Paracuellos

Paracuellos is a work of great courage created at a time when telling the truth about Spain's political past could get one killed. It is arguably the most important graphic memoir ever created in comics. With a preface by Will Eisner.<br><br>Carlos Gim&#233;nez's autobiographical account of the plight of children in post-World War II Fascist Spain has won virtually every comics award in Europe including Best Album at the 1981 Angoul&#234;me Festival and the Heritage Award at Angoul&#234;me in 2010.<br><br>In the late 1930s when Spanish fascists led by Franco and aided by Hitler and Mussolini overthrew the elected government almost 200000 men and women fell in battle were executed or died in prison. Their orphaned children&#151;and others ripped from the homes of the defeated&#151;were shuttled from Church-run home to home and fed a steady diet of torture and disinformation by a totalitarian state bent on making them productive citizens. <br><br>Carlos Gim&#233;nez was one of those children. In 1975 after Franco's death Carlos began to tell his story. Breaking the code of silence proved to be a milestone both for the comics medium and for a country coming to terms with its past.<br><br>An illustrated essay by Carmen Moreno-Nu&#241;o Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Kentucky places the comics in historical perspective.<br><br>The stories transcend just being about a historical moment in Spain. Their humanity will speak to everyone. The stories are heartbreakers but Carlos never loses his sense of humor.&#151;William Stout