Adventures of Herbert Part 1: My First Short Graphic Novel

Back in 2018, I started creating a short graphic novel during the Inktober month. Eventually, I finished it next year. I created a colour cover page and looked at my masterpiece proudly. I was proud of the story I created, the characters I had sketched, and mostly I was able to put my love for Mesoamerican history, natural sciences, languages, archaeology, and art together in a visual form. As many of us out here typing away from our dens dreaming of that first break in publishing our work in shiny pages I sent the novel out to many, and I mean many publishing houses and magazines. Zilch. Nada. Isn’t good enough. Too short. Less finesse. Amateur. Certainly, I know all that. I created this work because art saved me through my PhD. Art saved me through the darkest decade of my life. Then 2020 happened. Hopefully, the following pages will put a few smiles on some faces. I would love to know if kids read this comic and are inspired to explore the Mesoamerican history and ancient languages. As one brilliant mind said ‘Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.’ Here is a story of an imaginary world where adventure meets a mystery.

The storyline, lettering, and illustration have been solely done by me. Stay tuned for part 2 for the next lap of this adventure!