Regreso al Edén (Return To Eden)

Based on a family photo from 1947 taken on the Nazareth beach in Valencia, Paco Roca paints a portrait of post-war Spain featuring one of its many humble families—a reflection of the vast majority of society that survived under Franco’s dictatorship—who faced serious problems in maintaining a livelihood, forced to turn to the black market in order to obtain basic daily provisions. A vigorous and delicate portrait in four colors of a Spain of grey tones and restricted liberties, under a political regime that was a breeding ground for the spread of moral misery. A tribute to autobiographical references, if The House was Paco Roca’s homage to his father, Return to Eden honors the figure of his mother.

Emotional and balanced, full of graphic resources and narrative solutions of the highest level, Paco Roca raises his most ambitious work from The House, which received an Eisner Award 2020.