El Eternauta/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Executive Meddling: The Second Part was published in 1976-77, amidst the most brutal military dictatorship in Argentina, with a policy of censorship that would make look Mr. McCarthy as a tree-hugger on a happy acid trip. Oesterheld was part of a underground guerrilla movement and often find himself telling the script of the next episode by phone to the publisher's secretary. These have not been made public, but it seems as the director of the publishing house watered down the scripts a bit, and even the artist, Solano López, refused to draw some parts and changed them. The expected and understandable thing to happen when Culture Police go Axe Crazy. Oesterheld also did some heavy-fire comics for other magazines, more engaged or plainly banned, before being caught and most likely killed without a trial in late 1977 or early 1978.
  • No Export for You: It is a sad thing that to the present day there is not an English edition available, particularly after it proved to be successfully exportable in France and Italy.
  • What Could Have Been: The 1969 remake was absolutely incredible; lightyears beyond its time, with out of this world graphics and a dark, adult-oriented script... Guess what, the Moral Guardians and Executive Meddling wasted it. The few pages fully accomplished are still breathtaking.