‘The Eternaluta’ is a masterpiece of science fiction. But the story of its creator gives him an absolutely unique background

Netflix’s new science fiction series, ‘El Eternalauta’, has a very emotional story for comic fans: not only is it based on a legendary cartoon whose adaptation to cinema and television has been frustrated on countless occasions, but its creator owns a biography that makes its humanistic background, but tragic. This is the story of ‘The Eternaluta’ and its creator, Héctor Germán Oesterheld.

The production that opens Netflix is ​​an Argentine series, such as the original comic, and has the prominence of an international fame actor like Ricardo Darín. It has occurred under the supervision of one of Oesterheld’s grandchildren and is the end point of a long list of attempts to adapt a comic that in Argentina has an extraordinary fame. Hence the prestige of the directors who tried to adapt it on previous occasions.

In 1998, he assumed the Adolfo Aristarain project (‘A place in the world’, ‘Martín (Hache)’) among other directors such as Gustavo Mosquera (which ended, yes, embarking on a long journey to stand up a biopic of Oesterheld, which has not yet curdled). The project was frustrated due to lack of financing. In 2008 the possible adaptation was reactivated, in a film that would direct Lucrecia Martel (‘The Holy Girl’). Martel distanced himself from the project due to conflicts with the Oesterheld family and the adaptation was canceled. Finally, Netflix began the production of its ‘eternalauta’ in 2020although the filming was interrupted by the pandemic.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ‘THE ETERNAUTA’

With a very modern point of view, the story of Oesterheld, drawn in its first phase, in 1958, by a superb Francisco Solano López, tells an extraterrestrial invasion that begins when a mysterious lethal snow on contact with the skin annihilates most of the human beings. The offensive will increase with the appearance of insectoid beings, cascarudes, servants of higher intelligences that will unleash a mixture of intrigue and action where we will have even walks through parallel dimensions.

Cascarudos are not the last border of the alien invasion: the protagonist and an impromptu land resistance group will face an alien disturbing who has numerous fingers around the hand (which wins his appeal of hand), and that It is only the servant of even superior and unknown aliens. It would be said that Oesterheld senses an alien presence in the way of Lovecraft, with entities for those who do not assume the slightest threat, but nods them at our level and injects them very understandable intentions. This stage is published in Spain By comic planet.

The adventures of ‘The Eternaluta’ would not end there. A decade later, in 1969, and with Radicalized Oesterheld in his political commitment, the author would script By Penguin). It essentially tells the same story, but with explanations for the invasion much more politicized. Later, in 1976, an official sequel would arrive, set in a desolate and apocalyptic future, a consequence of the ravages we saw in the first installment. I would draw her again Solano López. After her, with missing Oesterheld, we would see multiple sequelae, often with the participation of the original cartoonist. But … What does ‘the Eternaluta’ have to have become an absolute classic of the Argentine comic?

When Oesterheld did not know what his destiny would be, the first ‘eternauta’ can be read as a local version of ‘The War of the Worlds’, but with bulls references to the policy of the moment: In 1955 Perón had been expelled from the Argentine government in a coup d’etat led by military. This first version of history is more humanistic than politics, and as Roberto Bartual details In your newsletter on comics And he launches the message that “there are good and bad on all sides”, allowing even demonstrating some compassion for the villains. It has all the meaning that this white and harmless version is the one that takes the Netflix series as a reference.

However, the authentic combative content of ‘The Eternaluta’ would come in the second version that Oesterheld would re-guide and illustrate Breccia: in it, invading aliens have reached a pact with foreign powers. In the 1969 version, the villain of history is imperialism that a few years later would cause coups in Chile in 1973, and later again in Argentina, in 1979. The humans of this version of ‘El Eternalauta’ are the countries of Latin America fighting for their independence.

And there is more. The sequel ‘El Eternalauta II’, again with Solano López to the drawings, tells how men and women live in caves to escape the invasion. It is impossible not to think about the authentic oesterheld, which This second part of ‘The Eternaluta’ ended in hiding. The end of the story is absolutely bleak and turns the iconic eternal, with his diver glasses to protect himself from lethal snow, an anti-authoritarian resistance symbol. Even much later, in the demonstrations against the Financial Corralito at the beginning of this century, posters were seen with the images of the Eternaluta remembering their rebel spirit and, above all, denouncing the leaders of any sign that betray their own.

Oesterheld’s fate

The radicalization of the creator of ‘The Eternaluta’ would start shortly after the publication of the first version of the story: Oesterheld would begin to fill their stories of criticisms of capitalism and colonialism, reaching a script to political sign as clear as a biography of Che in 1968, before his collaboration with Breco. In the seventies he would join the Montoneros (the second part of ‘El Eternalauta’ ended in hiding, dictating the scripts he later received Solano López, exiled in Spain), and the last thing that was learned of him is that he was arrested in 1977 by the military dictatorship.

It was last seen in a clandestine detention center, and as happened with so many other Argentines, from that moment to be part of the list of arrested and missingvictim of Argentine state terrorism. His work has only claimed over time, both at a narrative and political leveland among his other notable works is the magnificent ‘Mort Cinder’, in many aspects superior to ‘El Eternalauta’, and also in collaboration with Breccia. They are also very remarkable ‘Ernie Pike’ and ‘Sergeant Kirk’, both in collaboration with Hugo Pratt, creator of ‘Short Maltés’.

Symbolically, Oesterheld is a much more powerful presence than that of a simple creator of a mythical comic. It is a symbol, whose work has been extended in many more comics (after the second part, there were up to nine more sequels). Until that first and primitive version of the story, lacking a clear political message, read today has an ominous and mysteriously anticipatory tone that is chilling.

Taking into account how carefully Netflix and the actors of their version of ‘El Eternalauta’ are avoiding the issue of Oesterheld’s political positioning (Darín avoids mentioning the screenwriter in his interviews), We are unlikely to see political proclamations in the new serieswhich will limit itself to being a powerful post -apocalyptic fantasy. Luckily, we still have the original, virulent and visually captivating comics, to pay tribute to an exceptional screenwriter.

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