Zotz - a Mesoamerican comic

My name is Daniel Parada. I was born and raised in San Francisco, (USA), but my family is originally from El Salvador. After graduating from School of the Arts High School in 2008, I studied illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York. I later returned to San Francisco and by the end of 2011 I published my first comic, Zotz.
Zotz is an alternate history comic set in the late sixteenth century Mesoamerica, in a world where the Spanish conquest fails and two new indigenous empires emerge and wage war on each other; a successor to the Aztec Triple Alliance on one side and a new K’iche Maya empire on the other. This alternative world also adds supernatural elements, a lot of which revolve around the bat figure Zotz - hence the title of the series.

The first covers of Zotz comic by Daniel Parada

To make this comic I had to do a lot of independent research. I used mostly books; at the time there were only a few sites I trusted for information online. Funny enough, one of the first resources I found was Mexicolore’s website! I always had an interest in history and for a time I even considered studying archaeology instead of illustration. Nevertheless, my knowledge on Mesoamerica was still very limited compared to what I knew about ancient Rome or Greece for instance. Although my comic was an alternative history and I knew I could take liberties, I wanted to have a strong foundation from which to build upon this new world I was making. This meant getting the details right before deciding to make any changes so it would feel like a logical progression according to the respective culture. What’s more, because comics are a visual medium it was just as important for them to look right.

‘Getting the details right...’

As I became more rigorous with my clothing reconstructions, over time I began making more accurate fashion sets to use as a personal reference. I started making these because I saw so many historical fashion drawings from Europe and Asia, but those from the Americas were either very vague, or were hardly ever given proper representation. I think people took a great liking to these when I shared some publicly. For some, it was curiosity; others observed them for reference material of their own, and many wanted to know more or to reconnect with their indigenous roots. Whatever the reason was, I realised the importance of this work and continued creating these as a side project over the years. One of the other reasons I enjoyed doing this is because I feel people can re-imagine more easily what the people actually looked like, and in a way it humanises them. My art in general attempts to bring the past to life for modern audiences to enjoy without sacrificing the accuracy. I think sometimes people can get caught up in negative stereotypes or in romanticizing the past (especially in Mesoamerica), and I attempt to cut through these things with my art.

‘I began making more accurate fashion sets...’

The hairstyles show the rank and social classes very clearly in Aztec culture. The men for instance are allowed to wear different hairstyles depending on the number of captives they have taken in battle. In this way everyone would know the valor they showed in battle. Others like the priests, had distinctive hairstyles. The standard hair for men seem to be hair above the shoulders with bangs. As children both boys and girls had similar hair around the age of 10. While the boys began growing tufts in the back of their hair, girls began growing it out. By the time they were married, they had the typical women’s hair which was bounded up. Other varieties existed depending on the social rank and among women in the palace according to Sahagun. Some hair colours may have varied a bit as well as hair dyes were sometimes used. For this hairstyles study I represent the grey colour here as a neutral tone representing their normal skin and unpainted features to better focus on the hair.

‘Hairstyles show the rank and social classes very clearly in Aztec culture’