SDCC 2025: It's a hunt for a killer during the Zoot Suit Riots in Death to Pachuco

SDCC 2025: It’s a hunt for a killer during the Zoot Suit Riots in Death to Pachuco

Posted on July 17, 2025 by Graphic Policy Team

Image Comics and Top Cow Productions, Inc. have announced a gripping Chicano noir crime graphic series—the upcoming five-issue miniseries Death to Pachuco—by writer Henry Barajas, artist Rachel Merrill, and colorist Lee Loughridge. This powerful new title is set to launch in October and will blend the cultural defiance of Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit with the hard-boiled tension of James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity.

The series will feature cover art by David Lapham and Loughridge, Katie Skelly, Marco Finnigean and Gab Contreras, and Ramon Villobos.

Those attending San Diego Comic-Con will get an exclusive first look at the project with the Death to Pachuco #1 Limited Edition Ashcan Preview, available at the Top Cow Booth #2629 for purchase throughout the show. Fans will also have the opportunity to meet Barajas during scheduled signings: Thursday, July 24 through Saturday, July 27 from 10 – 11 a.m. and 5 – 6 p.m., and Sunday, July 28 from 10 – 11 a.m. as well as during Top Cow: The New Universe! Panel on Saturday, July 26 at 12:00 p.m. in Room #4.

Set against the backdrop of 1943 wartime Los Angeles, Death to Pachuco is a story steeped in historical urgency and cinematic grit. It reimagines the chilling aftermath of the Sleepy Lagoon murder—an event that ignited widespread racial unrest—and explores themes of cultural identity, systemic injustice, and the cost of being seen as the enemy in your own country.

During the summer of 1943, Los Angeles became a hotbed of tension and conflict as a series of fierce clashes erupted between U.S. Navy members and Mexican American youth stemming from the murder of Carlos Urbano. Private eye Ricardo “Ricky” Tellez needs to find the Sleepy Lagoon Killer before the racist mob kills him in the Zoot Suit Riots. The clock is ticking—and it’s ‘a bad time to be a Mexican.’