Comic Books
Unleashing the Superpowers Within: How I Turned My Passion for Comics into a Career in Writing
By Veronique Medrano · 3 min read
This is the story all about how I went from comic book fan to comic book writer — ten years after graduating college for Creative Writing. I’ve been a hardcore comic book and manga fan since I discovered Sailor Moon and Wolverine in the same year, at 9 years old. I went to school to be a writer, kept going to comic and anime cons with my friends through college, and stayed adjacent to that world for a long time.
A Lunch That Changed Everything
In the spring of 2021 I had lunch with my good friend, author David Bowles, at Nana’s Taqueria in Weslaco, TX. While shooting the breeze about life and the creative process, he asked if I’d be interested in writing on a possible upcoming project. There wasn’t much going on in my world at the time — I was an indie musician dealing with chronic pain from a car accident, and the last time I’d written in a contracted manner was for one of the local papers in the Rio Grande Valley right out of college.
The Thirteen Origins: Dragonthrall
CHISPA: The Thirteen Origins is a series of one-shot origin stories for the members of The Thirteen — a group of Mexicans and Mexican Americans who discover they are chispas, able to wield impossible powers. My story follows Maria Guadalupe “Lupe” Miramontes, a student stuck in a precarious position: she’s from Mexico but studying in the U.S., dreaming of giving her parents a better life. Shortly after her eighteenth birthday, she’s stopped from returning to her studies for misplacing one of her many documents — and in a moment of personal weakness, she finds strength in an ancient legend come to life.
“I went from fan to comic book writer — and Dragonthrall is only the beginning.”
I’m joined by artist Steph C. — who has previously worked with Disney, Warner Bros., DC Comics, and Fandom Tabletop — to create a dreamy, gorgeous world to immerse yourself in, with Charlene Bowles on lettering. And subscribe to Comic Carnales with Chispa Comics co-publishers David Bowles and Hector Rodriguez III for a look at the comics we’re all creating for this series — I’ll be on the podcast soon. Excited to have y’all join me on this journey as I release Dragonthrall — having just finished writing my second comic with Chispa Comics set in the same universe.
Written By
Veronique Medrano
Singer-songwriter, writer, and archivist out of Brownsville, Texas — Veronique’s writing covers Tejano history, culture, and the artists who built it.