{"id":30909,"date":"2024-11-12T09:00:21","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T09:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=30909"},"modified":"2024-11-11T18:47:08","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T18:47:08","slug":"evaristo-deep-city-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/11\/12\/evaristo-deep-city-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Evaristo: Deep City"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy F. Solano Lopez<\/strong> & Carlos Sampayo<\/strong> (Catalan Communications)
\nISBN: 978-0874160345 (Album TPB)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> included for dramatic effect. <\/em><\/p>\n

For British and Commonwealth comics readers of a certain age, the unmistakable artistic style of Francisco Solano Lopez always conjures up dark moods and atmospheric tension because he drew such ubiquitous boyhood classics as Janus Stark<\/strong>, Kelly\u2019s Eye<\/strong>, Adam Eterno<\/strong>, Tri-Man<\/strong>, Galaxus: The Thing from Outer Space<\/strong>, Pete\u2019s Pocket Army<\/strong>, Nipper<\/strong>, The Drowned World<\/strong>, Raven on the Wing<\/strong>, Master of the Marsh<\/strong> and a host of other stunning tales of mystery, imagination and adventure in the years he worked for British publishers.<\/p>\n

However, the master of blackest brushwork was not merely a creator of children\u2019s fiction. In his home country of Argentina he was considered a radical political cartoonist whose work eventually forced him to flee to more hospitable climes.<\/p>\n

On October 26th<\/sup> 1928 Francisco Solano L\u00f3pez was born in Buenos Aires. He began illustrating comics in 1953 with Perico y Guillerma<\/em><\/strong> for publisher Columba. With journalist H\u00e9ctor Germ\u00e1n Oesterheld (a prolific comics scripter \u201cdisappeared\u201d by the Junta in 1976 and presumed killed the following year) Solano L\u00f3pez produced Bull Rocket<\/em><\/strong> for Editorial Abril\u2019s magazine Misterix<\/em><\/strong>. After working on such landmark series as Pablo Maran<\/em>, Uma-Uma<\/em>, Rolo el marciano adoptive<\/em> and El H\u00e9roe<\/em>, L\u00f3pez joined Oesterheld\u2019s publishing house Editorial Frontera to become a member of the influential Venice Group which included Mario Faustinelli, Hugo Pratt, Ivo Pavone and Dino Battaglia.<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez alternated with Pratt, Jorge Moliterni and Jos\u00e9 Mu\u00f1oz on Oesterheld\u2019s legendary Ernie Pike<\/em><\/strong> serial but their most significant collaboration was the explosively political and hugely popular allegorical science fiction thriller El Eternauta<\/em><\/strong>, which began in 1957. By 1959 the series had come to the unwelcome attention of the Argentinian and Chilean authorities, forcing L\u00f3pez to flee to Spain. Whilst an exile there, he began working for UK publishing giant Fleetway from Madrid and London. In 1968 he returned to Argentina and with Oesterheld started El Eternauta II<\/em><\/strong> for Editorial Records, producing sci-fi series Slot-Barr<\/em><\/strong> (written by Ricardo Barreiro) and period cop drama Evaristo<\/em><\/strong> with kindred spirit Carlos Sampayo.<\/p>\n

In the mid-1970s L\u00f3pez was e again compelled to flee his homeland, returning to Madrid where he organised publication of El Eternauta<\/em><\/strong> and Slot-Barr<\/em><\/strong> in Italian magazines LancioStory<\/em><\/strong> & Skorpio<\/em><\/strong>. He never stopped working: producing a stunning variety of assorted genre tales and mature-reader material and erotica such as El Instituto <\/em>(reprinted by Eros as Young Witches<\/strong>), El Prostibulo del Terror<\/em><\/strong> (story by Barreiro) and Sexy Symphonies<\/strong><\/em>: bleak thrillers Ana<\/em><\/strong> and Historias Tristes<\/em><\/strong> with his son Gabriel. He illustrated Jim Woodring\u2019s adaptation of the cult movie Freaks<\/strong> and once safely home in Argentina, continued El Eternauta<\/em><\/strong> with new writer Pablo \u201cPol\u201d Maiztegui. He even found time for more British comics with strips such as \u2018Jimmy\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Louts of Liberty Hall\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Ozzie the Loan Arranger\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Dark Angels\u2019<\/em> in Roy of the Rovers<\/strong>, Hot-Shot <\/strong>and Eagle<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Francisco Solano L\u00f3pez passed away in Buenos Aires on August 12th<\/sup> 2011.<\/p>\n

Poet, critic and author Carlos Sampayo is most well-known for his grimly powerful comics collaborations with Mu\u00f1oz on Joe\u2019s Bar<\/strong> and Alack Sinner<\/strong> (both also long overdue for comprehensive re-release) as well as other contemporary classics like Jeu de Lumi\u00e8res<\/em><\/strong>, Sophie<\/em><\/strong>, Billie Holiday<\/a><\/strong> and \u2018Sudor Sudaca\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Born in 1943, Sampayo was another outspoken creative Argentinean forced to flee the Junta in the early 1970s. Travelling to Europe he found a home for his desolate, gritty, passionately evocative stories in France and Italy, working with Julio Schiaffino, Jorge Zentner and Oscar Zarate before settling in Spain. Here in 1985, he and fellow expat Solano L\u00f3pez produced compelling anti-hero Evaristo<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The long-running serial featured a seemingly brutish ex-boxer who had risen to the rank of Police Commissioner in late 1950s Buenos Aires: a debased and corrupt city of wealth and prestige, cheek-by-jowl with appalling poverty and desperate degradation.<\/p>\n

After a compelling introduction by Xavier Coma, the graphic odyssey begins with \u2018Breaking the Ties\u2019<\/em> as a bank hostage crisis devolves into a long-postponed grudge match when Commissioner Evaristo is confronted by old ring-rival Fournier<\/em>, who has returned to finally settle an old score. As is so often the case in such long-lived hatreds, there\u2019s a woman at the heart of it…<\/p>\n

\u2018The Famous Lubitsch Case\u2019<\/em> sees the grizzled morally ambivalent prize-fight veteran pushed by his bosses to locate a missing heiress who has either been abducted or eloped with a notorious gangster and womaniser. Unfortunately, for reasons even he can\u2019t fathom, Evaristo seems determined to discover the truth, rather than follow the \u201cclues\u201d his bosses have directed him to find…<\/p>\n

In \u2018The Herman Operation\u2019<\/em>, secretive guys with German accents and connections to the Argentinean military keep disappearing and the Commissioner is no use at all. It\u2019s like he isn\u2019t even trying…<\/p>\n

The hunt for a cop-killing bandit takes a long hard look at the Commissioner\u2019s sordid past – and some dubious child-care practises by the local clergy – in \u2018The Crazy Grandson\u2019<\/em>, whilst \u2018Shanty Town\u2019<\/em> catches the cops looking for a serial killer whilst a corrupt minister causes a devastating water-shortage – and riots – in the slums. As usual, Evaristo ignores his bosses and keeps looking for the \u201cwrong\u201d people…<\/p>\n

As a hit-squad tasked with assassinating the troublesome cop uses what seems to be perfect leverage by kidnapping a kid claiming to be his son, Evaristo appears more concerned with an escaped lion causing \u2018Terror in the Streets\u2019<\/em> before this superb noir mini-masterpiece concludes with \u2018Legend of a Wounded Gunman\u2019<\/em> as a case from the Commissioner\u2019s early days eerily replays itself. This this time the ending will be different…<\/p>\n

Released in America as Deep City<\/strong> this oversized (277 x 206mm), 112 page monochrome collection depicts the compelling solutions found by a cop who bends all the rules just to win a modicum of justice in an utterly corrupt society: a powerfully cynical, shockingly effective series of vignettes examining freedom and equality in a totally repressive time and place devoid of hope. However at no time does the ideology overwhelm the artistry of the narrative or distract from the sheer power of the art.<\/p>\n

This magnificent book and all the other Evaristo<\/strong> tales are long overdue for revival, and this series has never been more relevant. Surely some savvy publisher must take another shot at the big time for this big tale?…
\n\u00a9 1986 F. Solano L\u00f3pez, Carlos Sampayo & Xavier Coma. English language edition \u00a9 1986 Catalan Communications. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By F. Solano Lopez & Carlos Sampayo (Catalan Communications) ISBN: 978-0874160345 (Album TPB) This book includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect. For British and Commonwealth comics readers of a certain age, the unmistakable artistic style of Francisco Solano Lopez always conjures up dark moods and atmospheric tension because he drew such ubiquitous boyhood classics … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Evaristo: Deep City”<\/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":[75,105,225,111,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime-comics","category-mature-reading","category-mystery","category-satirepolitics","category-world-classics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-82x","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30909","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=30909"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30913,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30909\/revisions\/30913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}