Crikey, but this book comes with an amazing history. Published for the first time in English (its translator is Erica Mena) by Fantagraphics, The Eternaut was created in Argentina in 1957 where it appeared initially as a newspaper serial, and where its reputation, even today, could not possibly be higher. According to an afterward in the English edition by Juan Caballero, a professor of Hispanic studies, in Argentina El Eternauta isn’t just a classic comic; it is “the alpha and omega of a national tradition”. In Buenos Aires, its hero, Juan Salvo, wearing the homemade diving suit he hopes will save him from the mysterious radioactive snow that has unaccountably blanketed his country, may still be seen in murals, political graffiti and hipster poster campaigns: a uniquely Argentinian superhero.
The Eternaut was created by Héctor Germán Oesterheld, a writer who was “disappeared” as a result of his involvement in groups protesting against the country’s military dictatorship (he was presumed dead in 1977), and drawn by Francisco Solano López (1928-2011), an artist who would eventually flee Argentina for Spain. Naturally, then, there is more to their brilliant comic than meets the eye. It is at once both science fiction and political allegory. But fear not. Although Fantagraphics’ magnificently luxurious edition comes with all the necessary historical information, you need know nothing of Peronism to enjoy it. This is one of the most exciting comics you’ll ever read.
Oesterheld took his inspiration from Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, a book he read as a child. Juan Salvo, though, is imprisoned not by the sea, but “by death”: following what appears at first to be a disastrous nuclear accident, anyone who steps outside without protective clothing dies within minutes. Nor is Salvo alone in the world. When the calamity struck, he was at home, playing cards with friends, Professor Favalli and Franco; his wife was reading upstairs in bed, and his daughter was asleep.
At first, no one knows the extent of the disaster: perhaps the entire planet is dead. Juan and the others see planes in the sky, and believe they are to be rescued. But when the planes are shot down, it becomes clear that what they are dealing with is not some accident of the cold war, but an invasion by extraterrestrial beings. Joining the human resistance to this alien dictatorship, the men must battle death rays, monstrous hallucinations and, worst of all, the gurbos, vast pachyderms no anti-tank mortar can so much as scratch.
What sets The Eternaut apart is not its plot, gripping though it is. Rather, it’s the sheer ingenuity of Juan and his plucky compadres. Again and again, Professor Favalli, a scientist, comes up trumps. Meanwhile, Mosca, a historian, is useless, a joke. I love the quotidian details Oesterheld gives us; his characters, puzzling the ins and outs of survivalism and guerrilla warfare, are nothing if not earth bound. Lopez’s drawings, meanwhile, make them seem wholly human. You feel their fear, and their desperation. Turn the pages, and they seem to age before your very eyes.
The Eternaut is published by Fantagraphics (£28.99). Click here to order a copy for £23.19
