Comics have always been political for me.
The first comic I wrote was entitled El Roco in the fall of 2010 along with my dear friend Ernie Bermudes. The story of El Roco’s origins is that his parents were workers on the day they were deported by immigration and customs enforcement. He later wins a superpower in a farming accident when he is hit by lightning while spraying toxic pesticides. He tries to revenge the murder of his parents and fight crime, but Ice tries to expel him when he catches his man. Ernie told the Arizona Daily Star: “The whole idea came from the SB 1070’s problem and the ability to laugh at it. El Roco is like a combination of Don Quixote and Tick.”
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signs the law in favor of law enforcement and safe neighborhood law, failing to provide identification is a misdemeanor, and brings law enforcement agency Cult Blanche question someone’s immigration status during “legal suspension, detention or arrest.” This was a deliberate, horrifying tactic to target someone from the most vulnerable migrant groups that came primarily from the southern border.
I wrote El Coroco out of protest and wrote a letter. I wanted to guide my complaints to making my first comics, hoping that I could prove that I could use it to make comics and make voices. Boy, I was wrong. That’s what someone told me, “I don’t sell Mexican cartoons.” 2010 was not a good time to become a comic Mexican. I’ve made more cartoons after local success, but you can only get for now with the old pueblo. I used my own funds and printed using Ka-Blam. I put their pageback cover ads for discounts. But I was only 21 years old and didn’t know what I was doing.
Fast forward five years, I wrote and kickstarted the La Voz de Mayo Tata Rambo with J. Gonzo, Bernardo Brice and Claire Napier. La Voz is about the Battle of my great grandfather, Ramon Jaurig, to help the Pascua Yaqui tribe gain federal recognition, with the help of the organization he co-organized and the communities he encouraged. This is also the height of the #MeToo movement, and one sad detail about his past was that he is known for tricking my great grandmother and having a very orgy. I was inspired by the autobiographical graphic novel of the great late Congressman John Lewis, who he wrote alongside Andrew Aidin and artist Nate Powell. Thanks to the support of 844 supporters, we launched three successful Kickstarter campaigns to achieve our goals. Collectively raised $22,578. My employer at the time, Top Cow Productions, published a graphic novel in the winter of 2019. Again, I was so paranoid that I thought this would make my life easier in the comic book industry. Finally, I am taken seriously. I wasn’t totally wrong.
La Voz has now made an educational comic with Dolores Huerta and J. Gonzo for New York City citizens for all initiatives on the moves of immigrant farm workers with Louie Chin, Gab Contreras and J. Gonzo. La Voz has been added to the Grade 11 Unit 6 of the American History Class in NYC EDU. It was sold at the Smithsonian gift shop. I was thinking about discussing my pandemic (Helm Greycastle) with La Voz in everything about NPR. Despite all this, I still have a hard time being taken seriously in this business.
Now, 15 years after my first self-published comic, I’m doing it again. I know now that I felt Dr. Manhattan was sitting on Mars and wandering around the blue will. I co-created Death to Rachel Merrill and Pachuco, an incredible artist and spoken. I’m tired of having to resort to Kickstarter to do something in this business, so I tried to sell this to a publisher. After receiving the inevitable rejection email, I knew it was time for that leap and that on November 12th, 2024, when I launched another Kickstarter to fund the first issue. The only problem is we are facing another President Trump. In my mind I knew my life and the lives of other brown people were being violated. The quote, which is a quote from the Project 2025 Manifesto, was not entirely a blueprint, but it was a blueprint for incoming administrations to provide ice servicemen and hardware to the border and expand detention centres.
Unlike writing La Voz’s El Loco in 2010, I was ready to face difficult times thanks to Chicano Noir: Death to Pachuco, a historical fiction. The premise is a private eye tasked with finding a sleepy lagoon murderer in the middle of a five-day war known as the Zootsuit Riot. In 1943, American sailors decided to incorporate it into themselves to improve the “Choro Invasion” and “Zoot Suit Gangster” that roamed the streets of Los Angeles. Mexican men were hunted in salons, cinemas and dance halls, stripped off their zoot suits and burned them. Zoot’s lawsuit was considered a political statement. The amount of wool needed meant that there was a shortage of troops fighting the forces of the axis in World War II. In Zoot’s Suit Case, in propaganda issued by the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee, Orson Welles spoke of his interactions with a Mexican friend during the trial.
“… Things are tough. There’s no place to play the game, or nothing.
You can say that now, but that applies to more than just a Mexican. If you have a tattoo, a 4-year-old ice cream cart, eat stage 4 cancer, or are a British cartoonist, put a friend of the president’s YouTuber in a box, or speak out against the president’s interests, don’t go outside. At least Patchukos managed to find the sailors in uniforms, but now they are wearing regular clothes and hidden behind their masks.
Death to Pachuco will be editor of Moi’s 5th issue series, art by Rachel Merrill, color art by Lee Loughridge, and Will Dennis. The first issue will visit the local comic shop on October 8th, thanks to the good people of Top Cow Productions. My friends, David Lapham, Katie Skelly, Marco Finnigean, and Ramon Villalobos, who happened to be incredible artists, painted the covers for the first issue.
One of the free aspects of writing death on Pachuko is that you don’t expect anything other than making an incredible comic with my friends. I’ve learned my lessons so far. It’s a bad time to become a Mexican, but I’m still there for nothing. Even an exclusive deal with Marvel.
Henry Barajas has begun writing Comic Beat. Barajas then became the author of Gil Thorpe, a longtime syndicated daily comic strip that Rachel Merrill drew. His new Chicano Noir Top Cow series (To Pachuco) will be available for purchase at comic shops and digital retailers on Wednesday, October 8th.
Cover and preview art for death to Pachuko #1
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