The Puerto Rican War

The book’s visual style puts the literal grain of Mejias’s work on display, a testament to just how difficult some stories can be to tell — and how important they can be to rediscover.

The woodblock method lends density and gravitas to the work that command attention; each centimeter of each panel is rich in visual detail, inviting readers to linger over the page….A brilliant blend of graphic and literary narration and a lovely work of art in itself.

Mejias brilliantly weaves his heavy, saturated, and stunningly beautiful woodblock method with common comics tropes, as in an entire narrow panel filled with firefight sound effects—“PEW TANG ZANG BANG PIM PLIP ZAP BUM ZOP.

Mejias’s painstakingly hand-carved woodblock art results in vibrant, detailed scenes that lend a poetic touch throughout. This impressive work of art brings history to full and fascinating life.

Each page of this elegant, agit-prop stylized, confrontational yet nuanced account of the 1950s Puerto Rican independence movement is printed from painstakingly hand-carved woodblocks. It took Mejias a decade to create this art object—cutting into the negative space to reveal history more often swept away. I’ve been a fan of Mejias’s since I first (many years ago) picked up his zine Paping. It’s cheering to see the dedication he puts to his craft respected in such a high-quality hardcover release.

This is a story most people today have forgotten, but one full of fascinating people and riveting events. The graphic format makes this history accessible to today’s readers, whether in school or out.