Graphic novelist Henry Barajas is finding success by incorporating Mesoamerican history — and his own family's past — into his work.

Transcript

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Imagine a world where the Aztec empire still stands, there's a plot to overthrow the ruler and a young dragon prince has been taken hostage. That's the premise of the graphic novel "Helm Greycastle," which came out last year. Its author, Henry Barajas, grew up close to the U.S.-Mexico border but says he never learned Mesoamerican history in school. And he didn't learn about his own family's past until much later. Now Barajas is finding success by incorporating that history into his own work. NPR's Mia Estrada reports.

MIA ESTRADA, BYLINE: This is how Henry Barajas pitched his recent Latinx fantasy book.

HENRY BARAJAS: (Laughter) What if Mordor had a south side? What if the world of "Lord Of The Rings" had a south side?

ESTRADA: The 32-year-old writer lives in Los Angeles now, but his roots run deep in Tucson, Ariz. That's where he fell in love with comic books. His family would watch "Antiques Roadshow" on PBS and see comic books sold for thousands of dollars. That led them to buy boxes of comics, thinking they would find something worth selling. Most of the time, they weren't worth much, but he did gain something else.

BARAJAS: That's how I got a lot of my morals, then learned about the, you know, racism and crowded prison system through "Spider-Man" and learning about mental health through "Batman" and feminism through "Wonder Woman," you know, just some of the things that weren't in my regular studies as a child.

ESTRADA: In "Helm Greycastle," Barajas wanted to continue to tell stories about characters he never really saw in "Lord Of The Rings" or "Dungeons And Dragons," some of his favorites growing up.

BARAJAS: I wanted to create something that challenged the Eurocentric fantasy genre while making it organic and also incorporating Mesoamerican history. I grew up an hour and a half away from the Mexican border and had no idea about Mesoamerican history and was not taught that.

ESTRADA: By the time Barajas was 17, he was working as a bill collector to help his family. During and after work, he spent his time learning everything he could about comics. By 23, he was working as a journalist at Arizona Daily Star. A few years later, he got the idea for his first big book.

BARAJAS: Growing up my family would always tell me my great-grandfather did something amazing, but they really didn't go into detail what that was.

ESTRADA: Barajas dug into his family history and found that his great-grandfather, Ramon Jaurigue, co-founded the organization Mexican, American, Yaqui, and Others, or M.A.Y.O., in Tucson, Ariz. In the 1970s, the group pushed for the Tucson City Council to improve conditions for members of the local Pascua Yaqui Tribe, a group that's lived in the region for hundreds of years. In 1978, Barajas's great-grandfather helped the tribe gain federal recognition, and Barajas says he feels proud to share his family history.

BARAJAS: It was really important for me to - you know, to tell a story that was positive about the Indigenous and migrant communities here in Tucson, at least in this country, and to shine a light on not only a civil rights activists but a World War II veteran.

ESTRADA: All of this is chronicled in Barajas' 2019 graphic novel "La Voz De M.A.Y.O: Tata Rambo," which is all about his great-grandfather's efforts, whose nickname was Tata Rambo. The graphic novel is now read by college students, sits in libraries and the Smithsonian gift shop and earned Barajas spots to speak at comic conventions around the country.

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BARAJAS: Is there any young Latinx creators here? There we go. That's one.

ESTRADA: Now he's giving advice to younger writers.

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BARAJAS: It's all about just being a good person and telling your story. People want to hear your story.

ESTRADA: J. Gonzo, the illustrator of the book, still can't believe the success of it.

J GONZO: The Smithsonian thing, really, that's still kind of, like - it just seems surreal. The fact that you can buy a book I drew at the Smithsonian is - I can't get my head around it yet.

ESTRADA: After years of trying to find his way as a writer, Barajas says he finally found his voice.

BARAJAS: I'm very lucky that people were paying attention and I get to use comics to tell stories that I feel that are important.

ESTRADA: He recently worked on an "Avengers" comic for the city of New York, which encouraged young kids to get vaccinated. And now he's working on a short project for DC Comics, showing others like him they can be superheroes, too.

Mia Estrada, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF LOUPO'S "I'M READY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.