Argentine Adventure Historieta (Oesterheld–Breccia)

• Draw the story pages in black ink, with at most one flat grey tint that shows no dots, and let solid black do the work of colour: set faces and rooms against black grounds, cut them with hard light from one side, and make night, snow and shadow the weather of the page, as Breccia's claroscuro does in Mort Cinder. El Eternauta's first instalment in Hora Cero is pure black and white; Pratt's Ernie Pike in the same issue adds a flat grey.
• Ink with a brush and an economy of line, putting down only the lines and patches of black that build the panel, as Ignacio Fontes said of Pratt; hatch a face with the pen where the light falls and leave the rest to the black mass.
• Let the drawing turn expressionist as the story darkens: weathered, distorted faces, fragmentary backgrounds and, in Breccia's manner, white scraped out of a prepared black ground with razor blades, monotype prints, finger and hand prints and, later, collage.
• Write the serial like a novel and run it for months in weekly or monthly instalments, three pages a week in El Eternauta's case: give each character complex motives, make the villain a human being as well, and put a group of ordinary people at the centre in places the readers know, as El Eternauta does with Juan Salvo, the physics teacher Favalli and the lathe worker Franco in Vicente López, or Ernie Pike with unknown soldiers rather than battles.
• Hand-letter captions and balloons in capitals, set a caption straight into the white of the panel or in a ruled box, open its first sentence with an enlarged initial and pick out names in bold capitals. Open a serial's first page with a title panel in the top left: a hand-drawn logo (El Eternauta's tall condensed capitals on a black starfield, the slanted brush lettering of Ernie Pike and Randall), a boxed episode title or lettered straplines, and the credits for script (Guión) and drawings (Dibujos).
• In the weeklies of the 1950s, print on an oblong page, three tiers to the landscape page, each of two to six ruled panels of varying width, as Hora Cero Suplemento Semanal (27 × 20 cm) does, and keep colour for the outside: heavy masthead capitals and flat inks on the cover, such as Hora Cero's white title reversed out of a black block on orange, or Misterix's yellow, black-outlined capitals on a red block with the episode starting in panels beside and under the masthead, as on Misterix no. 345.

Buenos Aires. Editorial Abril launched Misterix as a magazine of its own in 1948, at first with Italian material and then with Argentine authors, and with Surameris brought Hugo Pratt (in Buenos Aires from 1949) and other Italian artists over. Héctor Germán Oesterheld wrote Bull Rockett (1952) and Sargento Kirk, with Pratt, for it, then with his brother Jorge founded Editorial Frontera, whose Frontera and Hora Cero appeared in 1957; the weekly Hora Cero Suplemento Semanal ran from 4 September 1957 to 18 November 1959 (116 issues). Alberto Breccia's Mort Cinder ran in Misterix (1962–1964); Ediciones Récord's Skorpio (1974–January 1996) and Ediciones de la Urraca's Fierro (September 1984–December 1992, 100 issues) carried the line on.

1. Wikipedia (es): 'Historieta en Argentina' (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historieta_en_Argentina: Editorial Abril launched Misterix as its own magazine in 1948, first with Italian and then Argentine material; Editorial Frontera's Frontera and Hora Cero, monthly, 1957, and Hora Cero Suplemento Semanal from 4 September 1957; Sargento Kirk with Pratt (1953), Mort Cinder (1962–1964), Che (1968), the 1969 El Eternauta in Gente; the 'expresionismo' brought in by Breccia, Solano López, Pratt, Haupt and Trigo, which the article says was already present in Krazy Kat, The Spirit and Dick Tracy, adding that these traits alone were not a novelty ('Pero estos rasgos no componen un estilo, una novedad'); what was new was joining them to 'narraciones novelísticas' with 'motivaciones psicológicas complejas'; the separate humour line of Patoruzú (from 1928), Divito's Rico Tipo (1944), Hortensia (Córdoba, 1972) and Quino's Mafalda (1964–1973); Skorpio, Ediciones Récord, 1974 to January 1996, directed by Alfredo Scutti; Fierro, Ediciones de la Urraca, September 1984 to December 1992, 100 issues; Oesterheld abducted 27 April 1977. Its golden-age dates cite Oscar Masotta, La historieta en el mundo moderno, 1970)
2. Wikipedia (en): 'El Eternauta' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Eternauta: Oesterheld and Solano López, Hora Cero from 4 September 1957 to 1959; the deadly snowfall on Buenos Aires and Vicente López; the 1969 reboot with Breccia in Gente from 29 May 1969, experimental, cancelled and rushed to an end; El Eternauta II in Skorpio from December 1975, its plot 'in line with the political agenda of Montoneros'; the 2010 'Nestornauta' advertisement) and Wikipedia (es): 'El Eternauta' (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Eternauta: Favalli 'profesor de Física de gran erudición e ingenio', Franco 'un obrero tornero de gran valentía', Juan Salvo who becomes the Eternauta; no. 1, 4 September 1957, to no. 106, 'Tres páginas semanales'; El Eternauta II published in Skorpio in 1976 and set 'en un futuro lejano y posapocalíptico', written 'desde la clandestinidad' under 'la dictadura que tomó el poder en 1976'; Solano López's 'estética verista')
3. Wikipedia (es): 'Héctor Germán Oesterheld' (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9ctor_Germ%C3%A1n_Oesterheld: Bull Rockett in Misterix no. 176, 1952, drawn by Paul Campani; Sargento Kirk with Pratt; Editorial Frontera founded with his brother Jorge in 1955; Ernie Pike, 1957, about 'soldados generalmente desconocidos'; Ticonderoga; Sherlock Time; Vida del Che, 1968, seized and destroyed by the censors; abducted 27 April 1977 in La Plata) and Wikipedia (en): 'Héctor Germán Oesterheld' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9ctor_Germ%C3%A1n_Oesterheld: El Eternauta ran over 106 weekly episodes; Editorial Frontera's Hora Cero Semanal, Hora Cero Mensual and Frontera Mensual; Beatriz abducted 19 June 1976 and her body handed to her mother, Diana abducted 7 August 1976 and Marina 27 November 1976, their bodies never recovered, Estela killed in a shoot-out in Longchamps on 13 December 1977 and her body never found). The spelling 'Bull Rockett' is also the one printed in Hora Cero Semanal no. 1
4. Wikipedia (es): 'Mort Cinder' (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mort_Cinder: Misterix no. 718, 17 August 1962, to no. 798, 28 February 1964; 'el consistente y minucioso dibujo en claroscuro que usa Breccia'; an evolution towards expressionism). Wikipedia (en): 'Alberto Breccia' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Breccia) gives the start as 26 July 1962, no. 714, and Lambiek 17 August 1962; the draft gives only the years
5. Wikipedia (es): 'Alberto Breccia' (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Breccia: Sherlock Time, 1958–1959, in Hora Cero Extra and Hora Cero Semanal; Mort Cinder in Misterix; Los mitos de Cthulhu, 1973, more expressionist; Perramus, 1983, in Fierro, Amnesty prize 1989; Enrique Lipszyc on his brush line, 'juega con el colorido y la textura de la línea'; José Muñoz as his pupil) and Wikipedia (en): 'Alberto Breccia' (collage, acrylic and watercolour in Chi ha paura delle fiabe?, 1979–1981; Perramus a pamphlet against the dictatorship)
6. Lambiek Comiclopedia, 'Alberto Breccia' (https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/breccia.htm: 15 April 1919 – 10 November 1993; Mort Cinder launched 17 August 1962; the 1969 El Eternauta in Gente; Perramus with Juan Sasturain, 1984; his black-and-white artwork; sample images of Mort Cinder, Sherlock Time, the 1969 Eternauta, Che and Perramus)
7. Ron Tiner, 'Comic Creator Spotlight: The Life and Work of Alberto Breccia – Part Two', downthetubes.net, 19 July 2016 (https://downthetubes.net/comic-creator-spotlight-the-life-and-work-of-alberto-breccia-part-two-by-ron-tiner/: Sherlock Time's 'increasingly moody and expressionist illustrations'; Mort Cinder 'done using razor blades to carve out areas of white from a prepared black surface', with brush drawing, finger- and hand-prints and monotype in some frames; the 1969 El Eternauta in 'an even more diverse range of experimental graphic techniques')
8. Wikipedia (es): 'Hugo Pratt' (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Pratt: in Buenos Aires from 1949 for Editorial Abril; Sargento Kirk 1952, Ticonderoga 1957–1958, Ernie Pike 1957–1959; taught with Breccia at the Escuela Panamericana de Arte; Ignacio Fontes on the Caniff influence and on panels with 'las líneas y manchas fundamentales'; Lipszyc on his 'espontáneo, pesado y vigoroso' brush line)
9. Wikipedia (es): 'Francisco Solano López (historietista)' (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Solano_L%C3%B3pez_(historietista): 1928–2011; El Eternauta from 4 September 1957 to issue 106, with 'un tono más realista'; El Eternauta II in Skorpio, 1976; emigrated to Spain in 1977; Evaristo with Carlos Sampayo in Fierro, 1984–1986)
10. Archivo Histórico de Revistas Argentinas (AHIRA), 'Hora Cero' (https://ahira.com.ar/revistas/hora-cero-suplemento-semanal/: Editorial Frontera, directed by Oesterheld; 4 September 1957 – 18 November 1959, 116 issues, 27 × 20 cm; 'historietas para mayores de 14 años'; Ernie Pike by Pratt, Sherlock Time by Breccia, Randall the Killer by Arturo Pérez del Castillo, El Eternauta by Solano López) and Alex Leibovich, 'La historia de Hora Cero, la revista que dio origen a El Eternauta', Clarín Zonales, 10 April 2024, archived by AHIRA (https://ahira.com.ar/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Leibovich-La-historia-de-Hora-Cero-la-revista-que-dio-origen-a-El-Eternauta.pdf: the Día de la Historieta on 4 September, by law since 2009; Andrés Accorsi on Oesterheld's villain as 'un ser humano igual que el héroe'; Soledad Quereilhac on a cross-class alliance (her examples miscast Favalli, a physics teacher per Spanish Wikipedia, and name a worker Sosa who is Franco in the strip); a heroism 'no individual, sino colectivo')
11. Wikipedia (es): 'Fierro (revista)' (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fierro_(revista): 'Historietas para sobrevivientes', September 1984 – December 1992, 100 issues, Ediciones de la Urraca; Perramus; Solano López's Evaristo with Sampayo; a balance of 'experimentación gráfica y narrativa') and 'Skorpio (revista)' (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skorpio_(revista): Ediciones Récord, first issue 1974, last January 1996, 235 issues, directed by Alfredo Scutti; El Eternauta II)
12. AHIRA's full scan of Hora Cero Suplemento Semanal no. 1, 4 September 1957 (https://ahira.com.ar/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Hora-Cero-001.pdf), examined page by page: 16 oblong pages (744 × 535 pt, landscape); an orange cover with HORA CERO in white heavy sans capitals reversed out of a black block, a soldier drawn in black brush and a credit block 'ARGUMENTOS: H. G. OESTERHELD / DIBUJOS: H. PRATT • SOLANO LOPEZ • C. ROUME • A. DEL CASTILLO'; Ernie Pike 'Desencuentro' (pp. 2–6), El Eternauta (pp. 7–9) and Randall 'The Killer' 'Muerte y venganza' (pp. 10–15), each interior page in three tiers of two to six ruled panels of varying width, only Randall's title panel spanning two tiers; each serial's first page opens with a title panel at top left and 'Guión' and 'Dibujos' credits; captions in capitals, a sentence's first letter enlarged and names in bold. Measured on six interior pages: 56–72% of the page white and 15–34% solid black; the El Eternauta pages have almost no mid-grey (2%), while Pratt's Ernie Pike and del Castillo's Randall carry flat grey tints (10–13% of the page, about 140 on a 0–255 scale, no dots visible in the 150 ppi scan). The back page lists 'Bull Rockett' among Oesterheld's serials
13. Images examined: es.wikipedia File:El Eternauta - logo.jpg (the first page of El Eternauta in Hora Cero Suplemento Semanal no. 1, 4 September 1957), File:Oesterheld hora cero.jpg (Oesterheld holding an orange Hora Cero cover); en.wikipedia File:Mort Cinder.jpg (Breccia's Ezra Winston against black), File:Pratt-Misterix345-kirk.jpg (the oblong cover of Misterix no. 345, 394 × 253 px: yellow, black-outlined MISTERIX on a red block, about #ef332b and #f6ef49 in the file, a boxed title, and the Kirk episode in flat-colour panels with pale yellow and pink caption boxes), File:Ernie Pike.jpg (Pratt's brush panel); Lambiek's Mort Cinder sample (two tiers of ruled panels, two over three, captions in capitals). No full Mort Cinder page was available, so the page format of Misterix in 1962–1964 and of Skorpio and Fierro is not claimed; the oblong format and the three tiers are stated only for Hora Cero Suplemento Semanal and Misterix no. 345

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