Comixology Originals recently released the original graphic novel Major Thomás. Written by Omar Morales with art from Serg Acuña and Mau Mora, lettered by Taylor Esposito. The YA space adventure follows Thomás Mùnoz, a Mexican-American farmworker in California’s Central Valley who becomes humanity’s first hyperspace traveler for NASA. We are so delighted to share a behind-the-scenes look at the graphic novel highlighting some of the easter eggs hidden throughout the book.
Major Thomás easter eggs revealed by Omar Morales
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The first easter egg is the poster on Thomás’ bedroom wall, an art deco-style tourism poster for a town called La Piedad, Michoacán, México. This is my Dad’s hometown, and the hometown of Astronaut José M. Hernández.
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Thomás is playing on an old Super Nintendo console with his best friend, Lisa. You can tell by the shape and color of the controllers, and their dialogue drops hints that they are playing a car racing game called Mario Kart.
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Thomás wears a t-shirt that says I’M NOT AN ALIEN, which was an easter egg dropped in by artist Serg Acuña all on his own. This is an acknowledgement to immigration politics and the term illegal alien. Nice one Serg!
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This is another one dropped in by Serg: Thomás in a t-shirt with a spinning letter S logo, a nod to the female bounty hunter Samus Aran from the Nintendo franchise Metroid. Serg knows what I like and he spoils me.
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The teenage antagonist, Rob, is dressed as a purple dragon, a visual reference to Samus Aran’s archenemy in Metroid, a beastly killer called Ridley, who Nintendo named after ALIENS director Ridley Scott. Double egg!
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Eagle-eyed readers will spot a Halloween costume of Eleven from Stranger Things in her pink dress.
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Thomás’ private lockbox is adorned with many symbols and logos, some stickers, some hand-painted with love and care by Lisa. These adornments loosely resemble: the Oakland Raiders, Michigan’s Block M, VANS skateboards, Captain America’s shield, and the tri-force from The Legend of Zelda.
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Quite possibly my favorite and most well-hidden easter egg is the brown, fury alien from the 1980s TV show, ALF. He appears on a screen in the background of the cockpit of the grey alien Davis. The two are kindred spirits!
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The Riders robot gang wears the uniform numbers and have nicknames based on legendary Oakland Raiders football players. Back in the 1970s, the Raiders resembled more of an outlaw motorcycle gang than an NFL team.
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I’m not a Trekkie, but I wanted to give something to the Trekkie community. I dropped in a reference to the Prime Directive, which Davis the grey is more aware of than his visitors from Earth. Davis is a pop-culture junkie!
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The most obscure easter egg is the artwork hanging on the wall of Manny Rodriguez, Lisa’s Dad. It’s a Mesoamerican depiction of an ancient alien space pilot known as Space Traveler in Ancient Maya.
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Lisa is holding a Transformers toy, the fighter jet known as Jetfire.
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Randy, leader of the evil reptoids, wears Elvis Presley-style sunglasses along with a cape and gold belt. A king!
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Thomás yells “Wolverines!” a reference to the movie Red Dawn, but it also carries a double meaning, as Thomás and Lisa are alumni of the University of Michigan, where Wolverines is the mascot name.
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The mention of the native Huichol tribe of Nayarit, México is a reference to the natives in my mom’s home state.
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There is a mention of “glittering c-beams” is taken from the tears-in-rain monologue at the end of Blade Runner.
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The joke about the reptoids smelling bad on the outside in this snowy scene is a direct reference to Han Solo’s joke about the smell of Tauntauns in the snow scene from The Empire Strikes Back.
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The highway sign that reads “Extraterrestrial Highway” is an actual sign from Nevada’s state route 375.
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X-Files fans will notice the shady Smoking Man lurking in the shadows at an undisclosed bunker in the desert.
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When Thomás’ NASA shuttle gets repaired, it gets re-painted and re-named “The Autumn Wind,” which is the name of the official theme song of the NFL’s Raiders.
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With San Francisco destroyed far in the future, the metropolitan areas of Oakland and Berkeley combine to become like a futuristic Emerald City from The Wizard of Oz on the East side of the Bay. Flying cars!
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The ship is labeled “Space Force X,” a mash-up of the U.S. Space Force and SpaceX… public-private chicanery?
About the Writer:
Omar Morales is a storyteller and writer from Oakland, CA with a deep passion for comic books – the medium that helped him learn English as a young, first-generation American born of Mexican immigrants. His original stories include The Lunar Ladies (Scout Comics), La Chamarra (Cloakroom Comics), Metroid SHRED (The Force Media) and now Major Thomás (Comixology Originals). He is the winner of the CW TV’s inaugural 2009 Comic Book Hero writing contest. His book CruZader: Agent of the Vatican earned the Guinness World Record for Largest Comic Book Published in 2014 and is permanently on display at Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash in Red Bank, New Jersey. You can follow Omar on all social media platforms: @omorales81.
About Comixology Originals:
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