Cush

Origin

We know little of Cush birth and childhood, he was born in Ethiopia around 1880 among the Beni-Amer tribe. We know that he has a borther called Rhomh. According to the shaman/fallen angel Shamael when Cush was young he had a habit of making grand proclamations and speaking difficult.

Creation

Cush was created by Hugo Pratt in 1972 as part of the “African serie” of Corto Maltese adventures. Later he reappeared in “Gli Scorpioni del Deserto” another comic boook also by Pratt.

Character Evolution

While Cush appears only in a handful of stories there’s a certain evolution of the character in Cush. At his first appearence in “Nel Nome di Allah misericordioso e compassionevole”, Cush is a very strict muslim – very distrustful of Corto Maltese due to his being European – but also extremly ferocius, prefering to kill his enemies instead of simply subduing them.
Despite his sectarianism and his rage, Cush and Corto became very close friends, which revealed some hidden sides of the Danakil: like a vein of humor – heavily tinted with sarcasm and a bit of cynism – a certain degree of theatricalism and a deep respect for his mother – despite of the fact she defied the Koranic law.