Graphic tale - Murdered comic writer finds new fans and foes

As Netflix adapts his beloved El Eternauta, Héctor Oesterheld's literary legacy is dragged into a bitter current political fight

- Uki Goñi

The story tells of a masked figure who joins an isolated band to mount a seemingly hopeless resistance against sinister forces that have seized control of planet Earth.

The eponymous hero of Héctor Oesterheld's comic serial El Eternauta - the traveller through eternity - fights in a world where humans have been turned against each other, and grapples with his own doubts that individuals can make any difference in the face of inhuman horrors.

When it first appeared in 1957, El Eternauta was a work of uncanny speculative fiction published at the high point of Argentina's gold age of comic books; by the time Oesterheld and his family had been murdered by the armed forces in the late 1970s, it seemed more like a grim allegory for the country.

At home, Oesterheld has long been a revered symbol of artistic resilience under oppression, and 66 years after its publication, El Eternauta remains one of Argentina's most-loved graphic novels. Now, his works are reaching a wider audience with critically acclaimed English-language translations of El Eternauta and Oesterheld's biographies of Eva Perón and Che Guevara. And filming for a Netflix series based on El Eternauta recently began in Buenos Aires. The series, with the Argentinian mega-star Ricardo Darín in the leading role, has a tentative 2024 release date.