My review of Juan Buscamares

[u/Locohenry]

Juan Buscamares is a european-style graphic novel by chilean artist/writer Félix Vega. I've searched for an english version to see if they changed the title but I couldn't find anything, si the best translation I can offer is "Juan Seaseeker". In any case, the story is about an amnesiac man who wanders a world in which the seas have dried up, and he might have a part to play in the return of the ocean. The story is divided in 4 chapters that were released as individual graphic novels from the late 90's until the early 2000's.

Starting off with the art, the book starts with an obvious inspiration, Mad Max. There's lot of inkwork depicting abandoned, rusty machinery and scavenging vehicles. Personally, I love that stuff. However, as the story progresses, the Mad Max-like desert gives way to new environs, and there was a lot more variety in settings and situations than I was expecting. Something that caught my attention is that, as the plot developed and the settings changed, so did the style of the artwork, with less and less visible ink lines in each page until the final moments of the book seem to be pure coloring (I think the coloring is done with acryllics). I thought this was great, the art remains good throughout but I liked that it also changed as the story grew weirder and more oneiric.

As for the plot itself, the only way I can describe it is weird. The characters are sadly not too engaging, since most of them are just in survival mode throughout the entire book with only a couple of exception. Even so, while the characters are not the most dynamic, the story itself is pretty engaging and deals with some pretty big concepts, and it denounces colonization and reinterprets biblical stories to offer a messianic tale in which the messiah is very very flawed, and in which things are only accomplished through group efforts, as opposed to western stories of solitary heroes who are so determined that they see their mission through no matter what.

As much as I find the story interesting, there is a pretty big elephant in the room when it comes to this book, especially in the first half, and that's sexual assault. There's a lot of sexual assault in this book, and don't get me wrong, it's portrayed as wrong and actually makes a lot of thematic sense when you read the whole thing, since it makes a simile between rape and the colonization of america, and it's a way of interacting with others that remains even in the post-apocaliptic future. I think it works in that capacity, as a denunciation of how the western world engages with other cultures.

Having said that, while it makes sense thematically in the book, it's not handled very well since it falls into the all-too-common pitfall of oversexualizing the victim. It's a portrayal that runs counter to the message the book wants to convey, since it sort of commits the same sin of the objectification of other people that it denounces, and I wish it was handled better, since it would make it easier to recommend because I did like a lot about this book.

So, pros: interesting story, great sci-fi concepts, very strong thematic execution that included an evolution of the art itself and beautiful art throughout. Cons: poor handling of depictions of sexual assault and mostly flat characters. In the end, I don't regret reading this, it gave me a lot to think about and I foundly mostly enjoyable, but it's as I said, I can't recommend it openly wothout the caveats I mentioned.

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[u/poio_sm]

For me is a book that requires several readings to fully understand it. And you know what? I loved it more with each reading. I become a fan of Felix Vega too and now I have all the books he has worked on.

[u/Locohenry → u/poio_sm]

What other works by him would you recommend? His book about Thor caught my eye, but I don't know what else he's done.

[u/poio_sm → u/Locohenry]

His solo works are "Duam", "Juan Buscamares" and "Thor and the Eagle Woman".

He also is the artist of "The ghosts of Pinochet", wrote by Francisco Ortega, and "Transitus", the graphic novel adaptation of the album of the same name by the prog metal band Ayreon.

[u/tes_chaussettes]

Sounds like a fascinating, albeit flawed, read - thanks for sharing your review.

And thanks also for the vocab lesson, I hadn't encountered the word "oneiric" before. "of, relating to or suggestive of dreams" - Merriam Webster. Nice!

[u/Locohenry → u/tes_chaussettes]

I'm very glad my review was useful, and now I realized I misspelled oneiric 😅