Guillermo Zubiaga: "Joanes and the Basque whaler wants to show the archetype of Basque whalers"

A year before starting my degree at the University of Syracuse, I started working in a cartoon studio, Animotion Inc. After the graduation, to be able to expand my job possibilities, especially in the cartoon area; I went to New York, where I started working in the comic industry. After one season I managed to get Marvel to accept me to work in the X-Force section. In 2003, I started doing the inkings in titles such as Dark Horse, B.P.R.D and Image Comics’ The Romp.
Since 2004 I have been designing t-shirts for New York-based companies. I combine my drawing and image-creating jobs, and graphics projects, with my position as a Professor and reader in the Department of Art and History in the University.

Not long ago I published a graphic novel based in Basque whalers titled “Joanes edo Euskal balezalea” (Joanes or the Basque Whaler), although it is really the first part of the trilogy “Txalupa hegalaria” (The Flying Whaleboat of Joanes).

1) Guillermo, you were born in Baracaldo. What prompted you to go to New York?
 I came as an exchange student to finish High School when I was 18. I intended to go to the UK afterwards to pursue my University degree, but fate brought me back to the United States. Thanks to a friend, I met a professor of the New York State University in Syracuse, and pursued my studies there. I graduated with a degree in Fine Arts.

A year before graduating, I had the opportunity to start working in the cartoon studio, and two years later I decided to move to New York; above all, because it offered a lot of possibilities to launch my career, which was initially focused towards cartoons; but that did not happen, so I started making comics instead.

2) You left the Basque Country when you were 18. What are your best memories?
Perhaps when we left Baracaldo and moved to Laukiz, to the beautiful mounts of the Basque Country, or that idyllic place of my fatherland that I have in my memory. In those surroundings and in front of the strong and rapid growth in urbanization and industrialization I started to identify myself with the Basque Farmstead life, which is the principal base for the Basque identity.

3) You have expanded your work into so many facets: drawer, reader, professor… In which one are you most comfortable?
The truth is that I don’t mind: I like both being a professor in subjects I like, such as History or Art History, and talking about these subjects for hours in front of a class. But, along with graphic design, these have always been secondary next to drawing. This is without a doubt the area that I like the most, but unfortunately it is very competitive, for example, because of the amount of talent present in a city like New York. This is why I have had to pull through with many different jobs to be able to “survive”. Even so, I feel comfortable in any job that offers me the possibility to keep expanding my artistic facet and my creativity. But above all, what I like the most is being able to create my own stories and having the privilege of translating them into a reality.

4) Since when have you had this passion for drawing?
I have always had it. Ever since I was a little boy I liked to draw. As they say at home, I was born with a pencil in my hands.
Maybe my passion for art began at home; my mother is a musician, and my father an architect. Perhaps that is why I have always had art near me.

5) What artists have had the biggest influence in you?
As to writing and drawing, there are many authors that have influenced me. The list would be very long and I would probably forget to name someone, because there are many talented people.  In the comics field I have had a good friend and tutor, which was who introduced me into this world, Adam Pollina, but there are many others that have also influenced me: Neal Adams, Mike Mignola, Klaus Janson, Frank Miller, Bernie Wrighston, Joe Kubert, Adam Kubert, Jimmy Palmiotti… As I have said the list is long. As to the narrative: Hugo Pratt, Scott Lobdell, Will Eisner, Goscinny, Uderzo, Stan Lee, Francisco Darnís, Jordi Bernet, Horacio Altuna, Milo Manara, Richard Corben, John Byrne, Walter Simonson… an endless list.
Even so I don’t revolve only around comics, I also love Sergio Leone’s, Clint Eastwood’s and Sam Peckinpah’s Westerns, and also Akira Kurosawa’s filmography. In Fine Arts or in Classical Painting, I identify myself with Rembrandt, but I am a fan of Velazquez. Regarding my book, the works of witches and akelarres by Goya have had a special influence.
Last, I would name those people that inspired my stories: Lucian de Somastata of the Second Century, François Rabelais’s Pantgruel, Rudolf Erich’s Raspe, the Baron of Munchausen by  Gottfried August Bürger and, why not, Walt Disney’s Pinocchio.

6) We have been hearing news about “Joanes edo Euskal balezalea” for some time now. Could you summarize for us what it is about?
By means of Joanes’s history I wanted to show the archetype of Basque whalers. Furthermore, our whalers are comparable to American cowboys, Scandinavian Vikings or Japanese samurais, and I want to claim them as an epic Basque symbol.
The name of the character is based on historical records and on several Basque myths; for example, Joanes Balaztena de Zumaia as shown by Aita Barandiaran, or Joanes D’Etxeberry, a Basque parish priest that wrote the whalers’ prayers. For these reasons Joanes always appealed to me as the most adequate name.
As for the character, he is not a superhero at all; the truth is that he is almost the exact opposite, a kind of archetype of the antihero or “counter-hero”, such as Han Solo, or the Man with No Name from Sergio Leone’s Westerns, that has been portrayed masterly by Clint Eastwood and, by the way, has had a great influence on my character.

7) What or who is Joanes’s character based on?
Despite being based around certain historical events, it is not a historic novel but rather a fictional story that also has something to do with Basque mythology. The wills of Basque whalers are the most ancient texts found in North America: the wills of Juan Larrume and Joanes Etxaniz, a whaler from Orio, documents that date 1577 and 1584 respectively, are amongst the most ancient texts from Canada and North America. They also are an indispensable part to get to know the lives of Basque whalers in the 16th Century, as well as invaluable proof of the presence of Basques in America.

8) Now that it has just been released to the market, how has its reception been?
Last July, in the Center for Basque Studies of the University of Nevada in Reno’s inauguration, and in the NABO convention, in my opinion people have been very receptive towards Joanes. The publication has taken place in the summer, so everything has been somewhat scattered, people are distant, but the attention that has been generated since September until today is much broader, and in my opinion, attractive. On my account, I hope the acceptance lasts as long as it took me to write it, because there still are the second and third installments to come. Even so, when I say I hope it “lasts”, I also hope that it doesn’t take 10 years to publish the next two installments!

9)  You have been working on this since 1999. You must be proud of what you have achieved… did you expect this fame or success?
Certainly, I cannot describe many things that satisfy more than fulfilling your achievements in a world like this one. It is difficult for me to explain the feeling that having reached this point generates.

10) It is known that in many of the comics you have taken part in you use Basque emblems. Is this a sort of claim? Where can we find them? And what are they?
Yes, when I started off in the comic industry I knew that my name was not going to be known, and I figured that in the industry of superhero comics in the US there wouldn’t be any Basques; as in my first jobs I didn’t have any choice but to fill corners of pages or backcovers, I left there certain Basque signs: a Lauburu here, a phrase in Euskara there, a rock band poster, an EH sticker… In a certain way, it was what constituted my signature.
From issues 75 through 78 of Marvel’s X-Force, I managed to place myself within the credits, and that was later reflected in the numbers 79 through 81.
I also did so on the X-Force Marvel comic, in the Christmass issue of Gen-X and in others of Image Comics: Hellhole and Witchblade, and also in DC’s album Big Daddy Danger.

11) What is the main attraction in these comics to the reader?
To name a few examples, in one of the X-Force issues (#75), the narration happens in a police station, and in the gateway I placed the image of a person that looked like me as “Missing”, with the inscription G. Zubiaga. In the same number, in the newspaper article about an accident, under the image I wrote: Picture by Zubiaga.
In the Gen-X comic, between a child’s books I placed the book “Ipuinak”. And one of the persons wore a t-shirt of the group Negu Gorriak.
In Witchblade, I put a Gaztelugatxe poster in the character’s room’s wall, and in another place the letters EH (Euskal Herria), etc.
In the first issue of the Image Comic Hellhole there were posters of Negu Gorriak everywhere, of Urtz on the walls, and as in the narration there was a Newspaper store, around it I put words such as EH, Kaixo, Leire, Pirineoa, and such.

12) For those whose interest in these comics increased by reading this interview: where can we buy them?
Possibly, in any comic book store where those titles are sold; maybe some copies can be bought abroad.
About the first installment of Joanes or the Basque Whaler, I have begun distributing it in comic book stores, especially in New York and in the United States, for example in the University of Nevada in Reno. And of course, through my website.

13) Where can we find your works?
Since 2007 I have had my own website (www.guillermozubiaga.com), where I upload everything that has something to do with my work, annotations, and more.