It is known that we have a busy season in terms of various disasters. After several decades of calm and stinginess, the famous Mayan prophecy seems to have missed the mark by a decade (if it’s hard to predict the time to a week, it’s understandable to imagine the apocalypse a few centuries away), because the reckoning seems unfinished: volcanoes, climate emergency , various epidemics and, if necessary, war and nuclear fear are returning to the rhythm of Russian drones. So, as we finish the year thinking that the next resolution is better than leaving them fallow in the absence of the next resolution, we’re left with, like good bibliophiles, gigantic gulps from books. Serve the following as a fitting apocalypse appetizer for this deferred end to the world that seems like we have to live.
Of course, always the first thing, document yourself. And for that, there’s nothing better than two studies in an informative spirit that delve into the dire truth to which global warming is taking us: En El mundo sin fin (Edition Standard, translated by Daniel Cortés; Catalan edition Finestress), the researcher carbon footprint that defines it, Jean-Marc Jancovici , teaming up with cartoonist Christophe Blain, on a tour of interesting (and controversial) approaches to the challenges posed by the unbridled use of energy, to the use or reduction of nuclear energy. Darío Adanti dresses as Carla Sagan to reflect on the problem in The Meteorite is Us (Astiberri), with a global and broad perspective that allows us to understand the urgency of the problem and the need to cooperate to stop it. Two clear and didactic works that must be read.
Of course, since this is unstoppable, it’s better to jump in the river and settle for the readings that put us in a situation: Beautiful house on the lake, peaceful as the rest of the world is devastated by an alien race by James Tynion IV and Álvaro Martínez Bueno (ECC comics, translating Bárbara Azagra). A surprising study about a group of friends who are mysteriously reunited in a house. The cartoonist’s brilliant graphic work is perfect for this journey into the inner abyss of some characters who must discover what they are doing inside that perfect bubble in the middle of the released Apocalypse. Contrasting with the poetry of Toranosuke Shimada’s (Heroes de Papel Comics, translated Gabriel Álvarez) Short Biography of Robo Sapiens, a disturbing read blends Asimov’s robotic canon with a melancholy reading that is directly related to Ray’s Martian stories. Think about the end of our civilization. While perhaps the end of our day has more to do with the zombie apocalypse we’ve become accustomed to since the Romero days, who knows, something different in these cute kitten-filled times of Instagram: Night Hawkaman and Mecha-roots (Panini Manga, transliterated by Adrià Saborido) ) the story of the living cat presents a gruesome cat apocalypse where the slightest (and inevitable) touch of these adorable fur balls turns humans into kittens. It’s as fun as it is irresistible.
Although perhaps they just want to forget and throw themselves into surreal delirium. Take an almost unbiased dive into An Afternoon with Himmler (La Cúpula), where cartoonist Alfons López once again enters Bruguera’s classic universe with a story that turns Himmler’s meeting with Franco into an exercise of pure madness. Characters like the Gilda Sisters, the reporter Tribulete, or the crazy Carioco are immersed in an endless gregueria where only Marxism (Groucho’s, of course) manages to impose something… well, something, whatever, but listen up funny. And be careful: remember that there is always a trace of sanity in insanity.
Let’s enjoy.