# The Eternaut
**The Eternaut** (*El Eternauta*) is an Argentine science fiction comic written by [Héctor Germán Oesterheld](https://www.edgepedia.org/hector-german-oesterheld) and drawn by [Francisco Solano López](https://www.edgepedia.org/francisco-solano-lopez), serialized in the magazine *Hora Cero* between 1957 and 1959 and retrospectively regarded as one of the first graphic novels[1](https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/8340853.pdf). It tells of a group of friends led by Juan Salvo who survive a mysterious, deadly snowfall over Buenos Aires and organize resistance to an alien invasion, and it has become an emblematic work of Argentine culture[1](https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/8340853.pdf) • [2](https://martinhadis.com/es/martin-hadis-prologo-eternauta).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Creators | Script by Héctor Germán Oesterheld (1919–1977); art by Francisco Solano López (1928–2011)[3](https://proapi.planetadelibros.com.mx/descargas/sala-prensa-libro/sinopsis-y-biografia/361048/el-eternauta.pdf?_locale=mx) |
| Original serialization | *Hora Cero Semanal*, issues 1 to 106, 1957–1959; first number dated September 4, 1957[1](https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/8340853.pdf) • [4](https://www.historieteca.com.ar/Eternauta/eterhistoria1.htm) |
| Premise | A lethal snow falls on Buenos Aires on a summer night, killing all it touches; survivors led by Juan Salvo fight an invasion of extraterrestrial origin[5](https://apnews.com/article/5c4b14d54e42fb7bc75f409a0280cda4) |
| 1969 remake | Redrawn by Alberto Breccia for the magazine *Gente* in 1969, with a politically more committed script; the publication was canceled[6](https://proapi.planetadelibros.com.mx/descargas/sala-prensa-libro/sinopsis-y-biografia/361048/el-eternauta.pdf?_locale=mx) • [1](https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/8340853.pdf) |
| Author's fate | Oesterheld was kidnapped on April 27, 1977 in La Plata by the last military dictatorship and disappeared, along with his four daughters Diana, Beatriz, Estela, and Marina[7](https://www.argentina.gob.ar/noticias/hector-g-oesterheld-el-padre-de-el-eternauta) |
| Translations | Nine languages so far; Italian first (*Lanciostory*, 1977), English (Fantagraphics, November 24, 2015), Chinese (2020), Finnish (2022)[8](https://martinhadis.com/en/eternaut-translations) |
| Netflix series | First screen adaptation premiered April 30, 2025; six Spanish-language episodes, renewed for a second season[5](https://apnews.com/article/5c4b14d54e42fb7bc75f409a0280cda4) |
## Story and premise
The story opens with a group of friends playing truco, a card game, at Juan Salvo's home in the northern Buenos Aires suburbs when a strange snow begins to fall; among the players are a small industrialist (Salvo), a university professor, a retiree, and a bank employee[9](https://www.modernismolatinoamericano.org/el-eternauta/). A loud noise sends them to the window, where they see abandoned cars, an empty street, and a snow that covers everything it reaches[10](https://www.madrid.es/portales/munimadrid/es/Inicio/Cultura-ocio-y-deporte/Bibliotecas/-El-eternauta-de-H-G-Oesterheld-y-F-Solano-Lopez/?vgnextchannel=1c58efff228fe410VgnVCM2000000c205a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&vgnextoid=7949c69c4b0c2510VgnVCM2000000c205a0aRCRD). The snow kills everyone it touches; the friends initially survive by sheltering indoors, and later they improvise protective clothing and use a gas mask to go outside, as they struggle to understand and resist the invasion behind it[11](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/05/09/l-eternaute-une-serie-apocalyptique-sur-le-rio-de-la-plata-inspiree-d-un-classique-de-la-bande-dessinee_6604444_3246.html) • [28](https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/nx-s1-5422356/plus.npr.org/throughline).
The narrative is framed as a flashback told by the time-traveling Salvo, whose name means "wanderer of infinity," to a comic writer in his attic[12](https://www.fondazionepirelli.org/en/the-foundation-recommends/the-eternaut/) • [13](https://acantilado.ar/representacion-hgo/el-eternauta/). A distinctive choice was setting the story in Argentina: Oesterheld located the action in streets, neighborhoods, and customs his readers recognized, which contemporary critics singled out as a major source of the work's originality[4](https://www.historieteca.com.ar/Eternauta/eterhistoria1.htm) • [14](https://www.gradesaver.com/el-eternauta/study-guide/las-interpretaciones-pol%C3%ADticas-y-la-reversi%C3%B3n-de-el-eternauta-de-1969).
**A collective hero.** Oesterheld deliberately distributed the hero's courage, strength, and leadership among a supportive people who join forces against the invader, giving Juan Salvo a collective identification rather than a solitary one[15](https://editorialrm.com/producto/el-eternauta/). This solidarity theme later became a rallying cry: when the Netflix series was released, [Argentines](https://www.edgepedia.org/argentines) opposed to the government of President Javier Milei turned the motto "No one gets through it alone" into a slogan[5](https://apnews.com/article/5c4b14d54e42fb7bc75f409a0280cda4).
## Publication history
The comic ran in the weekly supplement of the magazine *Hora Cero*, published by Editorial Frontera, a house founded shortly before by the brothers Héctor Germán and Jorge Oesterheld[16](https://ecumenesemanal.wordpress.com/2025/07/17/el-eternauta-la-historieta/) • [7](https://www.argentina.gob.ar/noticias/hector-g-oesterheld-el-padre-de-el-eternauta). After Editorial Frontera went bankrupt in 1961, Oesterheld created a magazine titled *El Eternauta* for Editorial Ramírez to capitalize on the character's success[17](https://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/bitstream/handle/10915/51000/Documento_completo.%20Un%20viaje%20por%20el%20universo%20narrativo%20de%20El%20Eternauta.pdf-PDFA.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=3).
**The 1969 version.** Ten years after the original, on May 29, 1969, issue No. 201 of the magazine *Gente*, a celebrity-and-hearts publication, announced the return of the character with Oesterheld's rewritten script and art by Alberto Breccia[1](https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/8340853.pdf). This version carried a politically more committed script; the publication was canceled, and part of the original story was summarized so it would not end unfinished[6](https://proapi.planetadelibros.com.mx/descargas/sala-prensa-libro/sinopsis-y-biografia/361048/el-eternauta.pdf?_locale=mx). In Argentina this Breccia version is known informally as the "cursed," more political *Eternauta*[18](https://los40.com/2025/04/30/el-eternauta-la-nueva-serie-de-netflix-con-ricardo-darin-que-adapta-el-comic-de-culto-argentino-y-maldito/).
**Sequels.** A second part appeared in 1976, steeped in the Argentine political context[19](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/05/27/in-argentina-the-eternaut-series-rekindles-search-for-babies-stolen-during-the-dictatorship_6741713_4.html). *El Eternauta II* (1976–1978), together with *La guerra de los Antartes* (1974), projected a model of utopian society aligned with the worldview of the armed organization [Montoneros](https://www.edgepedia.org/montoneros), in which Oesterheld was active until his death[20](https://repositoriosdigitales.sicyt.gob.ar/vufind/Record/CONICETDig_664af9f2403b3c602f38d964c2435205). According to a contemporary account, during this period Oesterheld dictated the scripts clandestinely by telephone[21](https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2025/05/10/los-eternautas-cadena-ser/).
## The author's disappearance
Oesterheld was born in Buenos Aires on July 23, 1919[7](https://www.argentina.gob.ar/noticias/hector-g-oesterheld-el-padre-de-el-eternauta). By the time the military junta took power in 1976 he was a committed leftist, and his four daughters, aged 19 to 25, had joined a far-left guerrilla group, making the whole family a target of what became Latin America's deadliest dictatorship[5](https://apnews.com/article/5c4b14d54e42fb7bc75f409a0280cda4). He was kidnapped on April 27, 1977 in [La Plata](https://www.edgepedia.org/la-plata) by a task group of the last civic-military dictatorship, as were his daughters Diana, Beatriz, Estela, and Marina, with whom he shared militancy in Montoneros[7](https://www.argentina.gob.ar/noticias/hector-g-oesterheld-el-padre-de-el-eternauta).
This biography is inseparable from the comic's standing. When the Netflix adaptation premiered, missing-persons flyers for Oesterheld, his daughters, and potential grandchildren appeared on the show's billboards across Buenos Aires, and the series reignited the decades-long search for babies stolen during the dictatorship[5](https://apnews.com/article/5c4b14d54e42fb7bc75f409a0280cda4) • [19](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/05/27/in-argentina-the-eternaut-series-rekindles-search-for-babies-stolen-during-the-dictatorship_6741713_4.html). Today the original story of an invasion of Buenos Aires is read as a parable foretelling the "invasion" of Argentine society by a murderous tyranny[22](https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7560/310847).
## Translations
The comic has been translated into nine languages so far, and the list keeps growing[8](https://martinhadis.com/en/eternaut-translations).
- Italy was first. Italy began translating the work with its serialization in *Lanciostory* in 1977, and throughout the 1980s and 1990s the character even gave its name to an Italian magazine, *L'Eternauta*, while the story was reissued in multiple formats[23](https://martinhadis.com/es/el-eternauta-traducciones) • [8](https://martinhadis.com/en/eternaut-translations).
- English. The Fantagraphics edition appeared on November 24, 2015, a 368-page hardcover in black and white measuring 30 x 22 cm, with a foreword by Martín Hadis and contextual essays on Argentine history and Latin American science fiction[8](https://martinhadis.com/en/eternaut-translations). A scholarly footnote separately cites an English translation by [Erica Mena](https://www.edgepedia.org/erica-mena) published by Fantagraphics Books in 2012, and a 2012 translator's essay records that the work had never before been translated into English[24](https://ri.conicet.gov.ar/bitstream/handle/11336/157967/CONICET_Digital_Nro.deed3d5a-b478-41f0-96f7-5235194267ec_A.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=2) • [25](https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2012-01/from-the-translator-the-eternonaut/). After the 2025 series, Fantagraphics said it would reissue its out-of-print translation because of the surge in United States demand[5](https://apnews.com/article/5c4b14d54e42fb7bc75f409a0280cda4).
- Chinese. The edition titled 永航员 ("the eternal navigator") was launched in October 2020 by the independent Shanghai publisher Lucidabooks, translated into Mandarin by the Hispanic literature specialist Xuan Le[8](https://martinhadis.com/en/eternaut-translations).
- Finnish. The first Finnish translation appeared in 2022 through a collaboration between the publisher Zum Teufel and KVAAK Kirja, a project of Finnish comics professionals and enthusiasts[23](https://martinhadis.com/es/el-eternauta-traducciones).
## The Netflix adaptation
The first screen adaptation of the comic premiered on Netflix on April 30, 2025: a six-episode, Spanish-language series directed by Bruno Stagnaro, starring [Ricardo Darín](https://www.edgepedia.org/ricardo-darin), set in Buenos Aires, and filmed with an Argentine cast[5](https://apnews.com/article/5c4b14d54e42fb7bc75f409a0280cda4) • [19](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/05/27/in-argentina-the-eternaut-series-rekindles-search-for-babies-stolen-during-the-dictatorship_6741713_4.html). Its production involved two years of development and scriptwriting, 4.5 months of pre-production, 148 days of filming in Buenos Aires, and more than 1.5 years of post-production[26](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-presents-official-trailer-of-the-eternaut). Within days it reached No. 1 among Netflix's most streamed non-English-language TV shows, and Netflix renewed it for a second season, with the producer Matías Mosteirin saying the plan was to close the whole story over probably eight more episodes[5](https://apnews.com/article/5c4b14d54e42fb7bc75f409a0280cda4) • [27](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/netflixs-hit-new-post-apocalyptic-thriller-just-got-renewed-for-season-2).
The surviving Oesterheld family had resisted Hollywood offers for years, wary of apocalyptic dramas that relocate the destruction to New York and other Western centers; Martín Oesterheld, the writer's grandson and a creative consultant and executive producer, said the show had to be filmed in Spanish, with an Argentine cast and set in Buenos Aires[5](https://apnews.com/article/5c4b14d54e42fb7bc75f409a0280cda4).
## References
1. [Colectivo artístico Un Faulduo. "Dossier gráfico de El Eternauta", Cuaderno 125, Centro de Estudios en Diseño y Comunicación (2021/2022)](https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/8340853.pdf)
2. [Martín Hadis. "El navegante de la eternidad: mi prólogo a la edición norteamericana de El Eternauta"](https://martinhadis.com/es/martin-hadis-prologo-eternauta)
3. [Planetax DeAgostini, biographical note on Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Francisco Solano López](https://proapi.planetadelibros.com.mx/descargas/sala-prensa-libro/sinopsis-y-biografia/361048/el-eternauta.pdf?_locale=mx)
4. [Historieteca. "Historia de El Eternauta"](https://www.historieteca.com.ar/Eternauta/eterhistoria1.htm)
5. [AP News. "In Netflix's 'The Eternaut,' an Argentine comic goes global as dystopia hits home" (May 25, 2025)](https://apnews.com/article/5c4b14d54e42fb7bc75f409a0280cda4)
6. [Editorial RM. El Eternauta, catalog entry](https://editorialrm.com/producto/el-eternauta/)
7. [Argentina.gob.ar. "Héctor G. Oesterheld, el padre de 'El Eternauta'"](https://www.argentina.gob.ar/noticias/hector-g-oesterheld-el-padre-de-el-eternauta)
8. [Martín Hadis. "The many translations of The Eternaut"](https://martinhadis.com/en/eternaut-translations)
9. [Modernismo Latinoamericano. "El Eternauta"](https://www.modernismolatinoamericano.org/el-eternauta/)
10. [Ayuntamiento de Madrid. "'El eternauta' de H.G. Oesterheld y F. Solano López"](https://www.madrid.es/portales/munimadrid/es/Inicio/Cultura-ocio-y-deporte/Bibliotecas/-El-eternauta-de-H-G-Oesterheld-y-F-Solano-Lopez/?vgnextchannel=1c58efff228fe410VgnVCM2000000c205a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&vgnextoid=7949c69c4b0c2510VgnVCM2000000c205a0aRCRD)
11. [Le Monde. "« L'Eternaute », une série apocalyptique sur le Rio de la Plata" (May 9, 2025)](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/05/09/l-eternaute-une-serie-apocalyptique-sur-le-rio-de-la-plata-inspiree-d-un-classique-de-la-bande-dessinee_6604444_3246.html)
12. [Fondazione Pirelli. "The Eternaut"](https://www.fondazionepirelli.org/en/the-foundation-recommends/the-eternaut/)
13. [Acantilado. "El Eternauta"](https://acantilado.ar/representacion-hgo/el-eternauta/)
14. [GradeSaver. "Las interpretaciones políticas y la reversión de 'El Eternauta' de 1969"](https://www.gradesaver.com/el-eternauta/study-guide/las-interpretaciones-pol%C3%ADticas-y-la-reversi%C3%B3n-de-el-eternauta-de-1969)
15. [Editorial RM. El Eternauta, product page](https://editorialrm.com/producto/el-eternauta/)
16. [Revista Ecúmene. "El Eternauta. La historieta" (July 17, 2025)](https://ecumenesemanal.wordpress.com/2025/07/17/el-eternauta-la-historieta/)
17. [SEDICI (UNLP). "Un viaje por el universo narrativo de El Eternauta", section 3.1 Las historietas](https://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/bitstream/handle/10915/51000/Documento_completo.%20Un%20viaje%20por%20el%20universo%20narrativo%20de%20El%20Eternauta.pdf-PDFA.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=3)
18. [LOS40. "'El Eternauta', la nueva serie de Netflix con Ricardo Darín" (April 30, 2025)](https://los40.com/2025/04/30/el-eternauta-la-nueva-serie-de-netflix-con-ricardo-darin-que-adapta-el-comic-de-culto-argentino-y-maldito/)
19. [Le Monde. "In Argentina, 'The Eternaut' series rekindles search for babies stolen during the dictatorship" (May 27, 2025)](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/05/27/in-argentina-the-eternaut-series-rekindles-search-for-babies-stolen-during-the-dictatorship_6741713_4.html)
20. [CONICET repository. "Descripción: Cómic de invasión y cambio social en el Oesterheld tardío"](https://repositoriosdigitales.sicyt.gob.ar/vufind/Record/CONICETDig_664af9f2403b3c602f38d964c2435205)
21. [Cadena SER. "Los eternautas" (May 10, 2025)](https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2025/05/10/los-eternautas-cadena-ser/)
22. [David William Foster. *El Eternauta, Daytripper, and Beyond: Graphic Narrative in Argentina and Brazil*, University of Texas Press (JSTOR)](https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7560/310847)
23. [Martín Hadis. "Las traducciones de El Eternauta"](https://martinhadis.com/es/el-eternauta-traducciones)
24. [CONICET Digital. "...in Latin America" (footnote citing the 2012 Erica Mena translation)](https://ri.conicet.gov.ar/bitstream/handle/11336/157967/CONICET_Digital_Nro.deed3d5a-b478-41f0-96f7-5235194267ec_A.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=2)
25. [Words Without Borders. "From the Translator: The Eternonaut" (2012)](https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2012-01/from-the-translator-the-eternonaut/)
26. [About Netflix. "Netflix presents official trailer of The Eternaut"](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-presents-official-trailer-of-the-eternaut)
27. [Tom's Guide. "Netflix's hit new post-apocalyptic thriller just got renewed for season 2" (May 4, 2025)](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/netflixs-hit-new-post-apocalyptic-thriller-just-got-renewed-for-season-2)
28. [northcountrypublicradio.org](https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/nx-s1-5422356/plus.npr.org/throughline)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Comics and sequential art › Comic-book series and issues › European and international comics*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license