(I received this book from the editor and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)
This is the second time I read El fuego by David Rubín (first one being in Spanish), and I am still amazed at the artwork. The author’s style makes it possible for a meteor to approach Earth little by little and for the reader to follow its trajectory, its trail, every bit of grain and rock.
Alexander’s journey is a terrible one: from hero to a caricature of himself to a lonely man waiting for the end of the world. Some of the other characters’ monologues may feel overwhelming, out of place in a comic book with such an art to admire, but not Alexander’s, never Alexander’s. And even if dreams become nightmares and never truth, and some of the moments may seem confusing, it is impossible to put the book down.

Alexander Yorba is the talented architect who is going to save humanity from extinction. But when his own extinction is more imminent than he had expected, he is forced to look back on the life he has lived.

This graphic novel starts with the birth of the meteor as well as Alexander. This engaging storytelling sees them both move towards the central conflict of this story. The illustrations of the meteor are just mesmerizing and one of my favourite parts of the art in general. Rubín has a visceral art style that matches the intensity and grittiness of the story.

After Alexander learns he has mere months to live we see him confront the life he has lived up to that point. He visits old friends, in a ghosts from Christmas past style, who confront him with his shortcomings.

"...and your greatest Achilles heel... ...Selfishness... You've always been obsessed with pursuing epic causes, with becoming the new Messiah come to save the world...” “...Always one step ahead, always blazing as bright as a bonfire, like a star whose incandescent glow prevents you from seeing that you are setting fire to everything around you, everything you love."

While Rubín has Alexander look back on his life, we are in a way invited to contemplate our own lives. To think about how we have lived. Have we stood by our own values? Have we been good to the people we love?

"How long ago was it that you strayed off course, Alexander?" "When you decided that turning a blind eye to your own principles was a small price to pay to ensure your name would appear in the history books of the rich and powerful?"

Rubín does not shy away from social commentary in El Fuego. Giving us a bleak version of the future that features sex robots you are invited to 'roughen up', a giant Putin Tower in the middle of New York City, and the (still existent) gap between the rich and poor. Telling us in no uncertain way that humanity has screwed up.

"We are the mote of a mote of dust with respect to the universe. We are nothing. A mutation, an error called life that will soon be corrected." "Existence is a miracle we have failed to deserve."

But despite this, there is also hope in this book. Focused on the small, the every day, the personal.
"...My dream now is for you to live, to grow up, to fall in love, to suffer. I want you to be miserable, and happy, to get your heart broken and learn to put it back together again."

The ending of El Fuego keeps us thinking. What Rubín wants to communicate, and how we interpret this. There is ambiguity in the ending that only further cements the overall message. Life is what we make of it.

This graphic novel is perfect for fans of evocative art with thought provoking storylines that will be on your mind for days after putting it down.

TW: drug use, graphic sexual content, cheating, suicidal ideation, terminal cancer diagnosis, body horror

Thank you Oni Press and David Rubín for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This was a graphic novel that gripped me and I read in one sitting. A story about the world facing a potential apocalypse is right up my street. It was interesting watching this man who had been set up to be the saviour of humanity, struggle with his inner demons and gradually fall apart.
The art was stunning, particularly the more abstract panels.
However I did not feel especially engaged with the characters in here and found it hard to correlate the person we see at the beginning with certain decisions they made near the end. I also struggled at times to understand what was reality and what was not, and I wasn't sure if that was the intention.
Overall an interesting read that was certainly compelling but didn't entirely hit the spot for me.