El Convoy - Eduardo Romero

In a country like Peru, devotion to art, literature or music is often a complicated task that does not pay off. Culture, in general, is not a priority in a country where the urgent always beats the important. Of course, engaging in comic books in Peru is even more difficult than, for example, writing a novel. That is why I have already expressed my admiration for talented and enthusiastic authors like Juan Acevedo, with his endearing characters the Cuy and the Araña No (the No Spider).

Of course, despite the difficulties, in recent years several comics by Peruvian authors have been published. In fact, I also have some comics published in Tira Línea, the magazine edited by the communications faculty of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and when I was still a student of that university, I got to publish a couple of comic strips in the supplement Q from Punto Edu, the weekly university newspaper. So to say that there is no comic book production in Peru would be false. Of course, the production is not at the same level as in countries of long tradition with the 9th art, such as Argentina, but I think that little by little there will be more writers and artists willing to tell their stories and make more comics.

After a year in California, I returned to Peru for a couple of weeks and had the opportunity to read “El Convoy” by Eduardo Romero, a graphic novel in black and white published jointly by Forja Destino and Comic Apocalipsis. The protagonist of this graphic novel is Captain Lucius, a mercenary in charge of a ship that is part of a convoy that is continuously under attack. From the initial sequences, the dilemmas are outlined and especially the difficult decisions that this man must make from his position of authority, from rescuing possible survivors of other ships to saving ammunition when defending himself from a submarine, as well as the drastic solution to prevent riots.

In addition to a fast-paced script full of adventures, Romero's work also stands out as an impressive artistic work in black and white. There are panels in which the blackness of the Chinese ink adds an ominous feel to this difficult journey and, in turn, the presence of sea monsters acquires greater prominence thanks to the fact that they are drawn in the style of the engravings of yesteryear. The 78 pages of “El Convoy” were illustrated in a period of 4 or 5 years, and at least for me, it is especially interesting to observe the subtle changes of style in the art, which sometimes perfectly assimilates Charles Burns and in other times pays tribute to the comic masters of Argentina.

The thorough editing of Guido Cuadros allows Romero's story to reach its full potential. Cuadros, an expert in comics and an attentive reader, is the best choice for the role of editor in this very interesting project (I must admit, by the way, that on more than one occasion he has corrected some of the posts in this blog, in which I had misplaced the last name of an author or confused the name of a character).