SPES (Esperanza)

— Story by Francisco de la Mora
— Illustrations by José Luis Pescador
— Based on conversations with José Alberto Garibaldi
— Published by FCE, 2025

SPES — hope, in Latin — is a graphic novel that begins in the Andes and travels across the world, exploring an urgent question for these calamitous times: how can we live well without, in the process, destroying the place we inhabit?

Guided by the hope embodied in an Andean bear that walks like a human, we follow his path across four continents as we consider this question. In an age of crisis and climate change, the first step toward finding a solution is to truly see the problem.

In the tradition of T. S. Eliot and G. K. Chesterton, we too discover that after long journeys of exploration, we return to the same place — yet find it transformed, as though we were inhabiting it for the first time. For this reason, rather than seeking solutions to the climate crisis within the same logic that created it, SPES proposes that our answers should not overlook our own traditions and cultures; within them we may find ways to live and act more wisely in the world.

At the height of the graphic novel tradition, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko reminded us that with great power comes great responsibility. Joe, the Andean bear, reminds us that hope is not the same as optimism — for it endures even amid disaster. It is not only love for what lies ahead that moves us to act responsibly, but also love for what we carry with us from behind.

SPES is a call to help the world around us bloom again — to nurture the inheritance that surrounds us as we search for possible ways of living well.