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Under the Sign of Capricorn (La Casa dorada di Samarkand)
Date
Series	Corto Maltese
Publisher	Casterman
Creative team
Creator	Hugo Pratt
Original publication
Published in	1967–1969
Translation
ISBN	978-1-68405-641-5
Translator
Chronology
Preceded by	The Ballad of the Salty Sea
Followed by	Beyond the Windy Isles

Under the Sign of Capricorn is a graphic novel, episode of Corto Maltese's adventures, a Maltese sailor. This story was written and drawn by the Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt. This is the twenty sixth story and eighth album in the serie. It was published for the first time between 1967 and 1969, in Sergente Kirk magazine...

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Characters

This episode brings up many characters, some of whom will reappear or be mentioned in later episodes:

Fictives characters

• Rasputin: Russian sailor, was imprisoned in the prison nicknamed The Golden House of Samarkand because of his participation in a revolution. Nicknamed Ras, is mad, greedy, lustful and violent. He doesn't hesitate to murder people who get in his way. He often promises Corto to kill him one day. But deep down, he feels affection and shows loyalty to him, whom he considers his only friend. He's sort of Corto's best friend / foe.
• Corto Maltese: Born in Malta, this sailor often travels the world. He is romantic, elegant and ironic. He likes to go on an adventure, for a woman, a treasure or for friendship. In this episode, he embarks on a long journey through Asia to find the Alexander the Great's treasure and save his friend Rasputin.
• Timur Chevket: Corto Maltese's look-alike, he is the leader of a Turanist movement, feared from Greece to Arabistan (in Persia).
• Marianne: Eveline de Sabrevoie is an actrice with various aliases, such as "Marianne", refearing to the national personification of the French Republic.
• Venexiana Stevenson:A redoutable adventurer, who gives Corto a hard time. In this adventure, she competes with him for a time in the treasure hunt, before continuing with him. The reader later learns that she is pregnant: the identity of the father is not mentioned, but Pratt emphasizes out that it is not Corto.
• Sevan Vartkès:An eleven-year-old Armenian girl in this story, whose parents were recently killed by a Turkish gang. She was then a hostage then, until Corto freed her; together, they continue the treasure hunt. After the trip, they take to sea to Venice, where it is hosted by the Armenian Venetian community.

Historicals characters

• Enver Pasha: He was one of the principal perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide.
• Joseph Djougachvili or Joseph Stalin: Future dictator of the Soviet Union. In this story, he saves his old friend Corto from execution. Both became friends when Stalin was a doorman in Ancona (Italy), in 1907.

Analysis

Allusions to previous adventures

This story is overflow with allusions to many previous episodes. Here we have: Various characters reappear or are mentioned:

• The Carabinieri captain, Antonio Sorrentino: appeared in "The Angel in the Window to the Orient" (Celtic Tales);
• Venexiana Stevenson: "Banana Conga" (in the volume Beyond the Windy Isles) and "The Angel in the Window to the Orient");
• Shaitan/Samael: "More Romeos, More Juliets" (The Ethiopian);
• Rossianov: Former captain of Baron Ungern's Asiatic Cavalry Division (Corto Maltese in Siberia);
• It is several times question in Pandora Groovesnore, a Corto's ancient love, appeared in The Ballad of the Salty Sea and evoked in " Burlesque Between Zuydcoote and Bray-Dunes" (Celtic Tales). Corto meets her during a dream. Then, when Marianne asks Rasputin if Corto has ever loved, the Russian answers that maybe yes. He evokes a girl without naming her. Pratt will say it is Pandora.
• When Corto goes scouting with Abbas, he tells him about his Muslim friend Cush (The Ethiopian): with him and another friend Rasputin, he could conquer the fortress in a few hours.

At the Mevlevi Order School, when Corto is quietly smoking a hookah, he suddenly sees the faces of women he has met in his previous adventures:

• Moira "Banshee" O’Danann, in "Concerto in O Minor for Harp and Nitroglycerin" (Celtic Tales);
• Changhaï Li and Marina Seminova, in Corto Maltese in Siberia;
• Pandora Groovesnore;
• Venexiana Stevenson;
• Miss Ambiguity, in "So Much for Gentlemen of Fortune" (Under the Sign of Capricorn);
• Soledad Löckhaart, in "The Seagull’s Fault" (Under the Sign of Capricorn) and "Voodoo for the President" (Beyond the Windy Isles), who will reappear in Mu: The Lost Continent;
• Golden Mouth, in Under the Sign of Capricorn and "Banana Conga" (Beyond the Windy Isles), who will reappear in Mu: The Lost Continent;

Notes and references

Bibliography

• Petitfaux, Dominique (1990). De l'autre côté de Corto : Hugo Pratt - Entretiens avec Dominique Petitfaux. Casterman. ISBN 2-203-38016-0.
• Le monde extraordinaire de Corto Maltese. Casterman. 2002. ISBN 2-203-34427-X.
• Hugo, Pratt; Pierre, Michel (1994). Les Femmes de Corto Maltese. Casterman.