In 2012, Yussuan Remolina (Just-Swamp) and Daniel Cruces (Daniel) decided to create a dark, adult oriented fantasy comic, told from a Cuban perspective. Cuba has a long tradition in comics, but since the crisis of the 1990s the national output was severely affected, and the different magazines that published comics for adults disappeared. This void was on the other hand conducent to the creation of fanzines and indie magazines, sometimes self-financed, sometimes supported by international funding, where Cuban authors could draw something that wasn’t a localized version of “My Little Pony.” It’s in this deprived environment that the idea for “Athena” is born, and even if the situation has changed (for the authors and for Cuba), we still cling to the belief that this is a ‘necessary comic.’

Luckily, Just-Swamp is a serious, hardworking fellow, and it’s thanks to him that this first volume of “Athena” exists at all. Sadly, Daniel is neither of those things, and it’s thanks to him that only this first volume exists until now. Let's hope that, Athena willing, he sits in front of his keyboard and hammers off a decent adventure for their characters.

Just arrived in the city, Zara is kidnapped and assaulted by the owner of the motel she’s staying in. Unfortunately for both of them, the girl is a (re)encarnation of the goddess Athena, whose tendencies towards love and violence are a mystery even for Zara. Our story follows the misadventures of Zara and her acolytes in a world where practically everyone is hostile, but few things are more dangerous than whatever resides inside each person.