Death to Pachuco #1
#1 of 5 · Cover C Marco Finnegan & Gab Contreras variant · original first printing · Top Cow / Image Comics · Collect Forever Soft Slab
8 October 2025
Original first-print Cover C of the opening issue of Henry Barajas and Rachel Merrill's five-part Chicano-noir miniseries, set against the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots and the historical memory of the Sleepy Lagoon case. The comic uses a fictional detective story to revisit anti-Mexican violence, youth style and wartime Los Angeles while retaining explicit documentary references on the physical object, including an Eleanor Roosevelt quotation on the rear cover.
Read the catalogue note →- Issue
- #1 of 5
- Publisher
- Top Cow Productions / Image Comics · United States
- State
- Collect Forever Soft Slab · ungraded
- Condition
- Near Mint appearance, provisional and ungraded inside the Collect Forever Soft Slab
- Completeness
- Assumed complete under the standing TMR comics workflow. Front and rear covers are visible; the Soft Slab prevents direct interior collation and verification of every printed extra.
- Rarity
- Common / open-order variant; no verified limited ratio
Catalogue note
Original first-print Cover C of the opening issue of Henry Barajas and Rachel Merrill's five-part Chicano-noir miniseries, set against the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots and the historical memory of the Sleepy Lagoon case. The comic uses a fictional detective story to revisit anti-Mexican violence, youth style and wartime Los Angeles while retaining explicit documentary references on the physical object, including an Eleanor Roosevelt quotation on the rear cover.
Writer: Henry Barajas
Artist: Rachel Merrill; Lee Loughridge (colour)
Cover: Marco Finnegan & Gab Contreras
Edition: Original first printing · Cover C variant · UPC 70985304470300131 · Lunar 0825IM0280 · $3.99 cover price
Why this object matters
The Chicano-noir treatment of the Zoot Suit Riots and Sleepy Lagoon memory has a substantive youth-style and historical-representation connection to TMR. The contemporary work merits outstanding 8.5 status, but it is a later interpretation rather than primary 1943 evidence. Remove Gold.
Evidence limits: Assumed complete under the standing TMR comics workflow. Front and rear covers are visible; the Soft Slab prevents direct interior collation and verification of every printed extra.
Score and assessment method
Archive Importance: 8.5 / 10.
This is a curatorial judgement, not a measurement accurate to one tenth or a market valuation. Read the explanation and its evidence limits together.
How Archive Importance is assessed →Use this record
Cite this object
Include the date you accessed this record when citing it.
Explore further
Connections use the catalogue’s named people, organisations and themes.
Recorded contributions · 4
- Henry BarajasWritingCatalogue credit
Writing credit: Henry Barajas Original catalogue credit
Find other objects with this contribution → - Rachel MerrillArtworkCatalogue credit
Artwork credit: Rachel Merrill; Lee Loughridge (colour) Original catalogue credit
Find other objects with this contribution → - Marco FinneganCover artworkCatalogue credit
Cover artwork credit: Marco Finnegan & Gab Contreras Original catalogue credit
Find other objects with this contribution → - Gab ContrerasCover artworkCatalogue credit
Cover artwork credit: Marco Finnegan & Gab Contreras Original catalogue credit
Find other objects with this contribution →