The Eternaut - Oesterheld and Lopez

The Eternaut by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Francisco Solano Lopez / ISBN 9781606998502 / big hardcover in slipcase from Fantagraphics, over-the-top production values

***

Eisner Award Winner for Best Archival Collection/Project―Strips! Seminal Argentinian science fiction graphic novel whose main character is still viewed as a symbol of resistance in Latin America.

This originally appeared as weekly installments from 1957-59. Juan Salvo, the inimitable protagonist, along with his friend Professor Favalli and the tenacious metal-worker Franco, face what appears to be a nuclear accident, but quickly turns out to be something much bigger than they had imagined. Cold War tensions, aliens of all sizes, space―and time travel―this one has it all. Black & white illustrations throughout.

"Oesterheld and López’s Argentinian classic from the 1950s [is] newly translated by Mena with a deftness and energy befitting the Borgesian, literary quality of the narrative... Elsewhere, López’s vigorous and occasionally terrifying drawings bring us from one hair-raising moment to the next, one part R. Crumb, one part Goya, one part Edvard Munch. ... These two stories, of course, point to a larger one: that of how we deal with the daily catastrophes and pitfalls of human existence, with or without extraterrestrials." ― Max Winter, The Boston Globe

Héctor Germán Oesterheld (HGO) (born July 23, 1919; "disappeared" by the military and presumed dead 1977), was a pioneering Argentine graphic novel and comics writer. Notable works include his science-fiction series El Eternauta, as well as Life of Che, a biography of Che Guevara.

Francisco Solano Lopez (1928-2011) was an Argentine comic artist who created a number of works about corruption and repression in his home country. As a result, he was forced to produce many of these works in exile. Later in his career, Lopez focused on erotic comics, winning First Prize for ‘Best Erotic Author’ in the Barcelona Erotic Salon and the Diario de Aviso's Prize for 'Best Realistic Cartoonist'.