The Spanish language news agency EFE has an article today commemorating the 50th anniversary of the appearance of the SF comics series El Eternauta ...and the 30th anniversary of the author, Héctor Germán Oesterheld, getting disappeared by the military dictatorship that subjugated Argentina from 1975 to 1983.
The series holds a special place in the hearts of Argentines not only because it is considered one of the most important of the 20th century but for its political activism in its second incarnation.
Oesterheld was the writer of the series and worked with the artist Francisco Solano López (who himself was forced to flee Argentina twice and eventually settled in Brazil.) describing a time traveler and a struggle against an alien invasion. The series and his other writings became increasingly political during the 1960's until he resurrected the series in 1975 as an open critique of the dictadura.
He was disappeared along with his four politically active daughters and their husbands. His grandchild was born during the process of their being murdered and was later united with Oesterheld's widow, Elsa Sánchez, who became a spokesperson for the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo.
A compendium of both Parts 1 and 2 of the series was published in paperback book form by El Clarín in 2004 in the Biblioteca Clarín de la Historieta series and was widely available in kioscos. It reads well all these years later and is worth picking up if you can run across it.
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