The Eternaut
The Eternaut is an Argentine science fiction comic created by Héctor Germán Oesterheld with artwork by Francisco Solano López. It was first published in Hora Cero Semanal between 1957 and 1959, initially as a serialized comic strip. The story is focused on a handful of survivors of a deadly alien invasion in Buenos Aires.
After other failed attempts to continue the story, Oesterheld remade it in 1969, with art by Alberto Breccia and a more overt political tone. Oesterheld became the spokesman of the Montoneros guerrillas by the time he started the sequel, El Eternauta: segunda parte, again with Solano López. The Dirty War against guerrilla groups forced Oesterheld to go into hiding, but he completed the story nonetheless. He was a victim of an enforced disappearance shortly after that. His widow Elsa Oesterheld sold the rights of the character to the publisher Ediciones Record, and tried later to annul the contract, leading to a lengthy copyright dispute.
The story had many sequels in later years, sometimes with conflicting canonicity. A television miniseries adaptation by Netflix, The Eternaut, premiered on April 30, 2025, starring Ricardo Darín as the lead character.
Publication history
The Eternauta was first published in the first issue of the comic magazine anthology Hora Cero by Editorial Frontera, on September 4, 1957. It was written by Héctor Germán Oesterheld, author of all the comics in the anthology, and was illustrated by Francisco Solano López. Solano López had been working with Oesterheld on the comic Rolo, el marciano adoptivo, and although he was still interested in science fiction, he asked for a story with less fantasy. "I was doing Rolo in Hora Cero, I wanted to do science fiction, but with a more realistic approach, something more committed, closer to the reader, and that gave Héctor the idea of the Eternaut". Oesterheld would explain that "The Eternaut started as a short story, just 70 panels. Then it turned into a long story, an adaptation of sorts of the topic of Robinson Crusoe. I was captivated by the idea of a family that is suddenly alone in the world, surrounded by death and by an unknown and unreachable enemy. I thought of myself, of my family, isolated in our chalet, and started asking questions". He also explained that, although there was a general outline, the plots were largely improvised during publication, which led to the creation of characters and situations that were not considered in the early stages of writing.The series became a success, and ran until 1959. However, Solano López said that, although the magazine was selling well, they had no way to measure the popularity of each specific comic, and were not aware of the Eternaut's popularity at the time. Hora Cero was closed shortly after the story's conclusion, as artists found it more lucrative to work abroad than in Frontera, Oesterheld knew little of finances, and interest in serial comics declined. Editorial Frontera was then absorbed by Editorial Emilio Ramírez. The closure of Frontera and the emigration of Solano López to Europe forced Oesterheld to cancel his plans for a sequel. Emilio Ramírez then sold the titles to the magazine "Vea y lea" in 1961, which republished the story. The republication made slight changes to the originals, removing the opening panels and some closing panels whose texts were redundant with the texts of the following entry, to allow a smoother read. Oesterheld wrote the plots intended for the sequel as a novel, which was published by Emilio Ramírez.
In 1969, Oesterheld rebooted the series as The Eternaut 1969, with more political references. It became an open critique of dictatorial regimes and advanced anti-imperialist ideas: instead of a classic alien invasion that destroys all the world, the story states that the global powers abandoned Latin America to the invaders to guarantee their own survival. This version featured artwork by Alberto Breccia, who drew the story in an experimental and unique style diverging from the original expression. It was first published on May 29, 1969, in the weekly Gente. The story was cancelled, so the ending was rushed to avoid leaving it unfinished. The following years the series was also published in Europe. These publications were a success and made Oesterheld, Breccia, and the character known in Europe.
Oesterheld met Lito Fernández in the early 1970s and invited him to work on a sequel set in La Plata. The basic plot would have been about the aliens starting a new invasion elsewhere after their defeat in Buenos Aires, using La Plata as a beachhead from where to raise a counter-attack. The comic would have been published by El Día. Oesterheld and Fernández gathered information about the city, and flew in a helicopter above it to take photos and brainstorm ideas. However, the project was never published and the few unpublished pages made for it were destroyed years later.
In December 1975, Ediciones Record started a sequel in Skorpio, by Ediciones Record, titles El Eternauta: segunda parte. Oesterheld resumed the story, with artwork once again by Solano López. Solano López had returned to Argentina, seeking to retrieve his original artworks from Emilio Ramírez. Oesterheld joined the leftist organization Montoneros and became their spokesman, and went into hiding when the organization was banned during the Dirty War. To keep writing the comic he delivered the plots in secrecy or using intermediaries. Solano López only saw him in person a couple of times. The plot of the comic was in line with the political agenda of Montoneros. Oesterheld, who had introduced himself as a character in a brief cameo at the beginning and end of the original story, now upgraded his self-character to an active sidekick of the hero, while keeping the role of narrator. Solano López did not like it because he rejected both the military government and the Montoneros, and felt that the characterization of Juan Salvo was out-of-character in relation to the first entry. Oesterheld was victim of an enforced disappearance in 1977, shortly after concluding the story. Elsa Sánchez de Oesterheld, his widow, inherited the rights over the character after his death.
A third story, El Eternauta: tercera parte, was published in 1981, after the death of Oesterheld. It was published both in Argentina in Skorpio and in Italy in L'Eternauta. Ediciones Record requested Solano López to take part in it, but he refused because of the troubling circumstances of the previous comic. He only agreed to draw a few faces in the first chapters, because of the editorial insistence. The story had no credited authors, and although it kept Oesterheld as a lead narrator character as in the 1975 story, it was written by Alberto Ongaro, with illustrations by Oswal, Mario Morhain, and Carlos Meglia. Some years later Ediciones Record found an unpublished draft of a third part of The Eternaut by Oesterheld, written in the 1970s. Alfredo Scutti, director of Ediciones Record, offered Pez, an artist from the Fierro magazine, the chance to work on it. The story featured Juan Salvo as the ruthless dictator of a post-apocalyptic Buenos Aires, until he gradually recovers his memories. It would have been published monthly, but after a brief time the work was halted and the comic was never published.
Solano López began projects to restore the character in the 1990s. His first project, when he was still living in Brazil, was with the writer Ricardo Barreiro, but was discarded when Sánchez de Oesterheld and her grandsons refused to let the writer work with the character. The second project, called "La Vencida", was a new third part that would ignore the third part published by Ediciones Record. He invited the writer Juan Sasturain to work together with his protégé Pablo Maiztegui, but Sasturain preferred to work alone. First it was offered to the newspaper Clarín, which refused it for its ideological tone. Then it was offered to the newspaper Página 12, which could not pay the intended wages to the artists. Both newspapers refused as well because The Eternaut was still a property of Ediciones Record, and wanted to avoid a lawsuit. The project was cancelled, with only two pages made.
Sánchez de Oesterheld and Solano López signed a contract with El Club del Comic to make a new story, "El mundo arrepentido". The story was written by Pablo Maiztegui and was set within the interdimensional travels mentioned by the lead character at the end of the first story. It was the first one made in color. Comic Press, owned by Ediciones Record, also started a comic book, "Odio Cósmico", closer to the style of American comic books, with plots of Ricardo Barreiro. The death of Barreiro and the legal complaints of Sánchez de Oesterheld and Solano López, who did not authorize the comic, led to its cancellation after 3 issues.
In 2015, Fantagraphics Books published the first translation of the work into English, under the title The Eternaut. It was translated by Erica Mena. The publication was nominated for the 2016 Eisner Award in the categories for Best U.S. Edition of International Material, Best Publication Design, and Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips. It received the award in the last category.
Copyright disputes
Héctor Oesterheld sold the copyright of several of his characters, including the Eternaut, when Editorial Frontera was closed. Initially those rights were acquired by Editorial Emilio Ramírez, who then sold them to others. Alfredo Scutti from Ediciones Record acquired the rights in the 1970s and republished the story in 1976. Oesterheld and Solano López signed a contract with Scutti, confirming his rights over the character, in exchange for part of the money received by Ediciones Record for the republication. As it was a success, they signed a similar contract to write the sequel, "El Eternauta Segunda Parte". Oesterheld was killed by the military and Solano López left for Europe shortly after the sequel was finished. The heirs of Oesterheld were his widow Elsa Sánchez de Oesterheld and his grandchildren, still minors.The series was a success in Italy and there were rumors of a possible film adaptation. To secure his rights Scutti signed a more detailed contract with Sánchez de Oesterheld. She was facing a difficult economic situation, coupled with the still recent loss of her husband and her imminent retirement, and accepted. She signed the contract for a sum of 10,000 dollars. Later she started a judicial case to annul the contract, as she felt that she had made a mistake and had not understood what she was doing. Her lawyer said that she did not have the legal rights to sell the rights to the character, as she had ignored the rights of Oesterheld's grandchildren. Scutti based his defense on the contracts signed with Héctor while he was still alive, earlier than the one with Sánchez de Oesterheld, and considered that she was mixing commercial deals with personal tragedies. He also provided documentation proving that she authorized the making of the third sequel for another payment.
Solano López also complained about the contract, claiming that it ignored his own rights over the character. When he left for Europe, knowing of Sánchez de Oesterheld's economic problems, he told her that he gave her full leeway to profit from the character the way she saw fit. He clarified later that he never meant to renounce his share of the copyright over the character, and that it was only a verbal proposal with no legal weight. He pointed out that the document made between Ediciones Record and Sánchez de Oesterheld described The Eternaut as a literary work, created solely by Héctor Oesterheld, with no mention of him. And, although Oesterheld would write a literary novel about the character later, it was born as a comic book character, with a joint work of the writer and the artist. Sánchez de Oesterheld did not agree with that view and considered Solano López a mere interpreter of the work of her husband. She also said that The Eternaut was an idea that Oesterheld had for some years before he started working on it. The comic El mundo arrepentido, made by Solano López and Pol, was also initially a source of conflict. Oesterheld's grandsons said that new projects involving the character, such as sequels, merchandising, or adaptations, had to have the approval of Solano López, but that he did not have the right to decide such things completely by himself. Both parties eventually agreed to work together on the new release.
The judiciary ruled in 1996 that the sale of the characters of Oesterheld to Emilio Ramírez was null and void, restoring them to Oesterheld's heirs. Ediciones Record started their own case, stating that they owned the rights to the franchise. Although initially the lower courts ruled favorably to Ediciones Record, in 2018 the Supreme Court ruled favorably to the heirs of Oesterheld and closed the case, with the vote of Ricardo Lorenzetti, Elena Highton de Nolasco, Juan Carlos Maqueda, Horacio Rosatti and Carlos Rosenkrantz.