History ComicBook / ElEternauta

* ApologeticAttacker: [[spoiler: The ''Manos'' ("Hands") race are enslaved via a "terror gland" that secretes venom whenever they feel fear. This way they cannot even think of rebellion, since just thinking of it would cause them fear, ending their lives. However, once the gland has been activated, they are finally "freed" (at least for a few minutes until they die) and usually they regret bitterly their evil doings.]]

* ArtEvolution: Favalli starts as a fit - if quite bulky - character, only to become fatter as the story advances. His increased belly even becomes relevant to a minor plot point.
* AuthorAvatar: The Eternaut tells his story to Oesterheld after materializing in his studio.

* BigCreepyCrawlies: The "cascarudos" (beetles) are almost ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, only the size of an adult human, deadlier, and [[spoiler: mind controlled]].

* DirectLineToTheAuthor: At the end of the first part, the AuthorAvatar decides to turn the Eternaut's story into a comic to warn the world about that BadFuture.
* DittoAliens: All the ''Manos'' look alike.
* [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]]: [[spoiler: The ''Ellos'' (literally "Them") are never to be seen, but it is quite probable they qualify for this. The closest description we have of them is being "The Cosmic Hatred".]]
** [[spoiler: We do get to see their SUITS at the end of the part 2 where it looks like a cloud-smoke-thing at best. Their real bodies however are yet to be seen.]]
*** [[spoiler: Also, there is a positive example of this trope in part 2 for the "Them-Friend" that transported Salvo, his family and the author to the year 2100 to combat the other Them in their critical moment on After the End Earth.]]
* EliteMooks: The Manos are this, as they are intelligent, skillful slave opponents.

* GiantMook: partially straight; the Gurbos are giant, MadeOfIndestructium mooks, but they lack any intelligence of their own, and are controlled by the Manos. But they are really, ''really'' dangerous, maybe qualified as Elite Mooks.
* GivingRadioToTheRomans: or, in this case forges, steam machines, primitive pistols, muskets and cannons to the Cave People (which are actually [[AfterTheEnd in the future]], but have been enslaved and kept in the stone age).

* InsectoidAliens: The ''Cascarudos'', of course.
* KillItWithFire: The "Gurbos", giant creatures with hides MadeOfIndestructium, can be killed with the BFG heatrays the aliens have. In the Second Part, a good ol' flamethrower is not enough to kill them, but you can hope it will keep them at bay.

* RubberForeheadAliens: The ''Manos'', being completely humanoid except that they have enormous hands with dozens of fingers... and large foreheads.

* StayInTheKitchen: The role of Elena, Juan Salvo's wife and the only significant woman in the story, is pretty much just to prepare food for the male protagonists and take care of her and Juan's daughter, Marta. When the male characters join a group of surviving soldiers, no one seems to even consider Elena and Marta could leave the house with them, even though the 12-year old Pablo is apparently mature enough to do so. There doesn't seem to be any other women in the group of civilians who've joined the soldiers, which suggests other female survivors were left in their homes as well.
* TagalongKid: Pablo in the first part.

* TheLoad: Mosca the historian makes no attempt at making himself useful, concerned only with writing everything down for posterity. No wonder he becomes the ButtMonkey on a couple occasions.
* TheProfessor: Favalli.

* El Eternauta, Second Part: (1976) By Oesterheld and Solano López. A direct, DarkerAndEdgier sequel. Drops most of the six hundred and seventeen different themes present in the first part in favor of a more direct and arguably leftist message. Generally considered at least a worthy sequel. Last work by Oesterheld before his forced disappearance.

* OurOrcsAreDifferent: The Zarpos, in the second part, look and behave like orcs, as they are strong, violent slaves of the BigBad. But they have been bioenginereed from human slaves, and look more like neanderthals with claws and small tusks. [[http://www.loseternautas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/zarpos.png And they use guns, more than axes]].

* SteamPunk: A very curious and [[OlderThanTheyThink early]] approach. In the Second Part, the Cave People are subjected by a HigherTechSpecies that have been stranded for centuries because of a malfunctioning spaceship and are quite bitter about it. Limited in their high tech supplies and armory, they keep the Cave People enslaved and unable to advance technologically, using an army of ferocious [[ArtificialHuman artificial humans]] and [[TankGoodness Humungous Wooden Steam-Propelled Tanks]] with one-shot cannons and flamethrowers. It sounds ridiculous, and one of the characters even points it out, but the "mano" quite calmly explains to him that as crude as it looks, [[CombatPragmatist it works just swell]] against unarmed cavemen. In this grim universe, rocks [[AvertedTrope don't]] [[RockBeatsLaser beat flamethrowers]].

There is a [[{{Sequel}} sequel]], made in 1976-77, which is a bit DarkerAndEdgier, and mostly regarded quite a good comic but not as brilliant as the original. There was later a [[{{Sequelitis}} third installment]], notoriously infamous for lack of endorsement by the original authors, with Oesterheld being [[DiedDuringProduction already dead]] and hired writers and artists who remained anonymous at the time. Starting in [[TheNineties the nineties]], a lot of other sequels and homages, both official and unofficial, were released, cementing it as an important part of Argentine pop culture. Solano López eventually created the ''Universo Eternauta'' brand ("Eternaut Universe") in order to publish both new and old (with bonus material) stories.

Plans for making TheMovie [[DevelopmentHell have been tossed around for decades]], but as of 2009-2010 it seems they are [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235526/ finally getting somewhere]].

It is considered an all-time classic by several comic historians and scholars, such as Claude Moliterni, Franco Restaino, Thierry Groensteen, Daniele Barbieri and many others. Any serious universal history/dictionary of graphic narrative has it indexed in a noteworthy article.

Widely considered a masterpiece, its reading is highly suggested. There is a [[{{Sequel}} sequel]], made in 1976-77, which is a bit DarkerAndEdgier, and mostly regarded quite a good comic but not as brilliant as the original. There was later a [[{{Sequelitis}} third installment]], notoriously infamous for lack of endorsement by the original authors, with Oesterheld being [[DiedDuringProduction already dead]] and hired writers and artists who remained anonymous at the time. Starting in [[TheNineties the nineties]], a lot of other sequels and homages, both official and unofficial, were released, cementing it as an important part of Argentine pop culture. Solano López eventually created the ''Universo Eternauta'' brand ("Eternaut Universe") in order to publish both new and old (with bonus material) stories.

* AlienInvasion: Type 1.

Widely considered a masterpiece, its reading is highly suggested. There is a [[{{Sequel}} sequel]], made in 1976-77, which is a bit more DarkerAndEdgier, and mostly regarded quite a good comic but not as brilliant as the original. There was later a [[{{Sequelitis}} third installment]], notoriously infamous for lack of endorsement by the original authors, with Oesterheld being [[DiedDuringProduction already dead]] and hired writers and artists who remained anonymous at the time. Starting in [[TheNineties the nineties]], a lot of other sequels and homages, both official and unofficial, were released, cementing it as an important part of Argentine pop culture. Solano López eventually created the ''Universo Eternauta'' brand ("Eternaut Universe") in order to publish both new and old (with bonus material) stories.

Widely considered a masterpiece, its reading is highly suggested. There is a [[{{Sequel}} sequel]], made in 1976-77, which is a bit more DarkerAndEdgier, and mostly regarded quite a good comic but not as brilliant as the original. There was later a [[{{Sequelitis}} third installment]], notoriously infamous for lack of endorsement by the original authors, with Oesterheld being [[AuthorExistenceFailure already dead]] and hired writers and artists who remained anonymous at the time. Starting in [[TheNineties the nineties]], a lot of other sequels and homages, both official and unofficial, were released, cementing it as an important part of Argentine pop culture. Solano López eventually created the ''Universo Eternauta'' brand ("Eternaut Universe") in order to publish both new and old (with bonus material) stories.

There are translations to French and Italian, Italy being a country where El Eternauta hit it bigtime and a major reason for the sequel being made. Besides Argentina, the last original edition is available in Spain too. WordOfGod says that an English edition was printed somewhen in Britain, probably in the seventies, but if so, it is so rare it has become almost an UrbanLegend.

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: At the end of the first part, the AuthorAvatar decides to turn the Eternaut's story into a comic to warn the world about that BadFuture.

* Literature/TheDayOfTheTriffids: A probable source of inspiration. Oesterheld never stated so, but there is an Argentinean translation of the novel published in 1956, and he was a Sci-Fi fan (he even directed a Sci-Fi and science magazine, ''Más Allá'' ("Beyond")), so it's not farfetched.

* StayInTheKitchen: The role of Elena, Juan Salvo's wife and the only significant woman in the story, is pretty much just to prepare food for the male protagonists and take care of her and Juan's daughter, Marta. When the male characters join a group of surviving soldiers, no one seems to even consider Elena and Marta could leave the house with them, even though the 12-year old Pablo is apparently mature enough to do so. There doesn't seem to be any other women either in the group of civilians who've joined the soldiers, which suggests other female survivors were left in their homes as well.

* StayInTheKitchen: The role of Elena, Juan Salvo's wife and the only significant woman in the story, is pretty much just to prepare food for the male protagonists and take care of her and Juan's daughter, Marta. When the male characters join a group of surviving soldiers, no one seems to even consider Elena and Marta could leave the house with them, even though they take the 12-year old Pablo with them. There doesn't seem to be any other women either in the group of civilians who've joined the soldiers, which suggests other female survivors were left in their homes as well.

* AppealToForce: Nuclear strategic missiles from [[EagleLand some superpower from the North]] fall over Buenos Aires. They are defused in mid-air by the aliens, but when [[spoiler: the protagonists [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome blow the artificial habitat of "Them" with a bazooka]], it is bad news that one last missile was still on the way, nuking Buenos Aires]]. For good.

* MindScrew: [[spoiler:The circular ending]]. Creator/JorgeLuisBorges is probably the one to blame. Also counts as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

** Professor Favalli manages to be the first to weaponize this knowledge and [[MomentofAwesome it's as awesome as it sounds.]]

* LaResistance: Both the first and second parts of El Eternauta develop around this trope.
* [[LeFilmArtistique Le Bande Dessinée Artistique]]: The Eternauta Remake of 1969 was lampooned and censored in Argentina because of ([[AnviLicious among]] other things) its mind-blowingly dark, gritty, groundbreaking, insane and sometimes abstract or downright incomprehensible art by Alberto Breccia, possibly the most talented comic artist ever born in Argentina. The French [[FrenchBelgianComicBooks BD]] avant-garde artists just [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible loved his style]], and its success allowed a French edition of both the remake and the original version. Several has been done since.

* BadassNormal: Most of the main characters are just common middle-class Buenos Aires citizens. However, when the shit hits the fan they discover they were much more resourceful that they thought, and actually pretty BadAss, particularly Franco. It also must be noticed that the militiamen fight without order but, with some exceptions, they are consistently brave and loyal.

Widely considered a masterpiece, its reading is highly suggested. There is a [[{{Sequel}} sequel]], made in 1976-77, which is a bit more DarkerAndEdgier, and mostly regarded quite a good comic but not as brilliant as the original. There was later a [[{{Sequelitis}} third installment]], notoriously infamous for lack of endorsement by the original authors, with Oesterheld being [[AuthorExistenceFailure already dead]] and hired writers and artists [[TheyJustDidntCare who remained anonymous at the time]]. Starting in [[TheNineties the nineties]], a lot of other sequels and homages, both official and unofficial, were released, cementing it as an important part of Argentine pop culture. Solano López eventually created the ''Universo Eternauta'' brand ("Eternaut Universe") in order to publish both new and old (with bonus material) stories.

* [[LeFilmArtistique Le Bande Dessinée Artistique]]: The Eternauta Remake of 1969 was lampooned and censored in Argentina because of ([[AnviLicious among]] [[ViewersAreMorons other things]]) its mind-blowingly dark, gritty, groundbreaking, insane and sometimes abstract or downright incomprehensible art by Alberto Breccia, possibly the most talented comic artist ever born in Argentina. The French [[FrenchBelgianComicBooks BD]] avant-garde artists just [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible loved his style]], and its success allowed a French edition of both the remake and the original version. Several has been done since.

''El Eternauta'' ("''The Eternaut''") is the most famous Argentinian Comic, (alongside ''ComicStrip/{{Mafalda}}'', of course. And maybe ''{{Cybersix}}'', [[AdaptationDisplacement assuming people remember]] it ''was'' an Argentinian comic book). It was first published in a weekly basis from [[TheFifties 1957 to 1959]] in the Hora Cero magazine, scripted by Creator/HectorGermanOesterheld and featuring art by Francisco Solano López.

* GiantMooks: partially straight; the Gurbos are giant, MadeOfIndestructium mooks, but they lack any intelligence of their own, and are controlled by the Manos. But they are really, ''really'' dangerous, maybe qualified as Elite Mooks.

''El Eternauta'' ("''The Eternaut''") is the most famous Argentinian Comic, (alongside [[{{Mafalda}} Mafalda]], of course. And maybe ''{{Cybersix}}'', [[AdaptationDisplacement assuming people remember]] it ''was'' an Argentinian comic book). It was first published in a weekly basis from [[TheFifties 1957 to 1959]] in the Hora Cero magazine, scripted by Creator/HectorGermanOesterheld and featuring art by Francisco Solano López.

ElEternauta ("The Eternaut") is the most famous Argentinian Comic, (alongside [[{{Mafalda}} Mafalda]], of course. And maybe ''{{Cybersix}}'', [[AdaptationDisplacement assuming people remember]] it ''was'' an Argentinian comic book). It was first published in a weekly basis from [[TheFifties 1957 to 1959]] in the Hora Cero magazine, scripted by Creator/HectorGermanOesterheld and featuring art by Francisco Solano López.

!!This work contains examples of:

ElEternauta ("The Eternaut") is the most famous Argentinian Comic, (alongside [[{{Mafalda}} Mafalda]], of course. And maybe ''{{Cybersix}}'', [[AdaptationDisplacement assuming people remember]] it ''was'' an Argentinian comic book). It was first published in a weekly basis from [[TheFifties 1957 to 1959]] in the Hora Cero magazine, scripted by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and featuring art by Francisco Solano López.

* El Eternauta, Remake: (1969) By Oesterheld and Breccia. This included several drastic changes to the storyline, which coupled with Breccia's weird and experimentalist approach arose an uproar from the fans. Consequently, it [[ExecutiveMeddling got rushed up]]. It's not merely that the alien invaders are depicted as TheEmpire, [[EagleLand a certain somebody even helps them and all!]]

* El Eternauta, Third Part: (1983) By Ongaro, Morhain and Oswal. A controversial, radically different sci-fi comic, reusing the characters in some uninspired setting. It's not aproved by the surviving author at the time.

* El Eternauta, Remake: (1969) By Oesterheld and Breccia. This included several drastic changes to the storyline, which coupled with Breccia's [[DoingItForTheArt weird and experimentalist approach]] arose an uproar from the fans. Consequently, it [[ExecutiveMeddling got rushed up]]. It's not merely that the alien invaders are depicted as TheEmpire, [[EagleLand a certain somebody even helps them and all!]]

* El Eternauta, Third Part: (1983) By Ongaro, Morhain and Oswal. A different sci-fi comic, reusing the characters in some uninspired setting and considered by many to have been made mostly [[CashCowFranchise to cash in]].

* El Eternauta, Remake: (1969) By Oesterheld and Breccia. A leftist pamphlet with several [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks drastic changes to the storyline]], which coupled with Breccia's [[DoingItForTheArt weird and experimentalist approach]] arose an uproar from the fans. Consequently, it [[ExecutiveMeddling got rushed up]]. It's not merely that the alien invaders are depicted as TheEmpire, [[EagleLand a certain somebody even helps them and all!]]

* El Eternauta, Third Part: (1983) By Ongaro, Morhain and Oswal. Just your [[SoOkayItsAverage average]] sci-fi comic, reusing the characters in some uninspired setting and considered by many to have been made mostly [[CashCowFranchise to cash in]].

* FridgeHorror: The whole premise of the travelling through time and space seems really cool from the very beginning... If you don't think too hard on it. [[spoiler: Due to [[DoNotTauntCthulhu messing with Eldritch Technologies]], Juan Salvo becomes the Eternaut, the "Traveller of Eternity", travelling through time and space over and over. This mean that he was able to escape the likely complete extinction/enslavement of the human race, but he [[PowerIncontinence can't control]] this power.]] On the other hand, the same thing happened to [[spoiler: Elena and Martita, his beloved wife and daughter]], both also drifting through the many continuums of timespace together... hopefully. So Salvo faces the tragic condition of [[spoiler: being LastOfHisKind, knowing positively that [[ThereIsAnother his family]] is somewhere out there, jumping through time and space, facing the endless dangers and horrors of the universe on their own, with a infinitesimal chance of ever finding them]]. Needless to say, he holds onto the hope that he will find both, asking for them to every single creature he finds.[[spoiler: And he finally does]]... In a way... [[AlternateUniverse or does he?]]. [[MindScrew Don't ask me.]]

* MoralEventHorizon: Despite fighting an extermination war, the protagonists never torture or execute any enemy. As a matter of fact, being common and decent people, they always are plenty of moral concerns regarding their doings, and never think selfishly, even in the most dire situations.
** However, in the DarkerAndEdgier sequel, Salvo makes a FaceHeelTurn, making his disregard to human life somewhat of a shock for the fans of the first part (and even for his comrades in-story).
*** Possible FridgeLogic explanation: those years of deep space wandering really [[CharacterDevelopment took their toll on Salvo]], who used to be a nice and caring family man. The guy is out for revenge.

* NoExportForYou: It is a sad thing that to the present day there is not an English edition available, particularly after it proved to be successfully exportable in France and Italy.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The 1969 remake was absolutely incredible; lightyears beyond its time, with out of this world graphics and a dark, adult-oriented script... Guess what, the MoralGuardians and ExecutiveMeddling wasted it. The few pages fully accomplished are still breathtaking.