Sergeant Kirk or Sgt. Kirk ( es, El Sargento Kirk) is the main character of the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

comic book creator developed specialized terminology. Some several attempts have been made to formalize and define the terminology of comics by authors such as Will Eisner, Scott McCloud, R. C. Harvey and Dylan Horrocks. Much of the terminology in English is un ...

Hugo Pratt Ugo Eugenio Prat, better known as Hugo Pratt (15 June 1927 – 20 August 1995), was an Italian comic book creator who was known for combining strong storytelling with extensive historical research on works such as ''Corto Maltese''. He was indu ...

and

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

author

Héctor Germán Oesterheld Héctor Germán Oesterheld, also known as his common abbreviation HGO (born July 23, 1919; disappeared and presumed dead 1977), was an Argentine journalist and writer of graphic novels and comics. He has come to be celebrated as a master in his ...

.Oesterheld biography
on Dan Dare

Publication history

The series, originally created in Argentina during the

Golden Age of Argentine Comics Argentine comics ( es, historietas) are one of the most important comic traditions internationally, and the most important within Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América L ...

, was first published in issue 225 of the weekly comics magazine ''Misterix'' on January 9, 1953. ''Sargento Kirk'' continued its run in ''Misterix'' until issue 475 on December 20, 1957, when Oesterheld's own publishing house

Editorial Frontera Editorial Frontera was an Argentine publisher of comic books, which lasted from 1956 to 1961. It was established by the author Héctor Germán Oesterheld. History Héctor Germán Oesterheld created two popular characters for the '' Misterix'' maga ...

was established, and the series resumed in the Frontera magazines ''Frontera Extra'' and ''Hora Cero Suplemento Semanal''. It ran until 1961 with drawings by Pratt, Jorge Moliterni, Horacio Porreca and Gisela Dexter. An additional ''Sargento Kirk'' story was published in 1973 in the magazine ''Billiken'', drawn by Gustavo Trigo.

Synopsis

Sergeant Kirk is a former soldier of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

who goes on to serve in the post-war

Wild West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

. Forced to participate in a massacre of American Indians by the U.S. Army, Kirk deserts and devotes himself to defending the Indians. An essentially noble man, Kirk treats even his enemies with tolerance and

humanitarianism Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional ...

.La Historieta Argentina 1950-1960 - Misterix
/ref> Among Kirk's companions appearing in the series are "El Corto", Dr. Forbes and the Native American boy, Maha.

Magazine

''Sergeant Kirk'' ( it, Il Sergente Kirk) was chosen as the name of the magazine Pratt launched in Italy in July 1967, aided financially by the patron Florenzo Ivaldi. This carried showcased work from the Argentine period, as well as the series ''Luck Star O'Hara'', ''Gli Scorpioni del Deserto'', and the first publication of ''

Corto Maltese ''Corto Maltese'' is a series of adventure and fantasy comics named after the character Corto Maltese, an adventurous sailor. It was created by the Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt in 1967. The comics are highly praised as some of the most ...

'' in the story ''Una Ballata del Mare Salato''. The magazine maintained regular distribution until December 1969, and was issued sporadically during the 1970s.

Notes

Sources

''Sgt. Kirk'' publications
Archivespratt

FFF

External links

Bedetheque Sergent Kirk Sergent Kirk Italian comics characters Sergent Kirk Western (genre) comics characters Fictional sergeants Fictional American Civil War veterans Comics by Héctor Germán Oesterheld Comics set during the American Civil War Magazine mascots 1953 comics debuts 1961 comics endings 1973 comics debuts 1973 comics endings Comics by Hugo Pratt Male characters in comics Male characters in advertising Mascots introduced in 1953 Western (genre) heroes and heroines {{comic-strip-stub