472-Page Graphic Novel 'La Bomba' Chronicles Atomic Bomb History

The graphic novel 'La Bomba', by Didier Alcante, Laurent-Frédéric Bollée, and Denis Rodier, published by L’Ippocampo, is a 472-page work that traces the conception, fabrication, and explosion of the first weapon of mass destruction. The narrative begins with Hungarian physicist Léo Szilárd fleeing Nazi Germany in 1933 and later meeting Einstein in the US to urge the development of the atomic bomb before Hitler. The story culminates in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The authors spent five years on the project. Rodier visited Hiroshima in 2018 during commemorations, consulting documents at the Peace Museum. The book features real historical figures including Einstein, Enrico Fermi, President Harry S. Truman, J. Robert Oppenheimer, General Groves, and Ebb Cade, a worker injected with plutonium without consent. The graphic novel closes with a postface by the authors and bibliographic references to 'Gen of Hiroshima' by Kenji Nakazawa and 'In This Corner of the World' by Fumiyo Kouno. The work is described as a universal piece destined for memory, avoiding theatrical complacency or partisanship on nuclear issues. Published in Milan, 2020, ISBN 9788867225378, €29.90.