In Netflix's 'The Eternaut,' an Argentine comic goes global

A group of friends gather to play cards in their host's cozy home when the power cuts. Cellphones die. An eerie snow falls all over the city, killing everyone it touches. The friends struggle to survive, their panic replaced by a growing awareness that humanity itself is at stake.

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This is the premise of "The Eternaut," a chilling dystopian drama out of Argentina that premiered its first season on Netflix on April 30. The six-episode, Spanish-language series with its mix of sci-fi elements and focus on human resilience has struck a universal nerve, rocketing to No. 1 among Netflix’s most streamed non-English-language TV shows within days. Netflix already renewed the show for a second season, with filming scheduled to start next year.

But “The Eternaut” has touched on something deeper in Argentina, where legendary comic-strip writer Héctor Germán Oesterheld penned the original graphic novel in 1957 — two decades before he was "disappeared” by Argentina's military dictatorship, along with all four of his daughters.