The Eternaut and its political context: an interview with Solano López
Yet another interview with Franciso Solano López, illustrator for The Eternaut. By José Cornejo and Enrique de la Calle, Paco Urondo Agency, 2007. Translated by Martin Hadis 2025.
In September 2007, AGENCIA PACO URONDO spoke with Francisco Solano López, the illustrator of El Eternauta, who passed away in 2011. The interview was originally going to be published in Evita magazine (by the organization of the same name), but in the end, the issue never made it to print. The conversation is now more relevant than ever, as the story has become a global phenomenon thanks to a series released on Netflix. “We weren't Peronist activists, but the invasion was in all of us, including the audience, at least subconsciously,” he recalled.
APU: When you drew the invading aliens, what did you inspire yourself on?
Solano López: I modified the traits of an actual human being. I added a single change to the “manos,”: a hand with an excess of fingers, but I did this on only one hand because I thought that doing this in both hands would be grotesque, unbelievable, or impractical. So I imagined an extension of tendons and bones along the forearm.
For the gurbos, I thought of a a kind of armored animal, heavy but with an agile build. I didn't think of either a rhinoceros or an elephant; it was a combination of elements. I wanted to give their heads a kind of military shape, like the turret of a tank. For the beetles, I thought of real world insects. Larger and more mobile, with longer legs that allowed them to crouch, and with a more pointed shape that gave them a more aggressive and frightful appearance. As for the robot men, they are like normal working people in appearance, but are in a kind of zombie state. They act mechanically.
APU: What about the urban landscapes of Buenos Aires? River Plate, Plaza Italia...
SL: All of those scenes I would draw from my memory. I used to live in Belgrano and used to go through Palermo a lot. I would also spend time in Zona Norte (the northern suburb of the city where the story begins:n Martínez, Vicente López). An aunt of mine used to live in villa on Avenida del Libertador near, Olivos. And I used to stay there when I was a kid. I also had a tourist booklet from Congress with photos of Buenos Aires, and there was a shot of the Plaza seen from above - not from the dome of the Congress building, but from the hotels next to it. It is from that vantage point that Juan Salvo looks down and sees all the paraphernalia of the invaders. It's the only full-page drawing out of the 300-odd illustrations in the comic.
APU: It's a very emblematic location of Buenos Aires.
SL: Indeed it is. In that case, I had the opportunity to work from a very detailed photo. But all the rest, I drew from memory: the River soccer stadium, the Barracas de Belgrano gazebo, or the General Paz crossing where the first battle takes place, where it reaches Libertador Avenue, there was a roundabout with a fountain that no longer exists.
APU: That very realistic image of the city alongside workers resisting, including metalworkers, connects very strongly with the feeling of Peronist resistance.
SL: Many interpreted it as a premonition of the first Peronist resistance. However, when we were working on it, we weren't thinking about political events of the time.
We ourselves werent Peronist activists either, but the feeling of an invasion was in all of us, including our audience, at least unconsciously. I actually come from a very anti-Peronist family that used to read the socialist newspaper La Vanguardia. But what the military governments did made me aware of the Peronists' struggle to me. In fact, there was another literary work of journalism from that period that I later had the chance to illustrate: Operación Masacre by Rodolfo Walsh.
APU: Did you get to know him?
SL: No, because by then I was already out of the country. The military coup of '76 had taken place and I had left with my son into exile. He had been imprisoned with the knowledge of the executive branch and was given the opportunity to leave the country. He went through the paperwork in Madrid, at the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees).
APU: So the political climate of the time did creep in.
SL: We weren't aware of it. We couldn't imagine that the military would end up being such bastards as to match the evil in the comic strip. I am aware, because I have two sons which grew up under dictatorships and I could see their weariness of it all. So this affected the younger generations. Every so often I meet people who used to buy The Eternaut when it first came out back in late 1950´s at the newsstand - and today, they are ministers. For example, (Education Minister Daniel) Filmus is a fan.
APU: And ours is the third generation of fans.
SL: Of course, each generation is introduced to The Eternaut by the previous one. Perhaps they get the book from their parents who had kept it in their bookshelves for so many years. After reading it, many remain hooked; it never loses its relevance. Why? Because the same movie repeats itself time and again. It happened with every military coup here in Argentina. And then even with radicals like Frondizi and Illia when they wanted to hold elections that the Peronists couldn´t win. And it repeats itself with all the chicanery and legal maneuvers used by the military now being judged to delay their prosecution. That's why they nowadays say, “We must not look back.” Their actions are now in the past because they made sure they would. It took a government like Kirchner's to promote the renewal of the Supreme Court, to remove the barriers that the military had put in place to defend themselves. They didn't afford that chance to those they killed.
APU: When you drew the invading aliens, what did you inspire yourself on?
Solano López: I modified the traits of an actual human being. I added a single change to the “manos,”: a hand with an excess of fingers, but I did this on only one hand because I thought that doing this in both hands would be grotesque, unbelievable, or impractical. So I imagined an extension of tendons and bones along the forearm.
For the gurbos, I thought of a a kind of armored animal, heavy but with an agile build. I didn't think of either a rhinoceros or an elephant; it was a combination of elements. I wanted to give their heads a kind of military shape, like the turret of a tank. For the beetles, I thought of real world insects. Larger and more mobile, with longer legs that allowed them to crouch, and with a more pointed shape that gave them a more aggressive and frightful appearance. As for the robot men, they are like normal working people in appearance, but are in a kind of zombie state. They act mechanically.
APU: What about the urban landscapes of Buenos Aires? River Plate, Plaza Italia...
SL: All of those scenes I would draw from my memory. I used to live in Belgrano and used to go through Palermo a lot. I would also spend time in Zona Norte (the northern suburb of the city where the story begins:n Martínez, Vicente López). An aunt of mine used to live in villa on Avenida del Libertador near, Olivos. And I used to stay there when I was a kid. I also had a tourist booklet from Congress with photos of Buenos Aires, and there was a shot of the Plaza seen from above - not from the dome of the Congress building, but from the hotels next to it. It is from that vantage point that Juan Salvo looks down and sees all the paraphernalia of the invaders. It's the only full-page drawing out of the 300-odd illustrations in the comic.
APU: It's a very emblematic location of Buenos Aires.
SL: Indeed it is. In that case, I had the opportunity to work from a very detailed photo. But all the rest, I drew from memory: the River soccer stadium, the Barracas de Belgrano gazebo, or the General Paz crossing where the first battle takes place, where it reaches Libertador Avenue, there was a roundabout with a fountain that no longer exists.
APU: That very realistic image of the city alongside workers resisting, including metalworkers, connects very strongly with the feeling of Peronist resistance.
SL: Many interpreted it as a premonition of the first Peronist resistance. However, when we were working on it, we weren't thinking about political events of the time.
We ourselves werent Peronist activists either, but the feeling of an invasion was in all of us, including our audience, at least unconsciously. I actually come from a very anti-Peronist family that used to read the socialist newspaper La Vanguardia. But what the military governments did made me aware of the Peronists' struggle to me. In fact, there was another literary work of journalism from that period that I later had the chance to illustrate: Operación Masacre by Rodolfo Walsh.
APU: Did you get to know him?
SL: No, because by then I was already out of the country. The military coup of '76 had taken place and I had left with my son into exile. He had been imprisoned with the knowledge of the executive branch and was given the opportunity to leave the country. He went through the paperwork in Madrid, at the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees).
APU: So the political climate of the time did creep in.
SL: We weren't aware of it. We couldn't imagine that the military would end up being such bastards as to match the evil in the comic strip. I am aware, because I have two sons which grew up under dictatorships and I could see their weariness of it all. So this affected the younger generations. Every so often I meet people who used to buy The Eternaut when it first came out back in late 1950´s at the newsstand - and today, they are ministers. For example, (Education Minister Daniel) Filmus is a fan.
APU: And ours is the third generation of fans.
SL: Of course, each generation is introduced to The Eternaut by the previous one. Perhaps they get the book from their parents who had kept it in their bookshelves for so many years. After reading it, many remain hooked; it never loses its relevance. Why? Because the same movie repeats itself time and again. It happened with every military coup here in Argentina. And then even with radicals like Frondizi and Illia when they wanted to hold elections that the Peronists couldn´t win. And it repeats itself with all the chicanery and legal maneuvers used by the military now being judged to delay their prosecution. That's why they nowadays say, “We must not look back.” Their actions are now in the past because they made sure they would. It took a government like Kirchner's to promote the renewal of the Supreme Court, to remove the barriers that the military had put in place to defend themselves. They didn't afford that chance to those they killed.