Rafael Navarro and the Sonambulo Solution

I recently came across the original series of Sonambulo. It was the creation of Rafael Navarro that he began self-publishing in 1996. The original series was only three issues but it took nearly four years to complete. He followed it up with a one-shot the following year, another one-shot in 2002, and then another three-issue series that began in 2004. I can't seem to find how long that last series took to come out, but it doesn't seem like Navarro has returned to the character since then. Although he did release a 25th anniversary edition of the original story in 2022.

The basic premise is that Sonambulo is a luchador-turned-detective that cannot sleep, but is able to see other people's dreams. It's a fascinating mix of lucha libre with noir detective mysteries. I've only been able to read the first series, but I quite enjoyed it. Navarro's art style in particular was striking, with some really strong blacks, almost to the point of eschewing lines altogether in some places.

Since reading the original issues, I've done some digging to see what else Navarro has worked on. I don't believe I've come across his work before. While he has done a few other comics, most of his time has been in animation, working on everything from Rugrats (1991) to The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008).

And that's what I find interesting. In the interviews I've seen with him, he's been very clear that Sonambulo would regularly take a back seat to whatever is day job was in order to pay the bills. That's hardly an uncommon idea in comics, but he seems to have approached it with that not only top-of-mind, but as a foundational point. He wasn't trying to make a living at comics; he was making comics because he enjoyed making comics. And if it took him a year or two to come out with a new issue, that's fine; he would have something he owned that he was pleased with and he didn't need to sacrifice on anything to get it done by some arbitrary deadline, so that he could in turn sell it on a more regular schedule and pay the bills on time. The Spider-Man stuff was commercial work, and he'd do what he needed to do for it and, while he does seem to enjoy it, it's not his passion. I don't recall seeing many comic creators take that approach.

A lot of creators, like I said, do hold 'regular' jobs to be able to pay the bills, but they seem to be only doing that as a stop-gap until their comics career takes off. Whether that means getting a job drawing Superman officially for DC every month or just that their independent voice resonnates enough that Scholastic or Abrams or whomever gives them a contract to do whatever graphic novel they want to do next. Navarro seems pretty clear -- and has always seemed to have been clear -- that he was going to make a career out animation because that was realistic, and that it was an honest-to-goodness career meant that he was getting paid enough that he could self-publish some Sonambulo comics from time to time as he wished.

Could Navarro have been a comics "success" if he had put his time and energy into a comics career instead of an animation one? Maybe. But I think one thing he was very conscious of is that if he were already working for animation studios, that meant he had a regular paycheck and some sort of benefits package. A comics career, even while working for a major publisher, is still ultimately the life of a freelancer. (I mean, if you're working on the creative end of things. You'd have a regular salaried position if you're one of Marvel's accountants. But clearly Navarro wants more of a creative outlet for his work.) This is a choice I made myself when I first graduated college with a graphic design degree; I could be more expressive in my work if I freelanced but I'd also have to constantly be on the hunt for more work. If I've got a corporate job, there's a paycheck every two weeks and, sure, it's not as creative but I can better afford to do what I want in my free time. And that includes stuff liking maintaining a daily blog for two decades that I've literally never made a dime on.

In one of the interviews, Navarro noted that he had originally killed Sonambulo in his last story. Only to realize literally five minutes after finishing the page that he would like to do more, so he added a new ending in which the death was just a fake-out. He was able to do that -- both kill the character and then retroactively decide not to -- because his career isn't at all dependent on it. Whether the character was dead or not, whether Navarro ever draws another comic again or not, he's still going to be able to stock the fridge and make sure the electricity stays on and whatever.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. There are eight Sonambulo comics in the world that would not exist otherwise, and whether there are ever any more, the world still has those eight. If Navarro gives us more at some point, that's fantastic. If someone takes the movie rights and makes the next summer blockbuster, that's excellent. But more importantly, Navarro himself is doing what he wants to do, telling the stories he wants to tell in his time and in his fashion. Call me crazy, but I really appreciate the realism in his entire approach here.

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