LIFE OF CHE

A graphic biography of the famed revolutionary originally published in 1969 but unavailable in English until now.

Written by Argentine comics maestro Oesterheld and illustrated by frequent collaborator Alberto Breccia and his son, Enrique, this slim, experimental bio explores and challenges the comics form. Oesterheld’s lyrical text barrels through Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s life (1928-1967) like a prose poem, often drifting midthought from historical facts to Guevara’s internal monologue. Recounting skirmishes with Batista in Cuba, one frame reads: “Eighty-two splashing ashore, half-blind. But Fidel is shouting ‘To the mountain! We’re already in Cuba and we will be victorious!’ What are you going to win, dreamer. Nothing to eat and Batista’s 30,000 soldiers and the Yankees giving him everything, but here we are, staying still is worse, let’s go.” Intentionally disorienting, the biography alternates between two threads, exclusively drawn by one Breccia. One follows Guevara’s life from his student years to the Bay of Pigs and beyond, while the second recounts his final weeks in the jungles of Bolivia. Alberto’s art is mischievous. Using collage, splattery ink, and even finger-painting, he creates rapturous scenes that brim with kinetic energy and impressive technical prowess. His son draws like he’s composing woodcuts, offering chiaroscuro scenes laden with heavy shadow. If occasionally muddled, the narrative is still inspired, accentuated by essays that contextualize the history. After publication in 1969, the book was met with intense government opposition. In 1973, the publisher’s office was ransacked and materials were destroyed, including the comic’s original artwork, which made reprinting impossible. A Spanish edition emerged in 1987, which restored the book from a surviving copy of the Argentine edition, and this is the first English version. This lore transforms the book from a mere comic to something that feels like a World War II–era samizdat, a legendary underground manuscript that we’re lucky to have available.

A mesmerizing historical comic with a storied past.