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Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Che by Héctor Germán Oesterheld Hector German Oesterheld. Hector German Oesterheld is probably the most important comic writer from South America. With his large oeuvre, full of realism and poetry, Oesterheld became a martyr of Argentinian comics. He worked with the best Argentinian artists in the field, such as Alberto Breccia, Francisco Solano Lopez, Horacio Altuna, Hugo Pratt and Walter Fahrer. With a geology degree in his pocket, he began his writing career in the early 1940s. His first work appeared in the daily La Prensa and at the publishing house Codex. He then moved over to Abril publishers, where he began his extensive career as a comic writer. In the early stages of his career, Oesterheld wrote such stories as 'Alan y Crazy' (art Eugenio Zoppi), 'Ray Kitt' (art Hugo Pratt) and 'Bull Rocket' (art Paul Campani, Francisco Solano Lopez, Julio Schiaffino and others). In 1952 he created the famous western epic 'El Sargento Kirk' ('Sgt Kirk') with Hugo Pratt in Misterix magazine. This series already showed Oesterheld's unconventional way of writing. The series starts of with Sergeant Kirk deserting after assisting on a massacre of Indians by the American Army. Kirk then devotes himself to defending the Indians. Other creations of the 1950s are 'Tarpón' (art Daniel Haupt), 'Uma-Uma' (art Solano Lopez), 'Indio Suarez' (art Carlos Freixas and later Carlos Cruz). Other artists he wrote for at this time, were Ivo Pavone ('El Zarpa', 'Burt Zane'), Enrique Cristobal ('Dragón Blanco'), Luis Dominguez ('Scout River'), Carlos Roume and Walter Casadei ('Star Kenton'). artwork by Francisco Solano Lopez. In 1957, Oesterheld and his brother Jorge launched their own publishing company, Ediciones Frontera. This publishing house published magazines such as Hora Cera Mensual and Frontera Mensuel, for which Oesterheld wrote an innumerous amount of comics. Notable are the unusual science fiction stories he wrote, such as 'El Eternauta'. In this series, Oesterheld describes his own meeting with a time traveler of eternity, who had already lived over 100 lives. Illustrated by Francisco Solano Lopez, this series started in 1958 in the weekly magazine, Hora Cero Semanal. Other important stories for these magazines were the war series he wrote for Hugo Pratt ('Ticonderoga' and 'Ernie Pike'), the more conventional western 'Randall' (with Arturo Del Castillo) and the piracy comic 'Capitan Caribe' (with Dino Battaglia). artwork by Alberto and Enrique Breccia. In the 1960s, Argentina fell prey to a major economic crisis. Oesterheld was forced to close Frontera's doors. However, he continued writing for several small publishers and the Chilean Zig-Zag publishers. On 17 August 1962 Oesterheld launched the 'Mort Cinder' series, illustrated by Alberto Breccia, considered by many to be their masterpiece. In the following years, Oesterheld wrote such stories as 'Artemio, El Taxista de Buenos Aires' (art Nestor Olivera and Pablo Zahlut), 'Russ Congo' (art José Clemen) and 'Guerra de los Antartes' (art León Napoo and later Gustavo Trigo). His most notable work of that time was the biography of Che Guevara ('Che') he created in 1968 for the Chilean market (art Alberto and Enrique Breccia). According to some sources, this work became fatal for Oesterheld. However, it is also believed that Oesterheld and his daughters were members of the leftist guerrilla group, the Montoneros. When the military took power in Argentina in the mid-1970s, Oesterheld was arrested and taken from his home with his four daughters. Nothing was heard of him ever since. When the Italian journalist Alberto Ongaro did inquiries about his disappearance in 1979, he got the eery reply: "We did away with him because he wrote the most beautiful story of Ché Guevara ever done". Héctor Germán Oesterheld. Héctor Germán Oesterheld , also known as his common abbreviation HGO (born July 23, 1919; disappeared and presumed dead 1977), was an Argentine journalist and writer of graphic novels and comics. He has come to be celebrated as a master in his field and as one of the pioneering artists in Argentine modern comics. Through his comics, Oesterheld criticized the numerous military dictatorships that beleaguered the country in different periods ranging from 1955 to 1983, as well as different facets of capitalism, colonialism and imperialism, choosing a subtle criticism in his early comics during the 1950s and early 1960s, and a stronger and direct approach in his later work, after the murder of Che Guevara in 1967, and onwards from then on: in 1968 he wrote a biographical comic of Che Guevara, which was subsequently banned by the Argentinian dictatorship ruling at the time. [1] During Argentina's last civil-military dictatorship, he and his daughters joined the Montoneros, a leftist (and former peronist) guerrilla group that opposed the military junta. HGO continued to publish works in clandestine form while hidden in secret locations, but he was ultimately kidnapped and disappeared. His daughters were also arrested and disappeared, as were his sons-in-law. Only HGO's wife, Elsa, escaped the family's tragic fate. Over the years, Oesterheld's legacy has become vast, influencing several generations of new artists, particularly in literature and comic books. Contents. Biography. Oesterheld was born in Buenos Aires to a German father and a Basque mother. His early studies were in geology, which has been said to contribute to his acuity as a science fiction writer. He began his journalistic career in the early 1940s. His first work appeared in the daily La Prensa newspaper and then was published by Codex. [2] He moved to Abril publishers, where he began his extensive career as a comics writer. Soon after, he married Elsa Sánchez. Their first daughter, Estela, was born in 1952, Diana a year later, Beatriz in 1955, and Marina in 1957. Oesterheld was befriended by a group of postwar Italian comics writers, including Mario Faustinelli, Hugo Pratt, Ivo Pavone, and Dino Battaglia, also known as the Venice Group . [2] Together these artists and writers became part of what is known as the "Golden Age of Argentine Comics." They merged into an international scene of artists and writers whose works were published worldwide. In 1957 Oesterheld and his brother Jorge founded Editorial Frontera. Together they published various comic magazines, including Hora Cero Semanal (weekly), Hora Cero Mensual (monthly), and Frontera Mensual (monthly). In 1958 he started writing El Eternauta , probably his most popular and critically acclaimed work. The strip, with artwork by Francisco Solano López, told the story of his meeting with a time traveler, who had already lived over 100 lives and has journeyed to the past to warn the protagonist of a future catastrophe. The strip was published in Hora Cero over 106 weekly episodes and was a massive success. His publishing house closed 5 years later due to a combination of the economic crisis sweeping Argentina in the 1960s, foreign competition, and the exodus of Argentine comic artists to Europe. Oesterheld continued writing for other magazines such as Zig-Zag . His work slowly acquired a greater political emphasis. His 1968 biography of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, a year after Che's death, was removed from circulation by the government and the originals destroyed. In 1970 he wrote a scathing critical biography of Evita Peron, dedicated to Che Guevara. In 1973 he published 450 Years of War Against Imperialism . During the military government of the 1970s, Oesterheld is believed to have joined, following his four daughters, a leftist guerrilla group, the Montoneros. His story El Eternauta, Part II (1976) described a futuristic Argentina under a dictatorship. In 1976 Oesterheld disappeared. He was last recorded as seen alive in late 1977 or early 1978. His family believed he was among the tens of thousands to have been disappeared and killed by the government. In 1977 his daughters, Diana (21), Beatriz (19), Estela (25) and Marina (18), were arrested by the Argentine armed forces in La Plata. None were seen again, and they all presumed dead. His daughters' husbands were also disappeared ( desaparecidos ). One grandson, Martín, was born in captivity. Oesterheld's widow, Elsa Sánchez, learned about the boy and recovered him from government custody, although she never saw her daughter again. She raised Martin. A second grandson, Fernando, born earlier, was raised by his paternal grandparents. Elsa Sánchez participated in the protests of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. She became one of the spokeswomen for the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, which advocates for the return of children of the "disappeared" to their birth families. When the Italian journalist Alberto Ongaro enquired about Oesterheld's disappearance in 1979, he received the reply: "We did away with him because he wrote the most beautiful story of Ché Guevara ever done". [2] Argentine journalist Jacobo Timmerman, in his memoir of his own captivity, Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number (1981), recalls seeing Oesterheld in 1977 across the hall in a prison. In a report to the Argentine National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons, which published its findings in 1984 entitled Nunca Más , Eduardo Arias recalls seeing Oesterheld between November 1977 and January 1978. He said the man was in terrible physical condition and at the secret detention center El Vesubio, which prisoners had sardonically named "the Sheraton". Legacy. Oesterheld worked with artists including Hugo Pratt, Alberto Breccia, Francisco Solano López, Ivo Pavone, Dino Battaglia, as well as Horacio Altuna, José Massaroli, Eugenio Zoppi, Paul Campani, Gustavo Trigo, Julio Schiaffino and others. His most famous opus, El Eternauta , remains one of the key literary works of Argentine culture; [ citation needed ] it is constantly reprinted for new audiences. [ citation needed ] The bulk of his oeuvre is currently being reprinted in Argentina and around the world.