Killing Castro

In the sweltering summer of 1963, at the height of Cold War paranoia, CIA agent Robert "Bob" Maheu is sent to Cuba on a suicide mission: to humiliate Fidel Castro during a live television broadcast by dosing the dictator with LSD and making his beard fall out. But Bob bears the permanent scars of the MKULTRA program, a dark secret in the untold history of the United States' clandestine services. This is the (mostly) true story of how one agency's epic failure set the United States on a collision course with peace, told for the first time as a graphic novel. "Exposes our own government's nefarious experiments with mind control and the CIA's 638 different plots to kill Castro (and you thought it was only exploding cigars). Jason Ciaccia's tale of LSD-crazed assassins would seem ridiculously hyperbolic if it weren't derived from the CIA's own files. With nods to Grosz, Bacon, and Steadman, Aaron Norhanian's fervid ink drawings propel this witty hybrid of underground comix and the History channel right over the top." - Village Voice, "Best of the Year." "This wild ride down the roughest back roads of U.S. intelligence (so to speak) belongs in most academic and many public libraries. Ralph Steadman-channeled grotesque drawings, full nudity, and splatter violence make it best for adult collections." - Library Journal. "...may not fit the bill for those seeking a Ludlum-esque conspiracy thriller, but it certainly has plenty to offer. Cold War buffs will enjoy its witty summation of that era's events while those unfamiliar with the history are likely to seek out more information on the topic when they're finished reading. This graphic novel is a genuinely funny take on a story that could have been made up if it hadn't already taken place in the real world." - Comics Bulletin.