PETER KUPER, with wife and daughter in tow, left the US to live and work in Oaxaca (“Wahaca”) — from 2006 to 2008.

The place conquered Kuper heart and soul and has since triggered an annual peregrination there.

Mexicans have long suffered from US citizens’ romantic but all-too-often abusive fixation with their country. But, if Kuper’s graphic novel Ruins is anything to go by, his fascination appears to be sincere and refreshingly free from self-indulgence.

It’s an engaging story with significant autobiographical overtones, such as the chronicling of the memorable teachers’ strike of 2006, the resulting massacre of protesters instigated by the corrupt governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz — member of Mexico’s right-wing PRI party — and the murder of US journalist Brad Will.

The narrative focuses on entomologist George and ethnographer Samantha, who take a sabbatical from New York in Oaxaca in an attempt to rekindle a dissipating marriage. The destination is chosen by the latter who once had — unbeknown to the husband — a passionate, if tragic, affair with a local man.

Soon after their arrival, George makes the acquaintance of an English bookshop owner — who bears the same name as himself — and a self-pitying former press photographer Alexander, the murdered Will’s alter ego. Samantha, meanwhile, falls for the charms of local painter-cum-gigolo Francisco.

Simultaneously, in a parallel narrative, a monarch butterfly hatches in Canada and begins the extraordinary, risk-laden migration undertaken by its species to a particular Oyamel fir in Oaxaca — an incredible odyssey, based on fact.

Kuper, who draws and writes Spy vs Spy for MAD magazine, is a superb and subtle story-teller and draughtsman who skilfully combines these two narrative threads. His affection for the place and knowledge of its history informs every frame and, like the local scorpion, the stings are aptly in the tail.

While the dysfunctional couple remain the story’s central protagonists, one or two locals get more than just a walk-on part, notably the enigmatic maid Angelina.

The concluding head-to-head between Samantha and George is exquisitely judged and the ending is appropriately bittersweet.

Ruins is not only an ideal and affordable must-read for the inquisitive. It’s also a very persuasive argument in favour of giving graphic novels the respect they deserve.

Review by Michal Boncza