July comic books / cómics de julio

Last month’s comic books have been amazing. The Walking Dead # 100 included the violent death of one of the most important and beloved character of the saga, a great issue, no wonder it quickly became the highest selling comic in the past four years, thus defeating the big two (Marvel & DC). Revival # 1, Punk Rock Jesus # 1 and Hero Worship # 1 were just terrific, and I honestly think they all deserve a review (let’s see if I can find the time to write all that). The Millar books continue to be very good. And the Judge Dredd tpb was extraordinary (just as good as the classic Dredd adventures). But if I had to choose the best title of the month it would be Paul Chadwick’s Concrete. It was excellent. And now, without further ado, here you have July’s comics as per solicitations:

BOYS #68 (MR)
(W) Garth Ennis (A) Russell Braun (CA) Darick Robertson
The next bad day: the Boys compare notes and find that all is very far from being as it should be. MM wants serious words with Butcher, Hughie gets Monkey exactly where he wants him, the Female has a revelation of her own- and news comes in of yet another fatality. Things continue unravelling fast, in part three of The Bloody Doors Off.

CONCRETE THREE UNEASY PIECES ONE SHOT
(W/A/CA) Paul Chadwick One of the medium's all-time greats is back in this collection of Concrete stories from the relaunched Dark Horse Presents! In three new adventures, the most human of heroes intervenes in a burglary that turns out to be much more, investigates a possible sighting of the aliens who gave him his rocky body, and develops an alternative to the Taser: himself. This issue strikes the perfect balance of inviting stories for new readers and character development for longtime fans!

HERO WORSHIP #1 (OF 6) 
(W) Zak Penn, Scott Murphy (A/CA) Michael DiPascale The biggest superhero screen writer in the World comes to comics for the first time! Zak Penn (writer of the Avengers movie, X-Men II & III movies, and the Alphas TV show) and Scott Murphy (lead writer of Star Wars The Clone Wars) spin a tale about the ultimate celebrity, an indestructible superhero called Zenith, and the rabid fans that worship him. Legions of adoring fans follow every disaster trying to speculate where they can catch a glimpse of their modern messiah. What happens when an unhealthy obsession leads to one fan getting super powers of his own® Available with a Regular, Wraparound, and a special White Knight Incentive cover by Michael Dipascale

HIT-GIRL #2 (OF 5) (MR)
(W) Mark Millar (A/CA) John Romita
Crashing through plate glass unscathed? Child's play. Jumping over moving cars? Whatevs. When Hit-Girl is your mentor, you'd better keep up. Kick-Ass is taking lessons in Advanced Bad Assery from Mindy McCready, and in return, he's teaching her to survive middle school. The question is, can she dispatch the Mean Girls without severing any arteries? Meanwhile, Red Mist gets serious about making his mark in the world of super crime.

JUDGE DREDD INFERNO GN (C: 1-1-2) 
(W) Grant Morrison, Mark Millar (A) Carlos Ezquerra (CA) Brian Bolland Ex-Judge Grice was sent to the penal colony on Titan for attempting to stop democratic reform in Mega-City One. Driven to insanity and aching for revenge on Judge Dredd, whom he blames for his downfall, Grice and an army of renegade prisoners have taken control and are preparing to unleash hell on the 'Big Meg' with the help of a deadly virus!

MORNING GLORIES #20 (MR)
(W) Nick Spencer (A) Joe Eisma (CA) Rodin Esquejo
Sister knows best.

PUNK ROCK JESUS #1 (OF 6) (MR) 
(W/A/CA) Sean Murphy. The newest reality show hit has the unlikeliest celebrity of all in this new black and white miniseries from writer/artist Sean Murphy (JOE THE BARBARIAN, Off Road)!  J2, the TV series starring a clone of Jesus Christ, causes chaos across a near-future United States in PUNK ROCK JESUS, a new miniseries written and drawn by Sean Murphy, the acclaimed illustrator of JOE THE BARBARIAN and AMERICAN VAMPIRE: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. J2 causes outrage and adulation. Religious zealots either love or hate the show, angry politicians worry about its influence on the nation, and members of the scientific community fear the implications of cloning a human being at all - let alone the Son of God. And what effect will this all have on Gwen, the young woman who is selected, through an American Idol-style process, to be the mother of the new Messiah? All this leads to the hiring of Thomas McKael, the clone's bodyguard and a former IRA operative with a turbulent past who must protect the new Messiah - a baby who captivates the world, but grows up to become an angry teenager.

REVIVAL #1 CVR A FRISON 
(W) Tim Seeley (A) Mike Norton (CA) Jenny Frison
For one day in rural central Wisconsin, the dead came back to life. Now it's up to Officer Dana Cypress to deal with the media scrutiny, religious zealots, and government quarantine that has come with them. In a town where the living have to learn to deal with those who are supposed to be dead,  Officer Cypress must solve a brutal murder, and everyone, alive or undead, is a suspect. A beautiful 'farm noir' that puts a new twist on the zombie genre, created by NYT Bestselling author TIM SEELEY and  acclaimed artist MIKE NORTON.

SECRET SERVICE #3 (OF 7) (MR)
(W) Mark Millar (A/CA) Dave Gibbons
It's James Bond meets My Fair Lady as the world's greatest spy trains his troubled nephew to leave his pathetic life behind and join the elite ranks of the British Secret Service. This issue features Jake's uncle in a must-be-seen-to-be-believed action spectacle as he seeks to uncover the mystery behind actor Mark Hamill's kidnapping and how it links to a dark secret from inside Mount Everest. At the same time, Jake is undergoing a training program like you've never seen before. It's a dream come true for writer Mark Millar as he teams with Watchmen legend Dave Gibbons for the comic they conceived with Kick-Ass and X-Men First Class director Matthew Vaughn. DO NOT MISS!!

UNWRITTEN #39 (MR)
(W) Mike Carey (A) Peter Gross (CA) Yuko Shimizu
In 'The Wound,' part 3, Richie the vampire brings on the bad news, and Tom Taylor hits Brisbane - just as detective Didge Patterson's murder investigation blows up in her face. To get to her prime suspect, she'll have to walk through guns, thugs, unicorns, and something very, very nasty that Danny discovers in a box.

WALKING DEAD #100 (MR)
(W) Robert Kirkman (A) Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn (CA) Frank Quitely
'SOMETHING TO FEAR' CONTINUES! This extra-sized chapter contains one of the darkest moments in Rick Grimes' life, and one of the most violent and brutal things to happen within the pages of this series.  100 issues later, this series remains just as relentless as the debut issue.  Do not miss the monumental 100th issue of THE WALKING DEAD!
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Los cómics del mes pasado han sido asombrosos. The Walking Dead # 100 incluyó la violenta muerte de uno de los más importantes y más queridos personajes de la saga, un grandioso número que se ha convertido rápidamente en el cómic más vendido de los últimos cuatro años, venciendo así a Marvel y DC. Revival # 1, Punk Rock Jesus # 1 y Hero Worship # 1 estuvieron estupendos, y honestamente creo que todos merecen una reseña (veamos si me alcanza el tiempo para escribir todo). Los títulos de Millar continúan siendo muy buenos. Y el tomo recopilatorio de Judge Dredd estuvo extraordinario (tan bueno como las historias clásicas de Dredd). Pero si tuviera que elegir lo mejor del mes sería Concrete de Paul Chadwick, estuvo excelente. Y sin más preámbulos, aquí están los cómics de julio:

BOYS #68 (MR)
El próximo mal día. Al comparar notas, ellos se dan cuenta que las cosas están lejos de ser lo que deberían ser. Y las fatalidades siguen.

CONCRETE THREE UNEASY PIECES ONE SHOT
Tres nuevas aventuras del más humano de los héroes. Concrete interviene en un robo, investiga un posible avistamiento de los extraterrestres que lo convirtieron en roca y encuentra nuevas alternativas.  

HERO WORSHIP #1 (OF 6)
ZENITH es un héroe indestructible y una celebridad que miles de fans idolatran. Legiones de seguidores intentan especular donde podrían echar un vistazo a este mesías moderno. ¿Qué pasa cuando el resultado de esta peligrosa obsesión es que un fan obtenga súper-poderes?

HIT-GIRL #2 (OF 5) (MR)
¿Atravesar vidrios sin sufrir heridas? Juego de niños. ¿Saltar en carros en movimiento? Fácil. KICK-ASS está en clases con HIT-GIRL, su mentora. Y a cambio él le enseñará cómo sobrevivir en la escuela primaria.

JUDGE DREDD INFERNO GN (C: 1-1-2)
Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Carlos Ezquerra. Portada Brian Bolland.

MORNING GLORIES #20 (MR)
Las hermanas lo saben todo.

my drawing / mi dibujo

PUNK ROCK JESUS #1 (OF 6) (MR)
J2 es un clon de Jesús, y la estrella de una serie de televisión. Los fanáticos religiosos odian o aman el show, los políticos se preocupan por la influencia del programa en la población y la comunidad científica se preocupa por la clonación de humanos, más aún cuando se trata en teoría del hijo de dios. ¿Y qué sucederá con la mujer que es seleccionada para ser la madre de J2? ¿Qué pasará con J2 al convertirse en un adolescente odiado por todos?

REVIVAL #1 CVR A FRISON
Durante un día, en el Wisconsin rural, los muertos regresaron a la vida. Ahora les toca lidiar con el escrutinio de los medios, los fanáticos religiosos y la cuarentena decretada por el gobierno. En un pueblo en el que los vivos deben acostumbrarse a ver a aquellos que deberían estar muertos, un brutal asesinato debe resolverse. Vivos o no-muertos, todos son sospechosos.

SECRET SERVICE #3 (OF 7) (MR)
El mejor espía del mundo entrena a su sobrino para que abandone su patética vida y se una a las tropas de élite del Servicio Secreto Británico. ¿Y cuál es el misterio detrás del secuestro del actor MARK HAMILL?

UNWRITTEN #39 (MR)
El vampiro trae malas noticias, y Tom Taylor viaja a Brisbane. Para alcanzar al sospechoso deberá enfrentarse a maleantes, unicornios, armas, y algo realmente peligroso que Danny descubrirá en una caja.

WALKING DEAD #100 (MR)
Este es uno de los momentos más oscuros en la vida de Rick.

Heterónimos - Elisabeth Osés (Dédalo)

WHEN 2000AD

WAS    THE FUTURE

BY       GARTH ENNIS

(BLEEDINGCOOL.COM)

Michele del Campo

This seems like as good a time as any to acknowledge a rather large debt. A creative one, to be precise. To what you might call a kind of great-great-grandfather once removed, whose bastard descendants include Preacher, Hitman, The Boys, Wormwood, The Pro, Kev, Barracuda, Dicks and more; whose barebones characterization, dark humour and intense action were and always will be a massive influence on my own work; whose writers, artists and editors created the greatest comic ever.

It cost 7p Earth money, it was printed on recycled bog roll, and it made Friday afternoons that little bit better: it was 2000AD, and in those first ten years- before they got desperate and started employing people like me- it was like lightning in a bottle. A glance at the roster of talent involved is enough to take the breath away, and it should be remembered that a whole generation of readers was able to pick up almost any given issue and see a dozen of these guys at their very best.

So thank you: Pat Mills, John Wagner, Gerry Finley-Day, Alan Grant, Alan Moore, Tom Tully, Alan Hebden, Steve MacManus, Kelvin Gosnell, Nick Landau, Robin Smith, Simon Geller, Richard Burton, Doug Church, Tom Frame, Carlos Ezquerra, Ramon Sola, Jesus Blasco, Massimo Belardinelli, Dave Gibbons, Mike McMahon, Kevin O’Neill, Ian Gibson, John Cooper, Brian Bolland, Brett Ewins, Brendan McCarthy, Garry Leach, Ron Smith, Colin Wilson, Steve Dillon, Kim Raymond, Cam Kennedy, John Higgins, Barry Kitson, Mike Dorey, Carlos Pino, Jim Watson, Alan Davis, Jesus Redondo, Jose Ortiz, Ian Kennedy, Eric Bradbury, Mike White, Bryan Talbot, Ron Turner, Jim Baikie, Angie Mills, Glenn Fabry, David Pugh, Mike Collins and many more.

Michele del Campo

Thank you for two Tyrannosaurs fighting to the death on the rim of a volcano; Bofors gunners shooting it out with UFOs; Old One Eye’s last and greatest kill; the only Bear on the CIA death list; “Quack-quack, Volg!”; the truly unstoppable Artie Gruber; Dan Dare at the battle of Jupiter; Conclusion: MACH One terminated. Now closing down transmission; the Space Fort’s final battle with the Starslayer Empire; I came into the apartment blasting. I’ve been at this game for forty years and there’s one thing I’ve learned- never give a robot an even break; “Goodbye, Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein. Little Mo and I will always remember you”; Blackhawk and his comrades at the Event Horizon; “When you get old, you start gettin’ strange notions, like maybe people aren’t so bad. Maybe if we treat ‘em with kindness, the good in them will come out. I guess that’s when it’s time to quit”; I was there the day the heavens turned to hell; an ammo belt of silver Spandau bullets; the madness that was Meltdown Man; “Boys, you’re making a big mistake. I’m the one you should be afraid of. And here’s why”; “Perhaps we could all do with a little more of what Dredd’s got”.

Thank you, also, for the night the G.I.s died; the Dark Judges on the loose in Billy Carter Block; “Is that what people are? Are we robots too?”; “Vape, baby, vape!”; And there was great celebration which went on all night… and the night went on forever; “An’ the name’s Thompson–Harry Thompson!”; Carefully–oh, so carefully–creeps the Starborn Thing; “And some of them… some of them are stars”; Johnny and Wulf fighting dead men in an alien churchyard; “There’s a moral here somewhere, Grobbendonk”; “Grim”; Red Planet Blues; “Welcome to the wound-feast!”; “But the third word is probably oranges”; “I know many things, Old Red-Eyes”; For you are a Judge. And it is your duty; “Wake up, guys…we’re home,”; “Fancy that for dinner, George?”; The city screaming Chopper’s name; “Been nice knowin’ ya, good buddies. Guess this is it. Truck tucker, y’hear?”; Halo Jones eating breakfast in the ruins; And let the Third Law be that anyone says different’s a dead man; “Because I hate you.”

And, of course: “This Cursed Earth will not break me! I am The Law! I am Dredd–JUDGE DREDD!”

my drawing / mi dibujo

Finally, there’s the best bit of all, to me the greatest moment in comics history: part 22 of The Apocalypse War. Having fought a losing battle against the invaders, seen half of Mega-City One destroyed, massacred collaborators and euthanised the critically wounded, Dredd has led an elite team of Judges into an East-Meg missile silo. Following one of the best action sequences I’ve ever read in a comic, the Judges find themselves unable to gain access to the operations room, until Dredd simply bangs on the door with his pistol and shoots the curious halfwit who opens it point-blank. Our boys storm the ops room and seal the door. Anderson, the telepath (and only volunteer in the Apocalypse Squad- no peacenik cosmic wandering in those days) pulls the launch codes out of the silo commander’s mind. The nukes are targeted on East-Meg One. “Please, Dredd”, begs the commander, “There are half a billion people in my city–half a billion human beings! You can’t just wipe them out with the push of a button!” And Dredd doesn’t hesitate, not even for a second.

“Can’t I?”

He can and he does. I still think about that today; what it meant about the character, and about the comic I was reading (aged 12). Even now I don’t know if Dredd was right or if he was wrong. It was the only way to win, to avoid the further slaughter and enslavement of his own people–but it was genocide. It was moral courage on an almost unimaginable level–but it was appalling. In the end, it was a dilemma not unlike those faced by a number of good and bad men in our own history, and if I had to sum it up in one line, I’d say this: what are you prepared to do when there isn’t any easy way out?

And that, I think, is why I’ve never been able to care about Batman, or Wolverine, or Iron Man… or any of them, really. Not because of what characters like that would or wouldn’t do, but because their publishers would never have the courage to have them written into such a situation.

A belated–but sincere–Happy Thirty-Second Birthday to the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic.

–Garth Ennis
 New York City, June 2009
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Nana de la Fuente

“La buena vida” se estrenó este lunes. Y recién ahora descubro lo que significa escribir guiones para un programa que se transmite de lunes a viernes. Si no fuera por el invalorable apoyo de Mariana Silva y Natalia Parodi, escribir cinco guiones a la semana sería prácticamente imposible. 

Aun así, he estado un poco más ocupado de lo normal. Y eso ha hecho que me pierda muchas muestras de arte. De todos modos, el día miércoles asistí a la inauguración de “Madera In-Finita” de Nana de la Fuente en la Galería Yvonne Sanguineti. Con una interesante selección de esculturas, la artista nos sorprende nuevamente. 

Y el día de ayer aproveché para darme una vueltita por Dédalo, se inauguraba “Heterónimos” de Elisabeth Osés, a quien saludé oportunamente; la muestra se compone de diversas piezas en cerámica con provocadores e ingeniosos títulos (algunos inspirados en la obra literaria de Fernando Pessoa, Arthur Rimbaud o Alejandra Pizarnik), cada pieza tiene una personalidad muy marcada y original, realmente quedé encantado. Saludé a Eduardo Lores y a María Elena Fernández, y les conté que estaba escribiendo guiones para Plus TV.

Después de un rato, me encontré con Rhony Alhalel e Ilse Rehder, que venían de otra muestra. Interesado y curioso, caminé una cuadra hasta la Galería Wu Ediciones, donde se inauguraba la muestra que ellos ya habían visitado: “Dentro y más allá de la fotografía” una colectiva de fotógrafos latinoamericanos con imágenes muy sugerentes. Habría que destacar los trabajos de Trinidad Carrillo, que en más de una ocasión juega con el desnudo infantil pero sin intención de escandalizar. En Wu me quedé conversando muy entretenidamente con Hugo Alegría, quien va a presentar una muestra en el Centro Colich en setiembre. 

Penelope Montagnii - Paz Centenario (Barranco)

"A Flight of Angels" (Vertigo)

“What is evil? True evil? What quality is it in another human being that makes us shrink from them in terror? Not, surely, simply the capacity for violence. A killer’s murderous blow, the angry stamp of a boot, a madman’s rage – vicious, perhaps, but truly evil? Most of us would say no. These are acts motivated by passion, and passion is something we understand, something we are all capable of. No, what chills us to the marrow – a thing so alien that it seems a perversion of all that is human – is violence without passion. The killer who destroys his prey with emotionless efficiency. Cold and calculating, with him there is no reasoning, and between us there can be no meeting point. We know he exists. We call him monster, and we pray that his merciless gaze never falls upon us”. John Wagner. From 2000AD prog 1570.

I loved Wagner’s introduction for this new Judge Dredd story, and something motivated me to write what could be considered one of my first scripts (well, sort of).

Top 10: Yellow Kid & Rocketeer homages 

DAN:

Dan’s reflection in the mirror seemed to sprawl all over the clean surface. Was he merely a vagrant kid as his mother seemed to suggest? Or something else entirely? He went downstairs. TV was on and he overheard the news: a killer slashing certain parts of their victim's body; an MO repeating itself; there were so many of this psychotic cutthroats populating the news lately. Was it not clear for him, was it not clear for him at all, that things were far more unusual than they used to be? This wasn’t a normal day.

This time, he would be prepared in case of another skirmish with Bob should come to pass: Bob, the boastful bully. As Dan grabs his backpack, he snoozes, and milk jets out of his nose. Ah, to be an American stripling in the 21st century. Oft he felt defenseless. If only he were a might-thewed warrior. If only Bob and the other idiots would stop teasing him at school. If only.

(…to be continued)

Oh, and before I start with my new review, I thought it'd be funny to show you a couple of references / homages from Top 10: The Forty-Niners.

Top 10: Popeye the Sailor Man, Captain Haddock & Corto Maltés homages

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Top 10: Clark Kent & Jor-El homages 

Ayer jueves hubo un sinnúmero de actividades en Barranco, además de la muestra Desenfranquiciados en Edith Sachs, la colectiva de Galería Wu Ediciones y la inauguración de Don Bosco, la recientemente restaurada casona barranquina, hubo un evento que eclipsó a todos los demás: la inauguración simultánea de cuatro establecimientos de lujo, recién construidos como parte del proyecto de Paz Centenario. 

Entre ellos están Gourmet Market, con una amplia cava de vinos e insumos gourmet; y diversas casas especializadas en exclusivos productos de diseño como Atelier, Casa Callpa y Kalyca.

No obstante, tal vez lo mejor de esta fiesta de lujo fue Penélope Montagnii, que reúne prestigiosas firmas de nuestro medio como Andrea Llosa, Alberto Patiño Núñez, Brix, Fito Espinoza, MDesign, Butzke, Black & Blum y Vaçide Erda Zimic. 

En Penélope puede encontrarse una amplia gama de productos para el hogar, y todas son creaciones únicas, originales, inimitables, los precios van desde 100 soles para un sujeta-puertas, hasta 700 soles por una silla, o 4200 soles por un sofá con tapiz bordado a mano. Lo importante es que todo lo que se exhibe en estas tiendas obedece a los más altos estándares de la estética y la creatividad.

Además de encontrarme con el editor de Art Motiv, José Medina, y Mariloli de Koechlin, estuve buena parte de la noche conversando con Hugo Alegría, y también hablé con algunos amigos de mi colegio como Juan Diego Capurro. 

Ante las interminables bandejas de champagne, que duraron desde las siete hasta las diez de la noche, hubo un momento en que no me quedó más opción que decir ‘no gracias’, me pasó lo mismo con las más de quince variedades de bocadillos gourmet, salados y dulces, que siguieron saliendo hasta el final del evento. 

my drawing / mi dibujo

Los lectores habituales del blog recordarán que rara vez me doy por saciado, pero en esta ocasión llegó un punto en que simplemente tuve que sentarme y rechazar las sugerencias de los mozos que se seguían acercando para ofrecerme más y más cosas.


Con un auspicioso comienzo, estoy seguro que estos locales progresarán y formarán parte de la ya variada oferta barranquina. Además, próximamente se inaugurarán en este mismo espacio nuevas tiendas, que completarán una propuesta en la que priman la sofisticación y el buen gusto. Salud por ello. 

Mother's Day / Día de la madre

2000 AD has been reprinted many times, in different editions and in different decades. Several companies had separate titles such as Strontium Dog, Sam Slade or Judge Dredd. However, sometimes it was really hard to find a particular story, and this gets even worse if we are not talking about well-established characters like Dredd. I always remember a particular story about England in some near future, where most humans die of a mysterious disease, and for some inexplicable reasons a few kids survive, scattered around the island. The protagonist of the story was a kid who wanders around the empty streets of his city, he watches how cars get rusted, how plants start invading avenues and bridges, how bodies decompose until they are clean skeletons and so on. In some moment he finds an elephant that was released from the zoo and he also finds another boy, a black boy if my memory isn’t all screwed up. Anyway, I remember that when I was a kid I used to read a lot of 2000 AD comics and related publications. For years I thought this story was originally published in 2000 AD. After all, it was located in England and had a very British tone. Turns out it was another UK publication: Eagle from late 70s, early 80s. And now that it’s so easy to buy comic books online, those particular Eagle issues are nowhere to be found. Isn’t life unfair?

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¿Qué extraños lazos nos unen con las personas que trabajan para nosotros? O acaso para algunos, quizá la mayoría, esos lazos simplemente no existen. Claro que ese no era mi caso. Será que habían pasado tantos años en los que había terminado por acostumbrarme a la presencia de la señora Juana, esa mujer increíble que venía de Chincha y que cocinaba maravillosamente. O será que valoraba enormemente su labor y su buen humor (algo increíble si se tiene en cuenta que las actividades domésticas difícilmente resultan agradables). Escucharla silbando mientras cocinaba, por ejemplo, era algo que siempre me relajaba. Aprendí pronto a salir en su defensa. Para muchos resulta fácil criticar el trabajo de las empleadas, y es fácil porque nunca han estado allí, desempeñando una labor subalterna, manual, netamente física. Juana era el tipo de persona que no faltaba nunca, que estaba siempre alegre, que daba la sensación de encontrar algo agradable incluso en un trabajo que muchos detestarían. Hace casi un año nos dejó bastante apresuradamente. Intuyendo que ya no le quedaba mucho tiempo, partió para Chincha, a reencontrarse con su familia, con la promesa de regresar. Nos veríamos de nuevo un lunes, excepto que ya nunca más nos vimos.

Ahora que casi se cumple un año de su muerte, se me vino a la cabeza el recuerdo de uno de esos días en los que un amigo no pudo venir a almorzar, y cómo Juana y yo terminamos comiéndonos íntegro un riquísimo postre de maracuyá que estaba especialmente reservado para ese almuerzo. Cuando estuve en el museo Larco Herrera me pedí un postre bastante parecido... y mientras lo comía, no pude dejar de pensar en Juana. Torpemente, entonces, entre cucharadas dulces y pausadas, me estaba despidiendo de esa mujer extraordinaria, de esa segunda madre, que nos acompañó por tanto tiempo, y que de un momento a otro dejó de formar parte de nuestras vidas.