Graphic Novel Review: We Are Pan

reviewed by Cord Scott, UMGC-Okinawa

Andre Frattino (w), Yasmin Flores-Montanez (a), and Fabi Marques (colors).  We are Pan.  Sherman Oaks, CA: Top Shelf Press, 2026.  $19.99/26.99 CAN. ISBN978-60309-592-1.  https://idwpublishing.com/products/we-are-pan

History often makes for exciting stories in any media, be it film, books, or comics.  Unusual or underreported history is even more engaging - if done properly.  To this end, Top Shelf (an imprint of IDW) presents the story of Operation Pedro Pan, a large joint Catholic / US government mission to rescue children from the newly formed socialist country of Cuba in 1959.  This graphic novel gives a voice to those children who went through an airlift from Havana to Miami, then were dispersed to other areas of the United States. 

As Alex Segura noted in his foreword, the reasons for any sort of historic event such as a mass evacuation often misses the “why” – in this case, the human element which drives people to take desperate measures to get their children to a safe location.  Segura also mentioned that as he was writing, elements of the US government were “push{ing} the boundaries of democracy – as citizens, legal residents, and children, are taken off the streets by masked agents, and as the checks and balances that supported our freedoms wither away.” (p. 4).

The story follows the lives of several children growing up in Cuba from Christmas of 1958, when the country was run by Fulgencio Batista, through his overthrow by Fidel Castro (January 1, 1959), then past the Bay of Pigs in April 1961.  The main characters are from a variety of socio-economic stations, while many are simply young children just being kids. They expound on their goals in life, and politics seem far away. However, the threats of the socialists coming to power changes the simplicity of their lives, and the children must focus on serious threats. 

Following the laughably failed attempted overthrow of Castro, the need to get children out of the country became more pressing for their parents.  Further complicating matters, the government forced many teens to join the Conrado Benitez Brigade, a Communist youth group set up to indoctrinate teens into its new ideology.  Some female members were sent to the country to teach literacy skills to the farmers, only to be taken advantage of by those same farmers.  For Antonia’s parents, who constituted the upper class of Cuban society, this fear of her being sent away drove them to get her out under any circumstances.  This theme plays out throughout the story.  The fear of indoctrination even drove one musician, Sebastian, to join the Cuban revolutionary guard in the hopes of being able to get his son Wilfredo out.  His father’s dreams for him take on a fearful tone, as young Willie turns into a miniature Fidel Castro. 

Other teens must deal with different problems.  Eugenio, another youth from a middle- or upper-class family, is offered a scholarship to study in Prague.  Not only is this dream destroyed, but his own sexuality must be stifled in this new society.  One simple line of dialogue recalls a real case of the era. Eugenio and his brother are discussing art, and Eugenio notes that he does not want to go to America because all the good artists draw comic books.  This seemingly insignificant line recalls the real-life scenario of Antonio Prohías, a Cuban cartoonist who was threatened with arrest for cartoons critical of the Castro regime.  He defected to the US and eventually presented his work to editors at MAD Magazine.  His most famous series for the magazine was the wordless “Spy versus Spy” satire of the Cold War.

When the children can get to America, via an audacious plan brought to life by Father Bryan Walsh, a young Catholic priest in Miami, they must adapt to a new life, often without the support of their families.  This plot device may seem contrived, but it is part of the essential story line.  As Father Walsh noted, these children must deal with not only the trials of youth, but they now live in a new country with unfamiliar surroundings.  The story also goes into issues of loss and violence.  Rosa sees a friend executed in the street while in Cuba, and when she and her boyfriend Cesar try to escape through Havana Airport, he fights with the guards so she can escape.  Later she hears that Cesar was executed for his actions.  Some of the children are reunited with family, such as Eugenio and Juaquin, and Willie, but Antonia’s mother suffered greatly before arriving in the US. 

The story is one of immigrant’s resilience, loss, and adaptation to a new environment.  The graphic novel also hits upon issues that are of discussion and concern in the US even to this day.  In the afterward, it was noted that one of the Pedro Pan interviewees had a negative attitude towards those coming to America in 2026 by “illegal” means.  This comment is indicative of the differing views held by immigrants to the US.  To that end, the graphic novel has succeeded in bringing to light a lesser-known aspect of history and its relation to the current day.