Bendición #1 - An interview with Chris Solis

• Writing credits in Scott Snyder presents: Tales from the Cloakroom Vol 2 (Sobrecubierta), A Flag to Fly & The Order of the Nun-Ya
• Previously was a musicain/songwriter in Pretty Soldiers and False to be False

Keeping it Geekly - Hello and welcome back, Chris. It’s been a bit since we last spoke, but you have been busier than ever!! A Flag to Fly, The Order of the Nun-Ya, and now Bendición #1. How have you been lately?

Chris Solis - Oh dude. It's actually been a pretty rough year dealing with mental health along with the state of the world, but I have stories burning inside that need to get out, so here we are again! It's great to be back talking to you and your audience again.

KiG - Bendición #1 is a horror story based on the folklore of the indigenous Mexican/Americans and centers around Myra Ramos’ first monster hunt while protecting the animals at her family’s farm. At its roots, what does Bendición #1 mean to you?

C.S. - It's a very personal exploration diving into everything I was interested in in junior high. As a mixed-race child, I always wanted to know more about my Mexican roots, which are also native American when you're digging into it, but my father was constantly trying not to be lumped in as an immigrant. He went to war in Vietnam to get his citizenship. He didn't get it till his 70s, but that's another story.

Learning Spanish and the practices of brujería were all around me growing up with my goth cousin and different friends and friends' families. I love learning more of the mythology of my ancestors.

These ideas, mixed with my love of Buffy and Supernatural, are the perfect story for me, and a lot of it feels easy right now, but there is a lot planned.

KiG - I love a good black-and-white horror story, and I feel the interiors complement the story perfectly. Was B&W always the approach you had envisioned for this story when scripting it?

C.S. - The Order of the Nun-Ya with Minerva Fox had b&w printing to save costs, but we ended up needing color to make the weapons and Nuns stand out. With that, I really loved the idea of highlighting color in b&w comics. So Bendición worked very well in black and white with David’s smoky, dark art, but as we get into the magic, more panels and elements will be in color, which adds even more comic magic.

KiG - Tell us a bit about the creative team involved; how did the collaborative process work between you and the team?

C.S. - Scam artists have been a problem in the independent space of comic creation online for a while now. AI has made that worse. Any post you make looking for any collaborator, you will get a handful of applicants with the strangely same portfolio and no credits to be found anywhere else, asking you what you're looking for in COMMISSIONING an artist. With that, I was interested in ways to figure out a way past that. I made a graphic with text, so it wasn't able to be scanned by artificial means. I apologized to all who needed alt text on it, but it worked!

I got two projects started that have artists I could only dream of being interested in them, let alone bringing them to life. David Romero on Bendición has his own storytelling and design ideas that flow effortlessly into this book. Bendición is hands down the most beautifully terrifying book I've ever made or been a part of. 

Aubrey and I are long-time friends now, and she's been my trusted editor for several books. She always works for the story and understands when I fight to keep things. She has been the rock of a lot of my books because she's been the best person to tell my stories in their infant stages, and she has taste I respect wholeheartedly.

KiG - The protagonist of Bendición #1 is learning Spanish throughout the story to create spells, which went hand in hand with you learning Spanish as well! Were there any challenges writing a bilingual comic while learning the language? 

C.S. - It is very overwhelming at times. It is something I definitely want to learn, so I'm going to do the work. Right now, though, Myra has spells her tía has taught her, so she has the words pretty perfect. She has to work on pronunciation, which we show by her family correcting her. Later, Myra will have to write her own spells in español, so I'll use my broken attempts to translate first, then actual translations by editors and other credited friends. 

It's all an excuse to practice. I hope bilingual kids and adults will enjoy that.

KiG - Speaking of Myra, what went into creating her character model and personality? Were there any particular sources you drew inspiration from?

C.S. - I loved Buffy growing up and still put it on for a good therapy watch nowadays, but a lot of the inspiration comes from growing up with my cousin Yvonne and playing Resident Evil 2 memories. She was a goth inspiration for a lot of my growing up, and brujería is always in the periphery of Los Angeles life. The area I grew up in.

Her likeness and expressions are very much a product of David Romero. I have come to love her like another part of my family.

KiG - What is next for Solis Sequentials? Do you have anything in the pipeline that you can chat about?

C.S. - I have a Giant Robot Fight Club story that's heavily based on my current day job in the live entertainment industry. Writing with my old friend from my high school and backyard wrestling days, Daniel Vasquez, has been a really great experience. It's building quite steadily with Tanner Ogle on art duty for that one.

KiG - Thank you so much for hanging out with us today. Where can readers find you to stay up to date with your work?

C.S. - Thank you for talking to me, Cody! The main website, SolisSequentials.com, is the easiest way to keep up with everything, but you can also find me as SolisSequentials on most social platforms.

Be sure to check out the campaign for Bendición #1 here!

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