The El Muerto Timeline

This image is a panel directly from the comic book. In the panel we can see Diego getting sacrificed by the aztec got of death, Mictlantecuhtli. The panel forshadows many things to come in the El Muerto story, and it also references a lot of aztec mythology. Art courtesy of Javier Hernandez.

beyond the page. It also shows how little Diego understands about what is happening. There are many nightmarish panels throughout the story that Hernandez adds for a few reasons. “Such imagery gives the reader an immersive experience in visceral emotions,” Hernandez said. “It helps heighten the drama of the scene as well.” El Muerto Brian Cox, a movie director, heard about El Muerto and wanted to make a movie about it, so he brought the idea to Hernandez, and eventually they made a deal. Before they knew it, they were filming. Hernandez wanted a good fit for Diego, and that’s when he thought of casting Wilmer Valderrama. “At the time, he was a big star on That ‘70s Show, and as a young Latino actor he fit the role perfectly,” Hernandez said. Cox did the rest of the casting, but Hernandez said he thought the actors were all good fits for the characters they played.

This movie was Hernandez’s first time branching out of comic creation, but he is no stranger to filling multiple roles. In fact, he took on pretty much every role in making El Muerto. Not only did he sketch the panels, but he inked them, wrote the entire story, and even published the book with his own publishing company. “The independent comics biz (creating and publishing the works yourself) is challenging,” Hernandez said. “Besides creating the actual stories, you have to handle all the production as well as the business/publishing/marketing/distribution end yourself. If you hustle, you can keep at it.”

Sometimes the business is not the most profitable, but he does other things as well, as if that wasn’t enough work already. “I teach comics classes and workshops as well, and lecture on comics, too. So I keep myself employed in various ways.” It can be easy to become demotivated during all this, but his love for comics keeps him going to this day. “The bottom line is you need to really love comics to keep at it through the years, through the ups and downs.”