Cuba: My Revolution – Graphic Novel Review

By: Inverna Lockpez (writer), Dean Haspiel (art), Jose Villarrubia (colors) & Pat Brosseau (letters)

This is a very moving story that is written in semi-autobiographical fashion by Inverna Lockpez at the behest of longtime artist Dean Haspiel.  It tells the story of a young woman named Sonya who comes of age during the Marxist revolution in Cuba and her personal emotional voyage from being an eager supporter of Castro to fleeing the country a short time later.

Fans of history (like me) will enjoy that it hits on many of the key events from the early years of Castro’s reign: deposed President Batista fleeing on New Year’s Eve 1958, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, etc.  These are all events that have appeared in various fictional works before, but seeing them from the ants-eye-view is very different than anything I had been exposed to before in either history texts or various movies that brush on the subjects.  It is also unique in that it shines a very bright light on Cuba and the evils of the Castro regime, which is a little unusual in the artistic community that has more in common politically with Sean Penn than with Jesse Helms.  There were a lot of nasty things that went on in Cuba and there can be debate about whether they were better/worse than the Batista regime or how far the saying “you cannot make an omelet without breaking a few eggs” can be pushed, but these acts shouldn’t be ignored.

What connected for me most was seeing Sonya’s personal journey from pure, unfettered excitement at Castro’s arrival to being a staunch defender of his policies even when the handwriting is clearly on the wall to finally being ready to leave.  I guarantee that you will see similarities between Sonya and a personal friend or two who insist on defending elected officials merely because they voted for them a few years past and seeing the lengths that she would go to in order to excuse evil decisions by Castro’s regime as “necessary” was almost heartbreaking.  You really find yourself wanting to smack her on the side of the head and say, “Hey……snap out of it!”