{"id":26106,"date":"2022-07-06T13:55:41","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T13:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=26106"},"modified":"2022-07-06T13:55:41","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T13:55:41","slug":"the-lighthouse-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2022\/07\/06\/the-lighthouse-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lighthouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Paco Roca, translated by Jeff Whitman <\/strong>(NBM)
\nISBN: 978-1-68112-056-0 (HB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Francisco Mart\u00ednez Roca was born in Valencia in 1969: a time when Franco\u2019s fascist regime still controlled every aspect of Spanish life. Roca was part of an artistic explosion that benefited from the dictator\u2019s death and a return to liberalising democracy, with his earliest efforts appearing in La Cupula<\/strong><\/em> in 1994.<\/p>\n

As Paco Roca, he contributed (with Rafa Fonteriz) erotic strips featuring Peter Pan<\/strong><\/em> and Aladdin<\/strong><\/em> to Kiss Comics<\/strong><\/em> and – with Juan Miguel Aguilera – devised experimental 3D series \u2018Road Cartoons\u2019<\/em> for El Vibora<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Roca\u2019s earliest serious works dealt with aspects of Spanish culture and history: El Juego L\u00fagubre<\/em> in 2001 (his fictional yarn about Salvador Dali) and 2004\u2019s Spanish Civil War tale El Faro<\/em>. These were followed by internationally acclaimed works Hijos de la Alhambra<\/strong><\/em> and 2007\u2019s multi-award winning Wrinkles<\/strong> – adapted into equally celebrated and critically-rewarded animated movie Arrugas<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

More wonderful stuff you\u2019ll want to see includes Las Callas de Arena<\/strong><\/em> (Streets of Sand<\/strong><\/em>) and semi-autobiographical Sunday newspaper strip Memorias de un hombre en pyjama<\/em> from Las Provincias<\/strong><\/em> and El invierno del dibujante<\/em>, about comic creators working for the Bruguera<\/em> magazine Tio Vivo<\/strong><\/em> in the 1950s.<\/p>\n

When not astonishing folk with his mastery of graphic narrative and grasp of human nature, Roca makes animated films and hosts his own radio show in Valencia.<\/p>\n

After the success of Wrinkles<\/strong> it was only a matter of time before his other works started being translated into English, so bravo to NBM for picking up this sublime, elegiacally esoteric little gem\u2026<\/p>\n

The Lighthouse<\/strong> is a digest-sized (234 x 157 mm) duotone hardback – or eBook if you\u2019re digitally inclined – celebrating the solace of imagination, which recaptures the hope of liberation in a beguiling black, blue and white wave of perfectly sculpted images.<\/p>\n

Spain: as the Civil War staggers to its end, wounded Francisco<\/em> flees for his life. The victorious fascistas<\/em> are gathering up the defeated foe and this wounded youngster has no intention of being interned\u2026 or worse. After a bloody and eventful flight, he makes it to the coast and, after passing out, finds himself bandaged and rested in someone\u2019s bed. He is in a lighthouse, crammed with fascinating remnants and artefacts\u2026<\/p>\n

After some cautious poking about, Francisco finally finds a garrulous old lighthouse keeper on the beach, joyously hauling ashore flotsam, jetsam and assorted treasures torn from unfortunate vessels during the last storm.<\/p>\n

Telmo<\/em> is a jolly giant, constantly quoting from his favourite books about the sea, although Francisco – a soldier since he was sixteen – barely understands what the old man is talking about\u2026<\/p>\n

The elder\u2019s good humour is infectious and gradually infects even battle-scarred Francisco. Soon the boy-soldier is helping the incessantly cheerful senior maintain the great lamp and sharing his only anxiety, about when – if ever – the light will shine again. The government have been promising a new bulb for years and Telmo is convinced now peace reigns again, that moment will be any day now\u2026<\/p>\n

To pass the days, the old man combs the beaches for useful finds and tends to his special project: building a fabulous boat to carry him across the waters to the impossibly wonderful island of Laputa<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

Gradually, sullen Francisco – perpetually bombarded by the lighthouse keeper\u2019s wondrous stories – loosens up and starts sharing Telmo\u2019s self-appointed tasks and dreams, but that all ends when the boy finds a letter and accidentally uncovers a web of lies\u2026<\/p>\n

However, just when the idyllic relationship seems destined to founder on the rocks of tawdry truth, the tirelessly-searching soldiers arrive and a tragic sacrifice in service of those endangered once-shared dreams is required\u2026<\/p>\n

A potently powerful tale delivered with deceptive gentleness and beguiling grace, The Lighthouse<\/strong> is both poignantly moving and rapturously uplifting and is supplemented here by a lengthy prose postscript.<\/p>\n

Roca\u2019s \u2018The Eternal Rewrite\u2019<\/em> – packed with illustrations, model sheets, production art and sketches – reveals how the author is afflicted with Post-Release Meddling Syndrome, constantly editing, amending and reworking bits of his many publications, each time a new or fresh foreign edition is announced.<\/p>\n

This short, sweet story about stories and imagination is a true delight and a perfect introduction for anyone still resistant to the idea of comics narrative as meaningful art form\u2026 or just read it yourself for the sheer wonder of it.
\n\u00a9 2004, 2009 Paco Roca. \u00a9 2014 Astiberri for the present edition. \u00a9 2017 NBM for the English translation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Paco Roca, translated by Jeff Whitman (NBM) ISBN: 978-1-68112-056-0 (HB\/Digital edition) Francisco Mart\u00ednez Roca was born in Valencia in 1969: a time when Franco\u2019s fascist regime still controlled every aspect of Spanish life. Roca was part of an artistic explosion that benefited from the dictator\u2019s death and a return to liberalising democracy, with his … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Lighthouse”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[239,63,122,132,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drama","category-european-classics","category-historical","category-older-kids","category-war-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-6N4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26114,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26106\/revisions\/26114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}