On the 13th October, 1972, a plane going from Uruguay to Chile carrying a rugby team crashed in the Andes, leaving the survivors to try to survive for weeks, unsure if anyone was or could come to rescue them. Intense cold, hunger, thirst and despair gripped the team, as they resorted to eating the dead to stay alive. This comic commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of this true story, and is a Junior Library Guild Selection.

Black Panel Press is a Canadian Indie graphic novel publisher which print some really interesting titles. Founded in 2017, their titles include imports from Europe, which disrupt the concept that comics are all about superheroes and a particular art style. The books have a really vibrant style and while some of them feature a kooky and fun art style, like A Pillbug Story or Inhuman Trials, others focus on stories like this one, based on historical fact, like AL Capone or the Gallic War. Personally, I recommend picking up some graphic novels and mixing them into your reading, they’re fascinating and creative. But I also like to review them now and then, because I know for some readers, they’re a more accessible type of reading. I love that this publisher is bringing some great titles to the public in this accessible reading space.

Shadows On The Ice is itself a really beautiful book. The art style captures a sense of movement and also of a slightly older era and style, as the events take place in the 70’s, though the look isn’t super 70s. I really liked the choice of duochrome colours. Mostly the book has a soft beige with two others colours on each page, often grey or burgundy, giving a sense of darkness and mood. It looks very good, very stylish, but it also is a great choice for the storytelling, really creating a sense of mood and atmosphere.

The story of this flight and it’s passengers fight for survival may be known to you if you’re into true crime, because though it’s not a crime story, it’s often covered by podcasts and reports in that space, and of course the movie from 1993 Alive, and the book it’s based on were very well known in their era too. Here, the comic shares the story in a way that’s sometimes quite dramatic, the dialogue was a little tele-drama in some places, but it’s not sensationalized. The focus is on not just the events, but the humanity of the people involved and their friendship and endurance. It’s emotive and dynamic. For a book about a plane crash, survival and people who were forced to eat the dead to survive, it’s really not too dark or gory either. It takes it’s subject seriously, but it’s safe enough for younger readers, with discretion.

I get the impression that the book may have been translated from another language, just from the turn of phrase here and there. I think sometimes this felt slightly awkward, but it also worked for the story in that the people involved were from Uruguay and not English, so this worked for the story for me. There was one or two small grammatical mistakes, “to” instead of “too” for example. I think the big flaws here were that the story sometimes felt a little disjointed, and the characters or people depicted, sometimes looked quite similar, I didn’t have a clear idea of who was who in the book. Perhaps a title page at the start with details of everyone on the flight and a small drawing of their face might have been impactful or helpful.

Overall, though, I thought this was an interesting read. I like this idea of comic books used to tell stories like this, it’s something a bit different, and I think it’s a beautiful book. It would make an excellent gift or a gateway into reading for some. The story of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 is such a fascinating story of humanity and courage, and of course, darkness and survival. It’s also one of friendship, how they keep going and help each other. It’s a story with heart that we can all take heart from. (It also blows my mind that most of the people on the plane had never seen mountains or snow before, and then they went through this, with no instinct or knowledge of how to survive in this kind of terrain).

Read It If: you want to diversify your reading, this graphic novel or others from this publisher would be great for you, if you’re looking for a gift for the younger reader who is interested in history or true stories, this would be a great idea.

Thank you to Black Panel Press for the copy of this book for review.