact romantic individualism is an ambivalent ideology, which has developed together with – and not in opposition to – the dominant social-economic relations. The author of the article therefore proposes that we understand the subversive essence of the Corto Maltese series slightly differently, from the perspective of Deleuze-Guattarian schizophrenia, where stable structures of meaning are replaced by the world of unpredictable transitions. The analysis of the series points out the most important elements that could be understood as examples of endless semiosis.