Preorder Death to Pachuco #1 & #2
Exploring my adventures from SDCC 2025, the journey with 'Death to Pachuco', and upcoming Cape & Cowl Con presence!
It’s been a busy few months.
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: I can’t write for a living without this newsletter.
Now that Death to Pachuco has been announced as a miniseries at Top Cow and Image Comics, I have been reflecting on how I got to this point. I wrote an op-ed for the 2025 Eisner Award-Winning comics news site The Comics Beat last month. Some of you might remember when I was just 19 years old working for a bank and printing comics at Kinkos on Broadway and Craycroft in Tucson, Arizona.
It gave me a perspective on the last 15 years of fighting and clawing for what I have now. The whole experience gave me a new perspective and filled me with gratitude because I have so many people in my life that want to see me do well.
SDCC 2025
Then I found myself at San Diego Comic-Con International. SDCC is the Super Bowl, Grammys, Oscars, and biggest west coast stage for the comic’s industry. My pinch me moment was sitting on a panel with Matt Hawkins, Marc Silvestri, and Ryan Cady. I gave away free DTP #1 ashcans for folks that came to the panel. What’s that? You weren’t able to make it? That’s OK! I have them for sale on my shop.
Death to Pachuco & Gil Thorp
I have been collecting The Comics Journal since I was a teenager, reading about an industry I only dreamed of being a part of through the news and candid interviews with creators. But Rachel’s artwork on Gil Thorp got William Schwartz’s attention, so he interviewed us because of the controversial Fourth of July strip.
The hiring of Henry Barajas in 2022 as writer and Rachel Merrill as artist in 2024, however, has brought the strip into a new era — something taken into sharp relief with the recent July 4 strip, which made an overtly (and rather pointed) political statement about the Trump administration.
We are pulling double duty making Gil Thorp for syndication six days a week—and making DTP for the comic book direct market.
Speaking of which… Don’t forget to preorder Death to Pachuco if you haven’t already backed the Kickstarter. If you’re a backer, the latest update has a private link to read the Chicano Noir preview digitally. If you’re a pro or reviewer, I can send you the advance readers copy for your consideration.
The solicits for issue #2 went live next week. Click here to preorder via Golden Apple Comics and preview all the covers.
FYI: I’m self-funding this five issue series. Please help me make this a reasonable success. Tell your friends and neighbors! Thank you!
LISTENING TO…
I love driving around Los Angeles and catching Henry Rollins’ KCRW show late on a Saturday night. He has been spinning Horsegirl a lot lately, and I’m really digging their sound. Another reminder to support your local radio and NPR affiliates.
CAPE & COWL CON 2025
It’s been a while since I did an event in The Bay, so don’t miss me at Cape & Cowl Con at Fraction Brewery on Sunday, August 24th. I will be giving away DTP #1 ashcans to anyone who adds the series to their pull list! I made a TikTok about it!
@henryjbarajas I’ll be at Cape & Cowl Con on Sunday, August 24th! My goal for this show is to get as many pull customers to subscribe to “Death to Pachuco!” If you add it to your pull, you’ll get the limited edition Chicano Noir ashcan for free, or you can buy it for $10! See you there! @Cape & Cowl Comics
♬ Vibes do Studio Ghibli - Dandara Music
WATCHING…
My landlord got me into this incredible show Paranoia Agent by one of my favorite animation directors, Satoshi Kon. It’s been a couple of weeks since I have seen the whole series, and I’m still ruminating on the ideas the show presented to me. I also have been screaming the opening theme at the top of my lungs.
READING…
FUN FROM SDCC…
I wanted to reiterate that I don’t publish many photos of myself or my friends on likes of Instagram these days because I don’t feel comfortable sharing images that could be used for AI training. That’s why I’ll post some photos at the end of this newsletter. Enjoy!
