No. 4: a graphic novel
De smokkelaar [the smuggler] / Milan Hulsing
I know little about the genre of graphic novels aside from the two I read before. I don’t know why I don’t read them more because the ones I read (Maus and Giant) were amazing and great respectively. Another reason to be glad about the reading challenge, pushing me to this genre.
This time I picked up a book that turned out to be only published in Dutch, but the story is amazing and I truly hope it gets the translation it deserves to spread the word.
The title translates into The Smuggler and the smuggler from the title is Laszlo, a Hungarian who fled his his country. The story takes place in the 1950s and 60s which has Hungary invaded by Russia and under a strict communist regime. Laszlo had to flee his country for the role he played in smuggling Z.O.L.T.A.N. comics produced in the Eastern Bloc, to the West.
On the run, he travels the world and at one point ends up in the Caribbean where he lands a job as a diver. Here, he also meets an eccentric Hungarian millionaire, who shares his hatred for the communism that is keeping their country in its grip. When Cuba becomes a communist country as well, the fear for the spread of communism to the other islands in the Caribbean intensifies and Laszlo and his friend are convinced they need to help nip it in the bud as they’ve seen up close what it can do to a country.
They do this, by launching the Z.O.L.T.A.N. comics in the United States, its extreme and political message something unheard of in America at the time. While the Cold War intensifies, the pop-art scene explodes, and the Z.O.L.T.A.N. comics become one of the leading items of this scene, with Laszlo hailed as its developer even though he only was the one smuggling them out from behind the Iron Curtain.
His millionaire friend buys Laszlo time in the media, with tv interviews and a spread in Life magazine. The media attention is used to drive home the warning message against communism.
However, the attention that they draw also reaches Hungary and the authorities start to track down the people behind Z.O.L.T.AN.. Instead of arresting the true genius, Laszlo’s former mentor Kalman, they use the witch hunt to arrest anyone in the Eastern Bloc they suspect to be involved with anti-socialism: academics, journalists, and artists alike.
The story is told by Naomi, the daughter of the owner of the ship Laszlo works on as a diver. Naomi is an independent storyteller but one with a lot of fantasy, making the story unbelievable in parts. This is fitting with the topic of fake news which was one of the main drivers of the Cold War.
I really liked this graphic novel and enjoyed both the story and its drawings.
Bookworm in the City 