PABLO LEON Speaks out over the Guatemalan Genocide with SILENCED VOICES

Interviews Editor, Andrew Irvin, sits down with Pablo Leon, creator of Silenced Voices, a graphic novel available now through HarperAlley, an imprint of Harper Collins.

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COMIC BOOK YETI: Welcome to the Yeti Cave, Pablo! How are things going in Los Angeles at the moment?

PABLO LEON: Hello! Thank you for having me. LA has gotten hit quite a bit this year, between the fires that decimated parts of the city early this year and the constantly ongoing ICE raids. I think we’ve been hit a little hard, but a lot of people have been fighting just as hard for their communities, so it gives me something to hope for and look towards.

CBY:  I know it's been a rough year over there, so I figured you might have some critical perspective to add. For those amongst our readers who aren’t previously familiar with your work, you’re not only a comic creator, but also an animator. You’ve directed a 30-second teaser animation for Silenced Voices I’d recommend everyone check out. Before we dig into the details of the comic, can you share a bit about your collaboration with Dinamita Animacion to pull this together? 

PL: First off, thank you for asking about the trailer. I always had a dream of having an animated trailer for a comic I made, similarly to how a lot of European comics have done in the past. It was a lot of work in such a short amount of time with little prep, but I think it turned out fantastic, and thankful to the Dinamita team for putting up with me on a such short notice. Dinamita Animación is a studio in Bogotá, Colombia. During a film festival in Mexico, I watched a short film they made called “Boa,” and I was blown away by it. I met one of the co-founders, Julian Sanchez, and got along really well. "Boa" is essentially an anti-war film with an environmental message, and Silenced Voices, as well as “Remember Us,” my short film—which they also animated—are also anti-war, historical memory pieces. I think a lot of the bond we share comes from the long history of conflict and similarities between our countries, and not enough people are doing these kinds of projects using animation in Latin America.

CBY: I hope our readers give "Boa" a viewing, as well, because it provides a lot of subtext to digest in only a minute of runtime. For the graphic novel of Silenced Voices, you handled both the writing and art, which is a massive undertaking, especially when working in full color. To that end, you credited Gabriella Noar with color assistance, and Pablo Solares with inking assistance, and typography by Chris Dickey and Maddie Price. How did you enlist support on this title, is there anyone else you’d like to shout-out, and what was the extent of everyone’s contributions to the final published edition?

PL: Of course! Barbara Perez has been a dear friend and gave me a lot of advice since the early days of the initial idea, and my agent, Britt Seis believed in the initial pitch since day one. In addition to my editors, Andrew Arnold and Rose Pleuler, who helped shape the story along the way, and Deborah Menkar at the Teaching for Change organization, which has been incredibly supportive of the book. 

I think with Gaby and Pablo (Solares) it was an organic relationship; them being from Guatemala, they believed in the book since it’s a part of our history that’s not only ignored in the States, but barely a footnote in the educational system there. And they were very instrumental on getting certain visual elements right as well.

CBY: Having a shared identity for cohesive visual identity would certainly help tie everything together, and the alignment of their efforts with your vision shows. You mentioned using Artstudio Pro, Procreate, Photoshop, and SketchUp to create this title. What does your workflow look like from a blank start to a finished page? What techniques and proclivities have you pulled across from physical media to your digital process, and what entirely novel capabilities has working digitally enabled?

PL:  My approach to this book was slightly more traditional than, say, the first Miles Morales (Shock Waves), which had a lineless look and relied more on shapes and colors, Silenced Voices had line work and heavy ink blocks, accented with overlay textures that unified the whole thing. Clara’s apartment was a location we were going to see quite a bit, so having a SketchUp model of the apartment to rotate around, export, and draw on top helped speed things up so much. 

Because of my day job as a designer for animation, where we have to work digitally, I almost exclusively work digitally across most projects. It does sacrifice a bit of the organic workflow and ‘happy accidents,’ and admittedly, it’d be great to be able to have physical artwork, but it makes editing pages and doing last-minute changes a lot less nightmare-ish.

CBY: If you've found a workflow that lets you get where you need to go without slowing down, it sounds as though it would be worth continuing to keep up that pace. Let's also not ignore the subject matter of this graphic novel is incredibly heavy; you’ve dedicated it, “In memory of the victims of the armed conflict, the disappeared, and their loved ones still waiting to find them. And to those among us who continue the fight for justice, even in exile, and the ones who suffered and died seeking refuge and shelter in the United States, the first and second-generation kids dealing with their parents’ trauma and left with more questions than answers.” As someone with lived experience spanning borders, what should our readers understand about state-based oppression, recognizing that people are being pulled off the streets and being disappeared in the United States?

PL: Right, so unfortunately, this type of violence is cyclical. It starts little by little, until these things that you thought were outrageous start to become the norm. A lot of what was depicted in terms of oppression in Silenced Voices also happened in our neighboring country, El Salvador. It happened to Chile and Argentina in the 70s. Seeing a lot of the same tactics reappearing in the U.S. is frightening, but from what I’ve learned: we’re now more connected than ever, and news travels fast. Maintaining these types of oppressive actions for long is incredibly hard, and a collective pressure and strong community can help break these dangerous tactics, specially early on. We see it with the pressure that ICE is under, because yes, they’re still committing gross crimes, but they’re also being sloppy and constantly getting stopped by the communities they are attacking. 

CBY: Malice limited by incompetence, in action. I hope communities are able to outmaneuver and subvert the illegal abuses of power being undertaken by the current government, and this graphic novel helps illustrate why civil society solidarity is so important for holding private and public sector to account. You’ve broken down Silenced Voices into four chapters, each from the perspective of different family members who have been impacted by the genocide perpetrated against the aforementioned Maya Ixil ethnic group. Can you tell us more about this indigenous community; why they were targeted under the Rios Montt regime, and how ethnic oppression in Guatemala arose in the “banana republic” landscape of Central America as a legacy of Settler-Colonialism?

PL: Basically, the Maya Ixil were targeted and accused of being part of the leftist guerrillas. A small number of them joined the rebel groups, but the state basically painted the entire population as a threat. Around 80% of the villages were razed through the “Scorched Earth” counter-insurgency plan. Survivors were forced to move into what is known as ‘model villages’ controlled by the state. Worth noting that by this time, we had several military-led governments and dictatorships since the 1950s, Rios Montt wasn’t particularly any different than the rest of the military men before him, but his extreme methods against the indigenous population were what made him stand out. There are studies that suggested his goal wasn’t just to eradicate the guerrillas, but also to ‘domesticate’ the population and transform their environment. The genocide committed had several consequences, several elders were killed, and it created a loss of language and traditions in several regions that couldn’t be passed down. The worst part of all of this, is that this type of racism is still alive to this day in the country. 42-45% of the country’s population is indigenous, but they’re still seen as ‘other’ by officials and many of the general population. 

However, there are ongoing movements to try to rescue some of their traditions, not just in Guatemala but also in the States, where many people fled during the 70s and 80s. Several communities in LA, Atlanta, DC/Maryland, have organized and have tried to keep many of the languages alive. Essentially, they tried to eradicate the seeds, but despite the challenges, the seeds of tomorrow are re-building and creating new communities. 

CBY: There are so many parallels to this state-led violence and oppressive behavior both historically and ongoing, it's difficult (but very necessary) to keep track of all the transgressions of our species against itself in these degrading, purgative attacks on the cultural diversity - the liberties and freedoms - of all people. Reclamation of these cultural legacies that remain is critical in fighting efforts at erasure (which weakens us, as humanity, for in our diversity lies our adaptability). On the topic of legacy, the brothers in your tale, José and Charlie, struggle to get their mother to open up about her time in Guatemala, only to later realize the extent of inter-generational trauma at play. I’ve spoken with a couple creators about Derrida’s concept of hauntology, but not much around the role of affective silence, which you explore adeptly. What sort of experience did you draw upon from both your personal life and additional research or input from others to ground this narrative and help people connect to this story?

PL: When I left the country to come to the United States, I was still fairly young. I understood something had happened, but not enough to ‘get it.’  My first encounter with this wall of silence were my parents, actively telling me to leave this part of my memories behind, worry about the present. Once the multi-generational aspect was added to the book, I was able to talk to a lot of first- and second-generation children of migrants, which was particularly eye-opening. The feelings of being denied, or being unaware of the pain their parents or grandparents faced, not knowing what could stir up or trigger painful memories, etc. It was an interesting part that I threaded into the characters of Jose and Charlie, specifically the frustration that many feel as they try to educate themselves about their family’s country and history of conflict. I think our families meant well, but they, unaware of it, added to the culture of silence that we solely need to break.

CBY: Inter-generational trauma response requires a concerted effort toward recovery, and that consequently demands willingness to address—and communicate—the nature of that trauma to find ways to heal and continue on healthier paths forward, so I think you captured this "collective heroes' journey" within this family quite poignantly. This is also not your first foray into addressing issues of extrajudicial government overreach and the punitive or demoralizing aspects of the international drivers of migrant activity. You were nominated for an Eisner for your work putting together The Journey, and you’ve tackled the issue in your latest animation, Remember Us, which  addresses the conflict in El Salvador in the 1980s. The 1980s seem to provide a point of recurrence for tipping points, corresponding in no small part due to Reagan-era state intervention policies that did not conform with international law. Given the current arrangement between the US administration and El Salvador under President Bukele. How would you like to see people internalize the messages in your stories and best redress the justice & equity issues that have been exacerbated in the decades of US intervention across the region?

PL: Right, while Remember Us was always meant to be about the historical memory of this tragic war, when it was released last year, it was hard to avoid the problems and comparisons that we’re seeing in present-day El Salvador. However, I still think it’s important to preserve our historical memory of these events, to honor and remember those who were lost and those who were never found, confronting our past so we can be better for the future generations. The core ideas for all these projects can be boiled down to “Remember that this happened, because it will happen again, and maybe we can’t stop it, but we will know how to prepare a lot better,” which is incredibly easy to say, a lot harder to do, but unfortunately solely needed. 

CBY: For Silenced Voices, how did you happen to find its home at the Harper Collins imprint, Harper Alley? Were there any other publishers you approached, and what was the pitch process like to lock things down for publication through Harper Alley? 

PL: The first iterations of this book were stories of survivors of conflict, and “Remember Us” was part of it. I approached a few editors but they didn’t really respond well to it. Once the split came and Silenced Voices became its own story, about a fractured family with the backdrop of this terrible event looming around, it became a lot more manageable to pitch. My literary agent took it out, a couple of publishers were interested in the idea, but Harper were very open, plus they were willing to learn about this very specific time period that, unfortunately, isn’t very known in the States, and I appreciated that a lot. And you know, the rest is history. 

CBY: We've found here at Comic Book Yeti, while HarperCollins is a rather large publisher in the literary space, it is always very encouraging to see them provide a home for independent voices from the comics community to tell stories that can provide the market with some critically needed perspective. As an animator, you’ve worked for many major studios on productions which include huge crews to assemble. How would you compare the collaborative exercise of developing animation to the singular vision and dedication required of an auteur creating a graphic novel without the same sort of team dynamic? 

PL: I personally the collaborative experience of animation, even in the indie space, there’s always room for improvements, support when you need it, and how to move forward without everyone having too many major breakdowns. I do think a lot of the things I’ve learned in animation have carried into comics, and vice-versa. I compare doing comics to free-falling from the largest building with no safety net while putting on and switching through different hats at the same time. But by the time you reach the ground, you have a 250-300 page book and it’s worth it, because you made that with your own hands, and maybe you grew while you were doing it too. In my case, how to approach and portray this kind of real-life violence in comics was key and something that would’ve looked very different had I done this years before. And that approach was carried over when we were making Remember Us.

In general though, my approach with the things I’m making these days is, “There are no rules, only consequences.” There is no right way of doing comics or animation, it’s helpful to know guidelines of course! So you can tear them down and use them as you see fit.

CBY: A very apt visual metaphor for the process, Pablo. Bringing it full circle, I think your creative approach has unfortunately settled into a position of central governing philosophy in the United States, and authoritarianism will continue pushing boundaries until these transgressors are met with consequences. To close, we always provide an opportunity for creators to make note of other, unrelated work that has garnered attention. What other comics, film, music, literature or other art forms have been inspiring you lately?

PL: Yes! Because of the nature of my work, the research can be a little overwhelming at times. Sometimes I need something that anchors me. So my recommendations may be a little all over the place, but I maintain that it’s good to step out of the comfort zone and consume things completely out of your radar.

So on the comics side, I recently finished Feeding Ghosts; it’s a very dense but powerful story. I think there’s something really interesting about my generation (millennials) that we’re constantly digging up our past, and it’s done so well in this book. On what I mentioned about needing feel-good stories, I really enjoyed Plain Jane and the Mermaid. 

Also just finished this middle grade book, Mani Semilla Finds her Quetzal Voice, by Anna Lapera. Whereas my book deals within the years of the conflict, Anna’s book talks about some of the events in the aftermath of the war in Guatemala, the ongoing femicide of our region, and being able to do so for a multi-generational middle grade audience is impressive. 

I recently watched a Mexican film called Sujo, which asks the question: Can people really change, or are they attached to their destiny? And I feel like it answers the question with honesty, while talking about violence in Mexico with much needed tact and seriousness. It’s a slow-burn but I think worth it. The short-animated film The Hangman from the 60s, which basically boils down to “act before it concerns you personally”, which is unfortunately very much a necessary watch for the current times we’re living. And then top it off with My Life as a Zucchini, just so you can balance yourself out and feel good about life again.

CBY: I'll second that final recommendation, and we've all got good cause to go through the others, from your descriptions. I hope our audience enjoys Silenced Voices and everything else we've discussed today. Pablo, it’s been an enlightening experience having you stop by - if there are any publication, portfolio, or social media links you’d like to share, now is the time and place for them!

PL: Thanks so much for giving me this space. You can find me on Instagram, Bluesky and Tik Tok as @Artsypabster. And you can see my portfolio here - https://artsypabster.com/

If you made it down this far, thanks for reading!

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