Review by Frank Plowright
An evocatively disturbing title heralds Edel Rodriguez detailing his family history and early years in Cuba before switching to his teenage years in the USA. It’s rich on historical detail and of the oppressive indoctrination policies of Fidel Castro’s Cuban rule, every sacrifice and authoritarian intrusion state-sanctioned in the name of “The Revolution”. Relatives who moved to the USA before Castro’s takeover return for visits, and an effective scene contrasts how their lives are perceived by the young Rodriguez with the deprived reality he endures.
Worm is a compelling story, richly detailed, heartbreaking and eventually uplifting, but it’s not great comics. Rodriguez is a political illustrator by trade, his status confirmed by several covers for Time magazine, but his transition to a graphic novel is awkward. In order to pack in as much information as possible, the greater amount of Worm is told in blocks of text, and Rodriguez instinctively opts for a representational illustration instead of conventional comics storytelling. Scenes with traditional dialogue balloons can just repeat the text, although this diminishes as Worm continues.
The most powerful section is three chapters detailing events in 1980 when Castro decrees any Cuban wanting to leave for the USA can do so. Rodriguez is ten when his family makes that choice, gambling their lives that the offer is genuine. The sequence accentuates the terror and uncertainty of people unsure if the promised freedom is a trick, and also explains the title as one several insults shouted by indoctrinated Cubans at people wanting to leave.
Rodriguez leaps forward for final chapters occurring in recent times, when he’s a successful illustrator appalled at the increasing prominence of Donald Trump and his divisive rhetoric. He notices a reluctance to speak out against it in mainstream media concerned with balance, and relates the motivation behind a series of spectacularly effective images of Trump. However, having moved into more political territory, it’s worth noting Rodriguez either lacks perspective or ignores it. A chapter of him returning to Cuba emphasises poverty and deterioration, but while naturally grateful for escaping that life, there’s no hint of acknowledging how his adopted country’s ideological economic blockade contributed to Cuba’s situation. Being an autobiography there’s equally no necessity to record how hard and unfair life was for the average Cuban under Fulgencio Batista, one of many right wing dictators heavily backed by the USA across Central and South America.
Worm is powerful, informative and heartfelt in recognition of opportunities too many of us take for granted, and unyielding in showing the alternative. While not meeting the strictest criteria of what constitutes comics, as a book it’s formidable.
