Un cómic de madurez.

Interesante propuesta la de Paco Roca con esta historia. La verdad es que hace ya tiempo que el mundo del cómic ha madurado lo suficiente como para que lo consideremos como miembro de pleno derecho del gremio de las bellas artes. Lejos quedan los días en que el popular tebeo se veía como mera introducción al mundo de la lectura seria (en el mejor de los casos) o corruptor de tiernas mentes infantiles (en el peor). En Las calles de arena nos encontramos con una historia que seguramente no acertarían a entender muchos chavales, aunque podrían seguirla. Es demasiado surrealista, demasiado artística, demasiado enrevesada y onírica como para poder ser entendida como mero entretenimiento. Para eso quedan las historietas de Mortadelo y Filemón o El botones Sacarino (sin tampoco menospreciar este otro género que continúo leyendo aún a mi edad, que conste). En el caso de Paco Roca, el dibujo tiene, sin duda, aspiraciones artísticas en el color, el claroscuro, los gestos, el detalle, la decoración. Pero es que, además, la historia es siempre original, creativa, literaria. Las calles de arena es un cómic, pero podía haber sido perfectamente una historia corta. Altamente recomendable, al menos para mentes abiertas y espíritus eclécticos.

Las calles de arena

Un olvidadizo joven llega tarde a una cita con su novia para firmar la hipoteca de su casa y, en un último esfuerzo por llegar a tiempo, se decide a coger un atajo por el barrio antiguo de la ciudad. Sin embargo, se pierde por sus enrevesadas calles y, a partir de ahí, se encuentra con una serie de extraños personajes que llevan una eternidad perdidos en el mismo lugar. Pero, lejos de desesperarse, optan por hacer de tripas corazón y acaban, mal que bien, conviviendo en ese surrealista mundo.

Ficha técnica:
Título: Las calles de arena
Autor: Paco Roca
Editorial: Astiberri
Edición: primera edición, Bilbao, abril 2009.
Páginas: 102 páginas
ISBN: 978-84-96815-91-9

Lee algunas páginas del cómic en el web del autor.

Red Son: a superb graphic novel.

Red Son is definitely a superb graphic novel. The quality of both the art and the story is pretty good. Most important of all, it avoids the typical stereotyping that characterizes so many other comics. Our hero is not necessarily evil, although he is definitely on the side of the Evil Empire. He has good intentions. He truly dreams with the possibility of building the perfect society that ends poverty and injustice, even if it is at the cost of doing away with personal freedom. In other words, his communistic ideals lead him down the path to a totalitarian society not so much because he has an evil character but rather because his ideas are wrong. His dream (like most dreams) has some awful unintended consequence. It's precisely this that makes Red Son a far more mature and realistic story than most other comics (not to talk about the superhero genre). Sooner or later, he finds out about all this and towards the end he corrects his own wrongdoings, as it corresponds to a good hero. However, we also learn that the leader of the free world (i.e., Lex Luthor in this story) is not as good as he is supposed to be either. He also is ambitious and tyrannical, too full of himself, Machiavellian in his use of others to pursue his own self-interest and, above all, as maniacal and messianic as any totalitarian leader (one of the first things he does, after the final victory of the free world, is to do away with democracy and replace it with a government of scientists, writers, artists and other members of the self-appointed elite). In conclusion, Red Son stays away from the traditional manicheism of many graphic novels, especially the ones in the superhero genre and we all benefit from that. This truly is a good story.

Superman: Red Son.

Never liked Superman much because the character seemed too flat to you? We are on the same boat. I much preferred other superheroes, like Spiderman or The Hulk, who were far more human, clear examples of the human frailty. Well, along comes Red Son, which comes to add an intriguing twist to the old story: what if Superman had landed on Earth a few hours later, therefore making it to a collective farm in the Soviet Union instead of the US? This graphic novel narrates the story of a "red" Superman who takes over the USSR after Stalin's death, bringing about the Socialist dream and embarrassing the US with its stubborn bet on the old capitalistic ways. However, what makes this other Superman fascinating is the fact that, with all his superpowers and all, well-intentioned as he is, he is still the backbone of a totalitarian regime that is morally corrupt at its core. In other words, he is imperfect, like everybody else.

Technical description:
Title: Superman: Red Son.
Author: Mark Millar.
Publisher: DC Comics.
Edition: February 2004.
Pages: 160 pages.
ISBN: 978-1401201913