We recently connected with John Anthony Chihak Soltero and have shared our conversation below.

John Anthony, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

For sure, the single most meaningful project I have ever worked on, is also the most important. That would be the Bubba Patrol, a five issue (so far) comic book series about my dogs as superheroes. The idea first came to me in 2012, although it would not see its first issue until 2017. I’ve had dogs since I was fourteen and a freshman in high school. I had a lot of emotional issues at the time. My mom and I went to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, and adopted this 3 month old, rust colored Chow mix. Cypress was the cutest dog ever, and was my best friend for 16 years. She was the first real superhero in my life as she taught me that not only that I deserved to be loved, but that I could be loved. Years later I had adopted three other small dogs and they remained with me after Cypress’ death, and through so many important changes in my life. I had previously been writing and drawing edgy for the sake of being edgy comic books that I thought would be my road to recognition. People liked the artwork, but didn’t resonate with the story and characters. I struggled a lot with my mental health and abusing alcohol. I decided to change that and got sober. My dogs, Grrry, Foley and Grayson were with me for that first year of the journey. When Grrry died, the script sitting on my desk, collecting dust had to be turned into a comic book. I used the love for my dogs and how my anxiety and depression fuel my creativity as the catalyst to make this the most organic story ever. outwardly it appears to be a children’s comic book. It is brightly colored and styled like a cartoon, but it is easily the most selfish project I have ever worked on. I put wrote the stories I wanted, used the dialog that was most fun and had dozens of Easter Eggs included for my own amusement. And this story resonated with readers. They identify with having pets, and can sense the love and respect that went into making the Bubba Patrol.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a comic book artist and writer based out of Tucson, Arizona. I have been working in the comic book industry producing small press comics and artwork since 2006. I have rebranded from Anti-Hero Brand Press, to Antiheroverse Comics to a social media brand of JACSLuvsNachos. In addition to making comics, I do graphic and concept design, create original piece of artwork for clients and exhibit at comic book conventions, often times sitting in and speaking on panels. This year, I am branching out to include horror conventions as I am creating a new title, Welcome to Pleasant Falls.

I became enamored with comic books when one day in junior high, when by chance I went to the corner store and bought The Punisher War Journal issue 44. The story made a huge impact on me, not just with the character becoming the reason I started reading more comics, but also made me seek out other titles. As I have been drawing my entire life, I started creating my own stories from scratch. At the time I didn’t understand all the steps that go into making comics, so it took years before I got to produce my very first comic, Youth in Asia.
After graduating from Tucson High, I spent my nights drawing at the Safehouse coffee shop. It wasn’t until 2021, when I had a bout with cancer that I realized I had to do something about my dream of making comics. I enrolled in art and design school, graduating with a Bachelor’s in Animation, with an emphasis in graphic design in 204.
I most like to work traditionally with pencil, brush and tech pens. I also use alcohol markers and have begun working on my watercolor skills. Most of the Bubba Patrol and a large amount of designs are created digitally, using both PhotoShop and Clip Studio Paint.
What sets me apart is also what I am most proud of. My characters and ability to tackle multiple genres, themes and styles of work. I strive to make characters that have traits readers can identify with. I am a fan of professional wrestling, and understand the worst reaction a performer can receive is apathy. I work hard to make my characters provoke some type of reaction. I have been receiving positive reactions to both the Bubba Patrol and Welcome to Pleasant Falls with readers citing specific characters as their favorites and being able to point out specific moments and characteristics as the reason one character stands out to them personally. Readers should know a lot of effort goes into every facet of these characters from design to personality to intrinsic flaws. It’s those details that make each character unique.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson that I am unlearning, is that I have to do all of this on my own. I have been in making comic books for almost twenty years, and I don’t feel I’m close to being where I can go. I tend to hold too much on my shoulders and I have always had problems asking for help. In this, I am accepting that nobody is self made. Everyone that has succeeded has received help somewhere and from someone. I unlearning the ideal that if I just work hard enough, and produce high enough quality work I will be successful and be able to make a comfortable living with my art and design. It is something we have all heard and in some way, believed about being self made success stories. Part of that lesson is to unlearn holding onto ego and pride, stopping and asking for guidance and how to get where I want to go.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In January 2020, just before the pandemic, I was digitally inking the 32nd and final page to issue 3 of the Bubba Patrol. I had not been backing up my work, or saving it to the Clip Studio cloud, when my external hard drive fell off the table and broke. I lost 31 of 32 pages and almost a year’s worth of work. I took the hard drive to a local tech store and had an individual IT guy take a look at the drive, but it would need forensic levels of repair to restore the data. At the same time I began experiencing substantial sleep disturbances and my dog, Foley had developed cancer. I took a week or two to figure out what I would do next, and when I decided to move forward and restart the artwork, my ancient laptop began to die. I made a joke post on social media asking if anyone wanted to fund a computer for me. To my surprise, someone seriously stepped forward. He and my dad both chipped in so I could afford a higher end gaming laptop that would allow for a higher end processor and graphics card. I got straight to work and a friend who had worked in the comic industry stepped forward to help me finish about a 1/4 of the book’s line art. The story went from 32 pages to 40 and I was able to make the story even better, and I gave my dog, Foley a moment to shine, as he received his superhero costume in a few of those 8 extra pages.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacsluvsnachos/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AntiHeroVerse
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jachihaksoltero/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JACSLuvsNachos
• Other: I am JACSLuvsNachos on Blue Sky, Threads, Instagram and YouTube