Guillermo Zubiaga: "The Basque Center of New York, a firm reference for everyone who is on the East Coast"

1) What is your daily life like?
Besides having the job of being a husband and a father (laughs), I like to wake up early, although I prefer to go to bed late, and every day I like to run between 3 and 5 km, although many times I must leave it for late at night. I say this because my job offers me a lot of autonomy and this means I must have an iron discipline, so that I don’t fall into the temptation of just loitering. This is why I think that running is a way to measure my time.
I also have to draw, and in spite of the fact that I like to do this, I also have to do it to earn a living, which is why I spend about 8 to 10 hours fastened to the worktable.
On top of this, the classes I teach at the University are a good way to break the routine.
As you are Basque, we know that you have a special relationship with the “Euskal Etxea” of New York.

2) Tell us how you see the “Euskal Etxea” and the work that takes place within it.
For every Basque that is here, the “Euskal Etxea” means a lot; to me it is the place where I met my wife and where the children visit Olentzero; besides, it is the oldest one in the United States and a firm reference for everyone who is on the East Coast.
Despite having been closed during the summer, I try to go as much as I can, even though the last season I have not been able to stop by. Between the publication of the book and all the work that it entails, and the birth of my daughter, I wasn’t able to do so, but I am sure that once they re-open the EE (Euskal Etxea) in September I will stop by again. The comings and goings of time may have caused, as some say it already has, that “our Etxea” be a little despondent, but we will not demoralize and I believe that despite it not being what it used to, we will make an effort to put it in such high rank, yes we will!

3) You can speak Basque and do so frequently. Have you taught it to your son?
In some way or the other I have the opportunity to use Euskara, and if I can’t make it happen, what else is there to do! Truthfully, since I came to New York from Syracuse I have dived into a Basque environment, on the one hand with the EE and on the other, every day, where I have the opportunity to speak with someone in Euskara: despite having been abroad many years and having had deteriorated the millenary language of ours, I haven’t stopped using it and teaching it to my children. Even so, when my son (who is American) speaks to me in Euskara, he leaves me stunned.
Last year he learned the Olentzero song for Christmas and when the lyrics say “Bihar merendatzeko…” (To have tea tomorrow) instead of “botila arduakin” (bottle of wine) he says “esnea txokolatekin” (chocolate milk). He is such a pill! I think that my daughter, despite being only 7 months old, is also headed down the same road.

4) What does Guillermo Zubiaga like?
I think I am very eclectic, in field of music I like almost everything, although I prefer Punk Rock.
Regarding food, I eat a little bit of everything, I am a glutton and I don’t say no to anything, even though I must say I have a very aristocratic palate, because the Basque Country has a very special relationship with food. I really like history, mythology, movies, travelling, animals (especially whales), the sea, rowing, swimming, any water sport, nature, going to the mountain and such. I love talking to the elderly, they have so much wisdom! I would recommend anyone to talk to their grandparents about their grandparents’ lives. I had that opportunity and learned about my ancestors, I know about 100 years of their history.
Furthermore, I have always had a predilection, since I was a little boy, towards models and model building, and lately I have begun making little ships with chopsticks and ice cream sticks.

5) An inevitable question: what comic has captivated you and why?

The question about my influences is very similar, and being there so many works of art, the list would again be endless.
Amongst others, “Day of Future Past” or “Dark Phoenix Saga” from X-Men; Frank Miller’s “Dark Knight returns”, Pat Mills’ and Simon Bisley’s “Slain”, Manarak’s and Hugo Pratt’s “Indian Summer”, any issue of Asterix, Bernet’s Torpedo, Giraud’s Lieutenant Blueberry, etc.

6) Finally, what would you like to say to everyone who has read your interview?
Firstly, that I leave the Basque “decoys” unwillingly or maybe by duty, as a very serious way to “basquisize” the American comic industry. Secondly, that “Joanes edo Euskal balezalea”, in a more bold or possible way, and despite the fact that I am not a powerful person or a politician, but only a drawer, is the best weapon I have to make the Basque culture known. That is why I feel happy that Joanes is the first Basque comic created in the US.
I also want to make a small gift to the Basque Country by means of the tribute to our whalers, given that characters such as Joanes de Etxaniz and his descendants have had to wait for a long time before knowing what became of their ancestors. Comparing this time to the time that this work has taken me, the latter is nothing.

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