Henry Barajas on DEATH TO PACHUCO

Reading today's guest's interviews, listening to his podcasts, and looking at his resume, already packed with highlights at a relatively young age, it becomes clear that he does not shy away from conflict or controversial opinions because he does the research to back up his words. He leans into the smart side of smart-ass and we're all much better for it. This Tucson-native has already been a banker, bill collector, marketing manager, jazz festival co-organizer, pizza delivery guy, radio DJ, stand-up comedian, and Director of Operations at Top Cow Productions. 

But it's the jobs of journalist and comics writer that we are probably going to focus on the most in today's chat, because that, to me, is where he has really come into his own. 

He's worked with J Gonzo on La Voz de Mayo, a graphic novel about his activist great-grandfather who helped Arizonan Native American tribes gain federal recognition and save their land from being taken over for freeway construction. 

He was commissioned by the New York City Public Schools to work on comic about Dolores Huerta and her work organizing and unionizing farm workers in California 

He's been writing the daily syndicated newspaper comic strip Gil Thorpe since 2022, only the fourth writer in the strip's 67-year history. 

He's contributed to comics benefit anthologies like The Good Fight and Where We Live. 

He's written for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and IDW. 

He's written an epic fantasy story with a Mesoamerican base rather than the traditional European one called Helm Greycastle from Image Comics. "What if Middle Earth had a southside?" That's him.

And on top of all that, he's the Los Angeles chapter president of the National Cartoonist Society. 

But today he's here to talk about his latest work from Image Comics, a Chicano noir story set in Los Angeles during the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 and centered around the Sleepy Lagoon murder. Drawn by Gil Thorpe collaborator Rachel Merrill, Death to Pachuco follows private eye Ricky Tellez as he tries to get justice for his client in a town where that is in short supply on a good day. The trade paperback collection of the series was released on March 18th, and you can read the entire first issue over at imagecomics.com. 

Writer Henry Barajas may end the first issue with the line "Now's not a good time to be a Mexican", but over the course of this episode, Henry tells Greg about why it's not a bad time to be in his shoes right now.  

[This episode is number 830 in a series.]

 

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CHAPTERS

 

00:00 - Intro
03:32 - Zoot Suit Style Talk
07:09 - Ricky Tellez
11:13 - Collaborating with Rachel Merrill
14:47 - From Research to Writing
19:00 - Standup Stage to Comics Craft
22:26 - Top Cow Origins + Lessons Learned
26:35 - Cover Artists, Collaborators, and David Lapham
30:55 - Working on Daily Strips
33:44 - Henry's Role in the Cartoonist Society
36:00 - Lettering Your Own Comics
38:40 - Benefit Anthology Work
40:16 - MorrisonCon Memories
43:32 - The Future of Ricky Tellez
47:09 - Dolores Huerta and Civics Education Comics
52:37 - Outro