An interview with noted graphic novelist Julio Anta, whose five-part comic book series HOME (co-authored with Anna Wieszczyk) explores the real-world implications of a young Guatemalan immigrant with extraordinary superpowers. Anta is also the author of many graphic novels that continue to explore Latinx identity and American life for readers of all ages. These include the Eisner Award-nominated Frontera, This Land Is Our Land: A Blue Beetle Story, and Sí, Se Puede: The Latino Heroes Who Changed the United States. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, Anta currently resides in New York City.

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Riya: Hi everyone, and welcome! Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with Julio Anta, a writer who uses comics as a powerful medium to tell stories that tackle identity, justice, and immigration. You might know him from HOME, a graphic novel inspired by the family separation crisis, or Frontera, which explores the evolving US-Mexico border. Thank you so much for joining us, Julio! My first question that I had for you is what initially drew you to comics as your medium of choice for storytelling?

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Julio: Well, I grew up reading comics. I grew up in a time when you could get comics in places outside of comic bookstores. So you know, at the gas station or at the pharmacy, there would be spinner racks filled with comics. And when I was a kid, the comics that I was most drawn to were Sonic the Hedgehog comics. That was my favorite character. And so I read a lot of Sonic and I wrote some superhero stuff, but then really it was Manga that got me really into comics. And eventually I got into Marvel and DC stuff as well. And then, I think I kind of fell off of comics and became disinterested in it until I was in my mid-20s and I learned about the Walking Dead comics, and that brought me back to comics. So then when it came time for me to tell my own story, I immediately knew that it was a comic that I wanted to make, and then I kind of just threw myself into trying to figure out how to write comics. 

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Riya: That’s such an interesting journey into comics. Kind of going off of that, why do you think comics are uniquely suited or just really great for addressing personal stories as well as heavier topics, like identity and family? 

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Julio: Well, you know, I think literature in general, not just including comics, is very well suited for that because the reader controls the pace. Everything is exactly laid out on the page in a way that you know there's no ambiguity. Compare that to watching a TV show or movie, and maybe you don't understand the reference, or maybe something goes over your head. But in comics, you can see the context there. I think about one of my books called Frontera which takes place in the Sonoran Desert. If you read a novel and someone's talking about being in a desert, I think maybe a lot of people's minds might go to a place like the Sahara Desert, for example. But the Sonoran Desert, as you see in the book, is totally different from the Saharan desert, and it's right there on the page. So even if you were to describe it in a prose novel, if you've never been there or seen pictures of it, you might not see it in your mind. With comics, you can show people exactly the places and the kinds of people you're talking about. I think that is one of the things that makes it so well-suited. 

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Riya: That’s a great point about the power of visual storytelling. Speaking of storytelling, what is the one thing you want people to take away from HOME, either about the immigrant experience or in general?

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Julio: You know, I think empathy is the number one thing that I want people to walk away from any of my books. But for HOME in particular, I wrote that shortly after the family separation crisis of 2018 and I did a lot of research and used parts of my own family story, and I wanted people to identify with this kid that is an authentic portrayal of a migrant child being taken away from his parents, from his mother in this book. At the end of the day, the superhero stuff and the superpowers, that's all fun. And it's also a sort of metaphor for the way that he feels internally. But really it's all in service to get people to come in and pick up this book, and then, hopefully, have them walk away with some empathy for people that are in this situation.

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Riya: That idea of fostering empathy is so important, especially in today’s world. For young creators who want to use comics to tell impactful stories, do you have any advice for them?

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Julio: If you're someone who wants to specifically tackle social issues, then my first piece of advice, is to write about what you're passionate about. If you are passionate about social issues, then I think you're already going to do that automatically. So that's my first piece of advice. The second thing is to read a lot, not just, superhero Marvel, and DC comics, but read all comics, and that includes web comics and manga, and then also movies and TV, because all of that feeds into your writing. At the end of the day, storytelling is storytelling, no matter what the medium is, even if it's like a narrative podcast. And then I would say while you're watching, while you're listening, while you're reading, take mental notes on the things that really worked for you personally. What are the things that made you connect to the character? What are the things that you just thought were cool and fun? And then take all of that as inspiration. I'd also say, do some research on story structure—that helped me a lot when I was first starting, things like the hero's journey and the 3x structure. In Western storytelling, most of what we're used to falls under that. But, just read a lot, and write a lot of things that no one ever is ever going to read. Start with short comics. That's how I started with, like, four to ten-page shorts, and then use that all as experience. For any sort of practice, you need 10,000 hours of practice before you're good at it. I don't think that's a science, but I think the spirit of it is true, which is that you need to put in the hours and do the work. And it doesn't have to be work that anyone ever reads.

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Riya:  Looking back at your own journey, when you were creating HOME, was there any particular challenge that you faced that was instrumental in creating the whole piece?

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Julio: I think with HOME, there's a lot of context that you need in that story to understand what's going on. I think the last thing that anyone wants to do in any medium of storytelling, but in comics especially, is to have too much exposition, which is just like, “Here is a big block of text where I'm going to explain everything you need to know.” So I think that was a challenge, trying to find ways to not just do a bunch of exposition and still have people understand. Why are people migrating to the US? Why is separating children from their families, different from the way that it's normally done? What is “seeking asylum”? What was this particular time period of the spring of 2018? I like to think that it wasn't too exposition-heavy. The book starts with excerpts of a speech that kind of gives you some of it while you're watching the juxtaposition of someone saying, “They're criminals.” And then you're seeing this mother and child go on this grueling journey, and then there are conversations throughout the book that people are having where they're learning about this for the first time, just like the reader might be learning about it for the first time. So, yeah, I would say that was difficult, but, you know, at the end of the day, it was fun, and you know, we got to make something that we were proud

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Riya Rao: That balance of storytelling and context is definitely something that makes HOME so compelling. Were there any particular reactions from readers that really stood out to you?

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Julio: When this book came out, you probably read it as like a collective book, but it came out as single issues, at first as five single comic book issues. And I remember the day that the first issue came out, I got multiple DM’s on social media from people that I didn't know saying that this was the first time they saw themselves or their family story in a comic book, which was very powerful to me, and, for a brief moment, it's something to feel proud of, but I think it also highlighted to me the urgency of the work that I'm doing. That was in 2021, and it shouldn't be that in 2021 it's the first time that someone whose family were migrants and crossed the border is seeing themselves in a comic for the very first time. So I think that sort of encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing and to keep telling these stories because it's an area that is very under-explored in US comics.

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Riya: Looking ahead, are there any other stories or themes that you want to explore in your future work, and do they connect to any of the previous themes of identity or justice that you've already worked on?

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Julio:  I mean, you know, all of my books come from some sort of interest that I have in a topic. You know, HOME was obviously the family separation crisis, Frontera was the history and the evolution of the US-Mexico border, and telling a story that spans time and allows the reader to see the way that the border has evolved. So, every day, when I'm reading books, watching the news, reading Wikipedia endlessly, or learning new things, I'm always picking up little things that I will sort of put in my head or maybe even make a note of, and that will eventually be part of a feature project. And oftentimes my books are a combination of a lot of ideas that I've picked up over time, like HOME was a story about the family separation crisis. And then I also had this idea for a super-power book, and then I combined them. So there are all sorts of things that I want to do in the future. Graphic novels and comics take a long time to make, so I already have books lined up through 2028 that are going to be coming out. So anything that I'm working on now is after that. So yeah, there's a lot of stuff, and I'm just going to keep pursuing writing books about topics that I'm passionate about. 

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Riya : That's amazing, I'll be sure to keep an eye out! Thank you so much again, Julio, it was absolutely amazing talking to you!

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Julio: You too, thank you. The work you're doing is great. Have a great day!