Border Town #1: El Chupacabra! America’s Diversity

Politics, pride, freedom, and raw emotions, a new kid on the block is torn between worlds as he and fellow teenagers face racial tensions with a supernatural twist. Border Town #1 sets the stage with a popular Latin American monstrous folklore that has crossed over the border to Devil’s Fork, AZ. Who can be trusted? Many challenges lie ahead for these teenagers and the townspeople.

Border Town #1, as the title implies, opens with a gang of racist vigilantes plotting attacks on Mexicans crossing the onto the USA’s soil. Illegal Immigrant vs Undocumented Immigrant, “most important” aspect in this case, the term “illegal” represents “dehumanizing”…oh, the power of wards.

As the new boy in town, Francisco Dominguez, who calls himself Frank, befriends himself with two local girls. These teenagers are often caught up in racial macroaggressions, but Frank finds himself in a potentially deadly rivalry by the school’s far white supremacist. Frank surprises the other teenagers by teaching this bully a few lessons.

Border Town #1 shows some raw teenage emotions who take pride in their heritage(s). “All Lives Matter” is a noble gesture, but an illogical statement in America and will not have merit until its people embrace all cultural diversities within the country. This spectacular issue expresses the fears of some and hate by others living at the border of Arizona and Mexico. Many teenagers tend to be bold and short-tempered, while others provide support when expressing feelings of what is most important to them.

The entire issue explores things that people fear the most with a horrific and thrilling genre. Many mythologies are derived from sacred cultural tales or fables, which usually deal with the human condition, good and evil, human origins, life and death, the afterlife, and the gods. Myths express the beliefs and values about these subjects held by a certain culture. Border Town #1 explores the Latin mythical creature called the Chupacabra! This is so exciting to implement into the story, but which “version” will it explore? Or, will this be a new story of the creature(s)?

Eric M. Esquivel provides an excellent beginning to a story arc dealing with some heavy issues of modern-day Americans. There are many realism factors throughout Border Town #1 that exposes the reader to immigration, different levels of racism, and bullying. At the same time, Esquivel’s storytelling provides a horrific twist with enough mystery that intrigues the reader to want more and anxious for the next issue.

Ramon Villalobos’s artwork enhances the storyline with its great facial details. The fight scenes pack more power to the points with blood splatter and raw emotions. However, I feel Tamra Bonvillain’s Chupacabra scenes were a bit too cartoony and most of the monster panels could use more of a deep blues with shades of grays and black backgrounds.