Top Shelf’s ‘We Are Pan’ recounts the secret operation that brought 14,000 Cuban children to America

Andre Frattino and Yasmin Flores Montanez tell the true story of Operation Pedro Pan, which brought 14,000 children from Cuba to the United States between 1960 and 1962.

Top Shelf Productions will publish We Are Pan, an original graphic novel written by Andre Frattino and illustrated by Yasmin Flores Montanez, this summer. The hardcover tells the true story of Operación Pedro Pan, a secret joint effort between the U.S. government and the Catholic Welfare Bureau to evacuate Cuban children to the United States in the wake of Fidel Castro’s revolution.

Between 1960 and 1962, 14,000 children were sent from Cuba to America by parents who feared for their futures under communism. The children, later known as “Pedro Pans,” were relocated across the United States, most living in foster homes. In many cases, they never saw their families again.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Bruno Redondo on ‘The DC Art of Bruno Redondo’

From a 12-year-old reading ‘Incredible Hulk’ to three Eisner Awards, Redondo reflects on the career that led to his first major art book.

Bruno Redondo has spent the last decade building an impressive body of work in comics. From his early DC work on Human Target and Batman: Arkham Unhinged to his career-defining runs on Injustice and Nightwing, he’s developed a visual language that’s entirely his own — fluid, expressive, and packed with personality. Along the way, he’s picked up three Eisner Awards and won over countless fans.

Now, Clover Press is giving his work a retrospective with The DC Art of Bruno Redondo, a 200+ page, 9″x12″ hardcover collecting his best DC work to date, with an introduction by his longtime collaborator Tom Taylor. The campaign is live now on Kickstarter, with edition options ranging from hardcover to signed slipcase, plus extras like a fold-out edition of the iconic Nightwing #87, rarely-seen sketches and commissions, a sticker pack and more.

I recently had the chance to talk with Bruno about how he fell in love with comics, what makes his creative partnership with Tom Taylor tick, what it means to look back at a career still very much in progress. and more. Here’s what he had to say.

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