Die Mexikaner

In the summer of 1864, 6,000 men were recruited in Laibach for the volunteer corps of the crowned Emperor of Mexico, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria, hoping to find prosperity and happiness in that distant land. Among them were many Slovenians, who were colloquially known as "The Mexicans" and soon became the subject of songs expressing a longing for another world. However, a "Mexican" was also Maximilian, who hoped to gain the recognition in a foreign land that he had been denied in the Austrian ruling house. Thus, the disastrous fate began to unfold. The five-volume graphic novel "The Mexicans" weaves an expansive epic narrative of this absurd expedition, which would end with the deaths of thousands of soldiers and civilians, as well as the Emperor himself. Its individual stages—from the scheming initiation of the "business" to the recruitment of volunteers, their arrival in Mexico, the various battles, and the tragic conclusion—follow historical events. These events provide the pretext for a wicked adventure story, in which a desperate man driven by his passions plays the lead role, a tale that has yet to be told. "The Mexicans" is a historically grounded narrative about the failure of megalomaniacal European expansionism, but also about the failure to escape personal guilt.