A Mexican-American farm worker becomes a NASA astronaut and just as his dreams begin to blast off, he gets lost in the middle of a space war, marooned with crushing regret about his life choices. Major Thomás is a new comic written by Omar Morales featuring art by Mau Mora and Serg Acuna, and a forward by Astronaut Jose M. Hernandez.
In Major Thomás, a Mexican-American farm worker becomes a NASA astronaut and just as his dreams begin to blast off, he gets lost in the middle of a space war, marooned with crushing regret about his life choices.
We have an exclusive from Omar Morales about the movies, books, and media that inspired the comic. Check out the list below and make sure to get your copy!
La Bamba
When people ask me for the tried-and-true mash-up of comps that describe what Major Thomás is, I always say “La Bamba meets Lost in Space meets Guardians of the Galaxy.” Perhaps millennials and Zoomers aren’t familiar with “La Bamba,” but they soon will be, as I understand the movie is getting a remake from Sony Pictures. People that are new to La Bamba are in for a treat, as it tells the tragic story of Ritchie Valens, who rose to rock and roll fame from humble beginnings as a migrant farm worker in California’s San Fernando Valley in the 1950s. The DNA of Valens’ true story is alive and well in the pages of Major Thomás and I encourage readers to go back and watch, or re-watch, 1987’s La Bamba. It is a film that stands up to the test of time and chronicles a key period of American pop culture when opportunities for minorities were far and few between. “Ritchie!!!”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093378
Lost in Space
As a kid, I used to watch a lot of reruns of old TV shows from the 1960s and 1970s, and one of them was “Lost in Space.” I remember being captivated by the Robot and his trademark phrase “Danger, Will Robinson.” As the series was re-adapted, I enjoyed watching new iterations of the family of space explorers that is lost out in the vast cosmos, facing new dangers and having to solve new problems. The latest version of the Robinsons on Netflix does a nice job of showing how the human spirit and will power can save the day. This plot point is definitely embodied in Major Thomás and I hope I do it justice; if the Robinsons were to accept Thomás into their space adventure team, then I completed my mission. “Never save time and trouble!”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058824
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
When “Guardians of the Galaxy” was adapted into a movie in 2014 it absolutely entranced my entire family. My wife and took my kids to see it several times, and we would all listen to the soundtrack repeatedly on car rides, and in fact we still do on long road trips. We really dug the vibe of the Guardians, from the groovy music, to the offbeat humor, and odd aliens and enemies. When I created the villains and allies in Major Thomás, I tried to capture the same kind of odd-ball approach to the antagonists and conflicts. In my mind’s eye, I could see AL-3 and Davis from the pages of my story fitting right in with the heroes found in the Guardians of Galaxy’s cast of characters. “We are Groot!”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2015381
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
“Angela’s Ashes” was a memoir by an Irish author, Frank McCourt. My Dad read it and handed it down to me when I was in high school. When it came out as a movie, I was so thrilled with how it was adapted for the sliver screen. It shows us that even in extreme poverty in 1930s and 1940s Ireland, a young Frankie leaned on his family and faith until he realized his goal of coming to the U.S. to pursue his dreams. We see how his teachers nurtured his intellect, and encouraged him to think of a future beyond the rainy lanes of Limerick. We see McCourt as a little a boy, as an adolescent, and as a young man, and this story made me fall in love with telling a story at three distinct stages of a protagonist’s journey. Erin go bragh!
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0145653
Gattaca
“Gattaca” (1997) is quite possibly my favorite film of all time – I cherish it and defend it with the passion of a thousand suns. Director Andrew Niccol creates a timeless story of discrimination from a futuristic, SciFi point of view, and yet the film’s visual design is so clean and so retro that it strikes a truly wonderful balance. It also embellishes my preferred story structure of following a character from childhood to adolescence, to young adulthood. Gattaca goes one step further by showing Ethan Hawke’s protagonist character all the way into adulthood as he achieves his lifelong ambition of becoming a space traveler for a privatized space agency called Gattaca. Hawke is supported by a wonderful cast including Uma Thurman, Alan Arkin, Tony Shalhoub, Gore Vidal, Ernest Borgnine, and a smashing debut by a young Jude Law. Maya Rudolph, Blair Underwood and Dean Norris also cameo. “Every atom in our bodies was once part of a star. Maybe I’m not leaving… maybe I’m going home.”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177
Major Tom by Peter Schilling (and covered by Shiny Toy Guns)
I am so honored that record label for the 1981 pop song “Major Tom” allowed me to use some of the lyrics from the song in the climactic scene in Major Thomás. This song, and the cover version of it by Shiny Toy Guns, has been my guiding light as I developed the story in my head and finally committed to writing it during COVID. In the back matter pages of Major Thomás, you’ll see a more detailed account of how a live concert in San Francisco in 2009 enflamed my heart and inspired me to create the titular character. For now: many thanks to peermusic Germany GmbH for their courtesy and generosity – send me up a drink!
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1200048
Space Oddity by David Bowie
David Bowie has created an iconic character, Major Tom, in his music – a character that stands the test of time. He is an Astronaut that has a shuttle malfunction and is left adrift in the endless abyss of space. It’s simple and yet unforgettable, so unforgettable that I wanted to create my version of that character, a Chicano version. My spaceman is not from 1960s Glam rock London, but from the farm fields of California’s lush central valley in the near future. I sought to explore the modern challenges that a young person with no economic advantages would have to face, both externally and internally, in order to reach space. This is ground control to Mister Bowie: I hope I’ve made the grade.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6844118
Valérian and Laureline by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières
“Valérian and Laureline” is a classic comic book series that every SciFi fan should be familiar with. It’s been around since 1967, when it was first published in a French magazine called Pilote and ran for decades until 2010. What first drew me to the series was the image of the main characters, a dark-haired man and his redheaded female companion, in their spatio-temporal space suits. These two travel space and time like a 1960s version of Mulder and Scully, solving crimes and experiencing the paranormal. It should be no surprise when you line up dark-haired Thomás and redheaded Lisa next to Valérian and Laureline. Trois, deux, un… décollez!
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3381890
A Million Miles Away
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention “A Million Miles Away.” This motion picture chronicles the story of a hero of mine, José M. Hernández, a Mexican-American Astronaut that went into space for NASA in 2009. Although the movie was released in 2023 and production of my story was already completed by then, I can say that image of Hernandez flying his Oakland Raiders flag in space was a defining moment for me in 2009. I was so overcome with emotions as I watched a Chicano immigrant representing California farmworkers and my beloved Silver and Black in space. I was further stunned to find out that he is from the same hometown as my Dad, La Piedad, Michoacan, México. Hernández and I are now neighbors of sorts, as he owns a vineyard in a neighboring town of Lodi, Calif. I look forward to meeting him, shaking hands, and thanking him for embodying “si se puede!”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21940010
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