Interview with the Before We Sail creative team

The following is an interview with the creative team behind Before We Sail; writer Carlos Yacolca, illustrator Michelle Lino, and letterer Diego Relevo. Before We Sail was published through online digital art magazine, Aces Weekly, and was reviewed by Key Comics Vault.

Cover for Before We Sail comic 7, art by Michelle Lino

Key Comics Vault: Carlos, you used to own a comic book store; when did you decide you wanted to write comics and not just sell them?

Carlos Yacolca: It was more of a process of change all around my life at the time. But the moment that defined when to start writing was when I answered a tweet that [Alberto] Rayo (KCV – editor) posted (coincidentally) on the day of my birthday. He said that he would edit and curate a project for the first person who answered his tweet. From there, a subsequent cavalcade of moments pushed and confirmed to me that I must continue that route.

KCV: How much did the final story differ from the original pitch?

CY: A lot, the pitching process took almost a year (from May 2023 to January 2024). During those months, Rayo, Michelle, and I met to work on many aspects and ideas. Then we sent them to David Lloyd, who provided us with feedback, so we met again to work on that. This process repeated a lot.

The original idea was to push forward the zombie genre to its maximum concept and focus heavily on the dehumanisation of people. In a way, the last point remained in BWS, but instead of focusing on global or territorial size, we directed our attention inward, on the individual person.

A key part of this process was getting to know my capabilities at that moment. I was aiming to create a long series but considering the place I was in and the knowledge I had, I decided to make only a one-shot. However, I made an internal declaration to make that one-shot the best that I could do.

I still have a lot to learn, after all.

Panel from Before We Sail by Michelle Lino — *Artwork by Michelle Lino*

KCV: How did you first get involved with David Lloyd?

CY: Actually, this question will clarify a weird episode in Peru that most people don’t know the complete history of, so let’s tell them.

This was also one of the “cavalcade moments.” Rayo and I were working on the first ideas for BWS in March 2023, and by the end of that month, there was an announcement that David Lloyd would come to Peru in May 2023.

My idea at that moment was only to show him my process and ask him for advice. I sent him a message via social media, and luckily, he responded and said that he could check it quickly at the event. Weeks passed by, and Rayo and I were working a lot. By that moment, I was also working on other things; I wasn’t sleeping well and was in the early stages of fixing everything in my life. So, I was a little out of touch day by day. My focus was on so many things.

But funnily enough, that day came; all my files were almost ready, but I didn’t know that was “the day” until 4 a.m.

I had been working all night before, and I still had work to do on many things that day. Anyway, I said, “Fuck it, I will make it happen.”

So, I didn’t sleep at all, finished the work on the things I had pending, and by 7 or 8pm, I was ready to see Lloyd. At that moment, I hadn’t slept for 36 hours and hadn’t eaten for approximately 12 hours.

I was in the waiting line of the event to Lloyd’s signatures, really tired, with short hair that fluffs up when I get stressed, and wearing a bad John Constantine cosplay that didn’t resemble Constantine at all. I looked more like a homeless guy, and some people who knew me were like, “Why is Carlos looking like that?”

I waited (I think two hours more), and then it was my turn. My brain was on the brink of collapse, so I talked very fast: “Hi, Mister Lloyd! I’m Carlos Yacolca!”

He replied, “Carlos Yacolca? The one who talked to me on socials?”

He then told me to send the proposal to “Aces Weekly.”

Two years have passed. We are here now.

*Before We Sail page 2, artwork by Michelle Lino, lettering by Diego Relevo*

KCV: What did you learn about the process of writing a comic along the way? Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

CY: I learned a lot, mostly because I started from zero. Just after the green light from my psychologist and psychiatrist, all of this happened, so my ego was killed. Killed to grow back again, to accept learning and embrace the changes and challenges from Rayo and Lloyd.

I wrote four to five pages, sent them to Rayo, and then Rayo sent them back with 20 to 30 points I needed to fix. That process didn’t happen just once, but five, six, seven, or eight times. When Rayo approved the pages, I sent them to Lloyd, who also had feedback. More changes occurred.

It was an interesting process of, “Okay, they tell me to do this. How can I do this? And more importantly, how can I do this and make it work?”

I don’t feel that I have the authority to give advice, but I think that reading comic criticism and journalism is a great way to get out of your bubble.

KCV: Michelle and Diego how did you get involved on the project?

Michelle Lino: It was quite natural; the proposal came at a time when I really wanted to try something different, and the project hooked me instantly. We started discussing ideas, I made some sketches, and before I knew it, I was completely immersed in drawing.

Diego Revelo: I’ve worked with Alberto Rayo before on other projects. Carlos contacted me through him.

KCV: Was it different working on Before We Sail, a debut story, to others you have worked on, with say more seasoned writers?

DR: Adjustments/corrections are not uncommon in projects with experienced people, but if I had to point in any direction, that would be it.

ML: Yes, a little, but in a good way. Everything felt freer, more about exploring together without so much pressure, and that made it a lot of fun.

Before We Sail artwork by Michelle Lino — *Artwork by Michelle Lino*

KCV: Michelle, Before We Sail feels like you had fun while illustrating it and you can see quite a few styles used. For example you use halftone to show someone looking through binoculars or a scene in the port where the guttering is broken by what look like aggressive brush strokes. Do you go in with a clear idea of what you want with scenes like this or is it more trial and error?

ML: Most of those decisions come about while I’m drawing. Sometimes I have a general idea of the atmosphere or emotion I want to convey, but I don’t always know how it will look until I start experimenting. I like the drawing to guide me; experimenting with different textures or styles allows me to discover visual gestures I hadn’t planned. Many of those scenes are born from that interplay between intuition and chance, where the line finds its own rhythm.

KCV: Carlos, writing in short chapters that each have a complete story contained within them must have been a challenge? Was it one you’d set yourself?

CY: Yes! Writing for Aces Weekly was THE CHALLENGE, in all honesty. It is a short, virtual, horizontal comic platform. The process involved researching 2000AD, comic anthologies, and both new and obscure comics from the UK of the 80s. I studied the writing style of Christopher Priest and comics from the same Aces Weekly. It took a lot of work from Michelle and me to reach the perfect rhythms; I think we started to achieve it from chapter five.

KCV: Western style comics are obviously dominated by those set in America, even those written by non-US citizens. How important was it to you to have it set in Peru?

CY: The decision to put Peru was mostly organic, it was the place to use because we know this place and we can use it to our advance to tell this story. Nothing more.

KCV: Just how much of yourself made it into the characters?

CY: I will change the way of the question because I don’t think that some things “are me” or “from me.” For me, writing comes from your way of analysing the reality around you – analysing people, the way they live, and the way they do things. It also involves analysing yourself: the way you see them, the way you think about them, and what makes you think in that specific way. If that sounds like “depersonalization,” it’s because it is.

Obviously, there are codes and influences that are bleeding into my words; Rayo or Lloyd could be more aware of that than I am. But I try to craft them the best I can so I can grow into a new way of thinking and new ways of proposing art. I see art as a higher form of communication, in which there is talk, analysis, critique, battle, and more. By recognizing those two levels, I start crafting the way I can shape my weapon, both to challenge reality and engage in the art conversation.

And after that, I shoot the best I can.

KCV: Diego,this one is for you, of all the comic book components, lettering is the skill that is most overlooked. Do you have any suggestions for people who might be interested in learning more about it or even considering it as a profession?

DR: Bad lettering can ruin pages of beautiful art, while good lettering can make any artwork stand out. My advice for someone who wants to dedicate themselves solely to this would be to understand this concept and use it as the strength of their work. And for those who want to be complete authors and have total control over their work: research the topic!

Message in a bottle from Before We Sail — *Artwork by Michelle Lino*

KCV: Now you’ve all set sail, what’s on the horizon?

DR: I’m currently working with Alberto Rayo on a webcomic called “Chica Cucaracha” (cockroach girl) on Webtoon as an artist. It’s on hiatus due to personal issues, but we’re using the time to better plan and focus the project. I’m currently available for lettering commissions *wink, wink*

ML: Right now, I’m working on some personal projects and sketching out new ideas, kind of in exploration mode.

CY: Ok, maybe this is the longest answer. Peru is in a very difficult place right now. For context, I recommend everyone read The New York Times article You Don’t Need a Dictator to Kill Democracy. Yes, we can classify it as a congressional dictatorship now.

At the start of 2023, I was burdened with a lot of debt and had many problems around me to fix. But I gained new clarity to push my body forward to address them, even though my country was in a bad state.

Now it’s 2025. It’s been 2 months since the publication of the last chapter of Before We Sail. The debts are almost paid off, the problems are fixed, and I just started studying a career with the money I made from another job (apart from comics).

But my country is in an even worse state.

During that time, more than 60 people have died in various protests across the country, and the criminal organizations that were in Congress are making connections, and everything is getting worse.

One of the themes I intend for Before We Sail is the feeling of not being capable of changing the realities that we face. Most of us are in debt, without time to think, with many things happening at once, driven by fear or by the next payment due date. Not because we want to spend it on things, but because we need it to pay for the things we can lose, even our lives.

It is like the Deniz Camp words of Assorted Crisis Events #1:

“Next Day or Next Week (it’s impossible to say which), I wake up to a fascist Nightmare. But I still gotta go to work.”

If you or the reader has seen some of my interviews over the past two months, I mostly responded: “I have the 3/4 next projects in my mind, but I will take my time.” It is still true, but a lot of things can happen.

I will try to give my best anyway, BWS was a process of 3 years, and I still have a lot of gasoline for the road.

One thing I’m sure, if I return, sounds will happen.

Before We Sail is availble to purchase from Aces Weekly. Aces Weekly is a digital art magazine of serials and short stories, founded by David Lloyd and Bambos Georgiou. Before We Sail can be found in Aces Weekly 75, alongside 6 other stories from around the globe, and can be purchased here (I do not earn a commission for this link).

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