Lovers of gore and Mayan lore, listen up. Actor/director Gigi Saul Guerrero and Vishal Rajput have collaborated on a brand new digital comic called The Mayan Empress, which is available now. The book combines lore from the famed ancient civilization and also promises lots of bloody goodness through a fantastical lens. What does that look like, exactly? Check out the below trailer for a glimpse.
Guerrero not only collaborated as a co-creator and writer of the series, but also lent her likeness to the titular character. This sort of looks like Gods of Egypt put through a full-blown horror filter. Like it takes place in the same universe as Brendan Fraser’s The Mummy, only with a hard R rating. The book hails from the delightfully named Luchagore Productions, with Ashlee Galloway providing the artwork. Dreamcatcher also handled the cover art, which you can check out below. As for the story at hand? The official synopsis for the book reads as follows:
“The death god, Cizen has risen from his underworld to reign terror and chaos upon the world. Lady Six Sky is the last of the Mayan Empress’s to fight against Cizen and win before he turns the world into his own personal hell. Can she prevail? Find out in our first issue of The Mayan Empress comic!”
Guerrero is a director horror fans will know from her work on Stanic Hispanics, V/H/S/85 and The Purge TV series, among other projects. In speaking about making the jump to comic books, Guerrero explained that she was happy to be able to bring some representation from her culture to the medium.
“We all grew up loving comic book superheroes, even wishing we could be one! Honestly for me it is surreal to not just create a comic book, but represent a heroine of my culture! LA RAZA! Let’s face it…having a MACUAHUITL ( ma:kwawitl) as a weapon is pretty badass!!! The Mayan Empress comic brings light to beautiful Mayan culture and opens the portal to a world we know very little of but is riddled with magic and lore we love! I can’t wait for everybody to meet our Empress”
“Growing up in a cultured household with strong parents I wanted to show that women can be in the forefront of absolute strength. Drawing inspiration from my mom and other manga to create the Mayan empress was a must for me,” Rajput added. “I wanted to create an inspirational warrior that many can look up to and say I’ll never give up the fight like her! The Mayan Empress comic is a non stop thrill ride of blood, love, and guts! I’m excited for all of you to dive into our Mayan adventure!”
The Mayan Empress #1 is available now for $5.99 in both English and Spanish at DeathPunkComixLTD.com. For more, check out our interview with Guerrero and Shane McKenzie about Bingo Hell from Fantastic Fest in 2021.
