Updated Wednesday, February 21, 2024-12:01

  • Culture. The mystery of grave 126: the story of the undertaker who helped identify post-war victims in Spain

Less than three months after its publication,

El abismo del olvido

is already a classic of the native comic strip. The Association of Comic Critics and Publishers of Spain (ACDCómic) has just recognized the graphic novel published by the cartoonist

Paco Roca

and the EL MUNDO journalist

Rodrigo Terrasa

in Astiberri Ediciones as the

Best National Author's Work 2023

.

The award given by this specialized audience in the sixth edition of its awards confirms the good reception that the intertwined story of the undertaker Leoncio Badía

, who helped identify a dozen post-war victims, and that of

Pepica Celda

is having among readers.

, daughter of one of those shot in Paterna in 1940 and architect of the exhumation of his remains more than 70 years later.

ACDComic announced the winners at noon this Wednesday. "Paco Roca and Rodrigo Terrasa pay homage to those shot by the Franco regime in Paterna,

doing justice to both those murdered by the dictatorship and the family members and neighbors who did everything possible to give them a dignified burial and memory

," he said. recognized the entity on its website. "It is also a

tribute to all those who have fought for the Historical Memory Law

. Both authors record in the work a conscientious work of documentation that Roca channels through the multiple resources acquired throughout his career. A story crystal clear in its presentation and empathetic in its intention, which brings the past closer to the present to make people understand and thus contribute to reparation, through a medium as rich as comics.

"We are both enormously grateful to all the people who have read this story since it was published.

The response has been incredible and very exciting

," Roca and Terrasa declared upon receiving the news. "And we would like to dedicate it to Pepica Celda, to the rest of the protagonists of the comic, who were so generous with us to be able to tell this story. And to all the families who have felt identified with what

El abismo del olvido

tells , and who

are an example of perseverance and dignity in this country

," adds the couple of authors regarding a story that has its origins in a report published in 2013 in EL MUNDO.

One of the vignettes from 'The Abyss of Oblivion'.

Paco Roca is

one of the great references of the Spanish graphic novel

with nearly twenty titles, among which

Wrinkles

,

The Cartoonist's Winter

or

The Furrows of Chance

stand out . Winner of the National Comic Award (2008) and the Eisner Award (2020), the Valencian cartoonist was already recognized alone in 2021 with the highest award given by ACDCómic for

Return to Eden

. He will now collect, together with Rodrigo Terrasa, the equivalent of the Golden Globe for the Spanish cartoon.

The Abyss of Oblivion

has now reached its

second edition

after selling out the first in record time (40,000 copies). After Astiberri Ediciones sold its rights, its

translation

into several European languages

​​is currently underway .

ACDComic has also recognized the work of

César Sebastián

for

Ronson

(Autsaider), in the category of

Emerging Author

2023.

"In his

first work

, impeccably crafted, César Sebastián has surprised both by his management of substance and form.

Ronson

has impressed the public and critics not only for collecting the memories of the author's father and turning them into a quasi-immersive experience, but for surround them with a reflective and deep framework,

an essay on the why and how of memories that manages to transcend one's own experience to turn it into a collective one

. It stands out for its clear perfectionist line, its harmonious compositions that are reflected in the prose, and for its intelligent use of a very precise and successful color palette that also communicates with the background of the work," the association assessed.