Julio Cortázar’s only graphic novel, La raíz del ombú, remains almost unknown and certainly understudied. Illustrated by Argentine painter Alberto Cedrón and published in Venezuela in 1981, it served both Cedrón and Cortázar to depict and reflect upon Argentina’s social and political unrest from the 1930s to the 1970s. Neither its revised second edition, published in Argentina in 2004, nor its most recent translation into French in 2013 has contributed significantly to its critical acclaim. This article studies the place of La raíz del ombú within Cortazar’s work and analyzes the role of politics, aesthetics, and the fantastic in this unique work.