Originally published at: https://geektherapy.org/interview-with-hector-rodriguez-creating-el-peso-hero-and-rewriting-the-superhero-narrative/
Author: Jorge Perez
Meet Ignacio Rivera. Once, when he was a boy, he was dared by his cousin to enter a cave. To prove to his cousin that he is not scared, he enters the cave and explores. He comes across a crystal, but when he grabs it, the cave begins to collapse, trapping him in all the rubble. He is rescued by a mysterious womann but he has lost his memory. Afterwards, he is raised by another family, not knowing where he is from. He soon discovers that he has powers such as super strength and invulnerability. No as an adult, he helps the innocent people that live near the Mexican-US border as El Peso Hero.
El Peso Hero: Border Wars was created by Hector Rodriguez. He grew up in the border town of Eagle Pass, TX. His first interaction with comics was with Mad Magazine, which his father (who was in the military) would bring from his tours. “He grew up with comic books himself, following Captain America, Sergeant Rock, and some old school military comics.” Rodriguez loved Mexican Cinema and would often visit his godmother who ran a video store. “I love Mexican cinema growing up because I was in the border. So I would go to Mexico.” Rodriguez continued, ”And so I would go there and check out movies and read. They had a wide range of movies. I was a big wrestling fan growing up to El Santo, so those guys were actual heroes in real life.”
I asked him what inspired this work, and he stated “I love image comics in the 90s you know, I was buying comic books, so it was like the very action, splashy 90s. Some of the characters were really gritty.” Rodriguez continued, “I’m like, yeah, you know, it’s cool, but I never really saw myself in them, you know, of a Chicano Mexican American kid. It wasn’t until early 2000s, 2003, specifically, where I really thought about the idea of El Paso Hiero while I was visiting my grandparents in the border.”
“You know, my grandfather was telling a story of this happening of these renegade special ops guys from the Mexican forces that broke away and started a criminal organization called Los Zetas back then. So my gears are turning, my creative juices are saying, wow, it would be awesome if there was a character, a superhero fighting these groups, you know, like a Norteño Mexican American fighting these criminal organizations. I started writing, sketches, and drawings, that’s how El Paso Hiero was born, 2003.”
How this novel hits on border topics, Rodriguez elaborated, “Sometimes there are things that I write that tend to become reality, for example, the family separation.” Family separation happened during President Trump’s first term in office, yet Rodriguez wrote El Peso Hero: Border Stories in 2014, where he wrote on the topic of families being separated from each other when detained by ICE. “I had to make that very dark decision to actually portray that in the book.”
Superheroes such as Iron Man or Captain America can inspire their readers to be better people. Rodriguez hopes readers “Enjoy the book, first of all, and second, to see the world in a different lens and with a different perspective. Something very powerful about comic books is that you’re able to put yourself into somebody else’s shoes. In this case, it could be the shoes of a refugee crossing or a student being picked up by ice.” Personally, putting oneself in someone else’s shoes helps develop an understanding of that individual. It helps spark conversation on tough topics, and it may help with coming up with a solution.
I asked Rodriguez what he does to manage his mental health since he writes about heavy topics when telling a story of El Peso Hero. “It’s very important to always take a moment to enjoy yourself.” stated Rodriguez. “I game with my brothers and spend time with family. It’s very important to take care of yourself andlove one another.”
El Peso Hero: Border Wars will be an exciting installment in Ignacio’s story. It will challenge Ignacio in ways he has never been challenged before. There is a Kickstarter that is running from April to May 5th that you can help support.