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I Stumbled Onto The History
Journey Into Mexico: The Revenge of Supay follows a young man with the ability to summon the Aztec and Mayan gods who is trying to save Mexico from demons and the old gods. What was the inspiration for your story?
During the time that the idea came to me, I was heavily researched into South American mythology and the pre-Catholic era, meanwhile I stumbled onto the history of Vicente Guerrero, Mexico’s first Afro-American president and his organized execution from rival political forces and the following Mexican revolution. Something started to form as I was putting all that together, and thought how interesting it would be to bring more knowledge of this material to the public, but also weave together a story that resulted in Mexico’s independence from Spain. Surprisingly it all took shape very quickly and I desperately sought an artist.
How long did it take you to imagine, draft, and write the world your characters live in?
This process took about 6 weeks to finalize where I wanted it all to go.
The art in this book is fantastic. What was the art collaboration process like with illustrator Sebastián Guidobono?
Sebastián was fantastic. I sent him the first few pages of script, and he hit it out of the park. I really couldn’t believe it, and wanted him to be the primary visualist of the story. He is incredibly easy to work with, and collaboration with him is a dream. We’re similar age-wise and we had a great time generating the graphic novel together.
What is the next installment in this series that you are working on, and when will it be available?
I’m in the research phase of that, and not quite sure if I want to do a direct extension of the story or fastforward it thirty years and involve Mexican politics during the American civil war. To be determined!
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Cascarones
Cascarones by Sylvia Sánchez Garza is a book that feels more like a conversation between friends. Garza follows the life of a Mexican American girl living in Texas and straddling the world of her culturally rich family and a whitewashed school she winds up going to in Houston. This isn’t the only aspect of her life that Garza delves into. She also explores the girl’s relationship with family members, her church, family traditions, and general everyday life. The book is a nice collection of individual stories about the same family with the same cast of characters.
This was a nice, easy read. It is simple without being boring. The individual stories make nice bite-size sections. This made it a fun, leisurely read. The book feels light. It doesn’t have that heavy, daunting feeling that some books do.
As previously stated, the book feels like a conversation. It feels like sitting and listening to someone reminisce about their childhood. I prefer first-person writing as a rule, and this book delivers. It makes it feel so much more personal and relatable. Readers will identify with pieces of Suzy’s stories and may see themselves in her experiences. Reading this book felt like getting to know a new friend.
I feel like I got to know the characters better through each story. Each story gave a better feel for the family. Even with short stories that could stand alone, the characters were well developed. It also gave a lot of insight into the culture of Mexican American families. It showed their strength and pride in their clinging to their traditions. There were quite a bit of Spanish words and dialogue in the book. I know very little Spanish and looked up a few words, but the vast majority of the meaning comes out in the context.
My only complaint is that I might have liked the stories better in a different order. I think I would have liked them to be in chronological order rather than jumping back and forth in time. It threw me the first time I realized Suzy was speaking as an adult. It took me a second to understand what was happening since it jumped from her being a kid to having kids, and back to a kid again. I lost my bearings a little but recovered quickly.
Cascarones by Sylvia Sánchez Garza is very well-written. There are very few errors, if any. It had a nice pace and flow. I liked following Suzy navigate between two worlds as she is pulled between her large Mexican family and living in America. It taught me a lot about the Mexican American culture that I didn’t know. I’d like to read more by Garza.
Pages: 162 | ISBN: 1724622889
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