By Zack Quaintance — Sometimes you come across artwork and a name for a comic that combines to immediately let you know this is a book you were destined to love. That was certainly the case with me and the new Kickstarter comic, El Cabron Pistolero. The name is simple but effective, roughly translating in English to the bastard (in a cool way!) gunslinger, and the artwork aesthetic has this cool 80s grafiti cartooning vibe that I absolutely love. I immediately backed this project and reached out the same day to ask the creator if we could connect for an interview.

You can read that interview below, and then when you’re done, you can head over to the El Cabron Pistolero campaign page to back this book. Enjoy!

Raz Sibaja Interview

ZACK QUAINTANCE: The first thing I wanted to ask about was your improvisational process. You touch on this a little bit on the campaign page, but you sort of let the previous day's work dictate what was to happen next. Within that, how did the story surprise you as it developed?

RAZ SIBAJA: I certainly did not have the end in mind for this creative experiment, I tried to leave each page somewhat open for the next day trying not to paint myself into a corner so to speak.  The fact that I was able to create a complete story arc off the cuff was surprise enough, granted the story is pretty straightforward.  The most fun and surprising were the fight scenes (where I did try to tap into my crazy over the top kung fu theatre influences), trying to be original, fun exciting and readable.  Though I did end the story a day earlier than I anticipated so I had to figure out some sort of epilogue that would give it a nice closure but a slight cliff hanger of possible things to come, so the epilogue was certainly a surprise twist for me and has opened up a whole new world of possible Cabrón Pistolero stories. 

ZACK: I definitely see the Clint Eastwood/Sergio Leone influences, but I was wondering what inspired the monster elements and designs? 

RAZ: I'm an 80's kid (a 90's teen) so growing up on old spaghetti westerns, bad horror movies, Japanese monster movies like Godzilla and Gamera and also lots of kung fu theatre certainly were seeds of my early influences but as I grew into a teen i certainly got more into the monster movies and indie films.  Enter Robert Rodriguez's Mariachi movie.  That re-kindled my love for the spaghetti westerns.  It was a western set in modern times.  That got me thinking about a cowboy type character.  Initially it was a Mariachi style character that over time morphed more into the Clint Eastwood inspired type character.  So now its the early 2000's and I've been drawing him in my sketchbooks more and more and figured he needs to be fighting someone.  I was watching a lot of Guillermo Del Toro movies a the time like Devil's Backbone, Mimic, Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth and just loved his monster designs and was I drawing a lot of monsters and creatures as well in my sketchbook and then just started drawing them both together and really liked the aesthetics of this old western character and monsters.

ZACK: The trailer sets your story in Chile's Atacama Desert, which is a place I am endlessly fascinated by, it being a hub for psychedelics and stargazing...and also the driest place on Earth. How did you arrive on Atacama as your setting?

RAZ: From the start my character was Latino but I did not want to set him up in the typical Mexican setting that most people relate to cowboys and westerns.  My cultural origins start in Costa Rica where my parents are from and I did live there a few years and my wife is from Panama where I also lived for a few years and their is a big cowboy type cultural their especially when you leave the city and go out more into the country side of those countries. Argentina had its "Gauchos" in Chile they are known as "Huaso" So I decided to set this character in central and South America which is so ripe with different types of environments that my character can play in.  Rain forest jungles filled with lush vegetation and all sorts of animals, barren desert landscapes, mountainous areas and ice glaciers in Patagonia.  It's a large wonderful playground to be in.  I figured this Chilean landscape of beautiful mountains and expansive dry desert landscapes was a good place to set the story but certainly hope to take him into more diverse landscapes eventually.

ZACK: You also mention that if this Kickstarter is a success, you have ideas for other stories starring the Pistolero. What can you tell us about what else might be in store for this cabron? 

RAZ: As I've mentioned some what in previous questions I certainly do want to take him into different regions maybe get more into the Latin monster folklore of certain regions.  I certainly have certain scenes in my head that I want to tie together into a story.  Go more into his origins, how he became el Cabrón Pistolero and how he started hunting demons and the why behind it too. Is he the only demon hunter, are their others like him?  These are all points I would love to touch upon with him.  Plus like I said the epilogue of the comic certainly opens many more story possibilities with him too.

ZACK: Finally, how did you come up with the single best name for a comic I've seen all year? 

RAZ: Thanks for that I've heard back from plenty of people that are really digging the name too.  The name came surprisingly quick to me and loved it.  I didn't want him to have a name per se.  I really liked the how the Lone Ranger was just the Lone Ranger.  A name that carried some weight, intimidation to those that heard it, a reputation that has been built behind it, a name that the people in those stories began to give this un-named character.  So in the world I created where this lone person goes from town to town, place to place and kills demons and monsters without impunity or regard to anything or anyone around him.  Would he be a good guy in their eyes or a bad guy, what would they begin to call him?  Taking these thoughts in, my brain just quickly threw out "Cabrón Pistolero" and I though it was perfect description of the character.  My roots are Central American and cabrón can mean different things in different regions, bastard, damned, a cheat, an assh*le, a badass.  My mom hates the name she finds it abrasive and offensive, that just cemented the name as the perfect choice.

El Cabron Pistolero

El Cabron Pistolero
Writer/Arist: Raz Sibaja
El Cabrón Pistolero is a gun toting, sword swinging demon slayer that travels up and down Central and South America searching for and dispatching these demons back to hell. A merciless fighter, instinctually feral and sever when it comes to killing demons.
Back This Project Now: El Cabron Pistolero

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.