#pagesofdays

For a long time now I’ve had this idea in my head. A comic, webcomic, a novel? I can see it as all things, really, though as a (web)comic my thoughts on it really spread out. I think sharp, bright colours would serve the idea well.

Tonalamatl is a Nahuatl (the language spoken by the people we call “Aztecs”) word meaning “Pages of Days” - basically a calendar, and the title I’d use for this idea. As a comic, storyarcs would be divided into issues that, overall, cover 13 days (mirroring a Tonalamatl’s thirteen day divisions), with each comic roughly representing a day to two days (so maybe 6-7 issues per arc), and the first page of any issue that started a new day would contain some sort of reference - blatant or subtle - as to which day was under the auspices of which god or goddess.

Cast would start small. I foresee the first arc - “La Llorona” - revolving around three characters, each the demigod(dess) child of one of the Aztec deities, their experiences with “weird” things, until their movements bring them into contact with La Llorona, whom they fight, and who indicates that they are all children of gods.

Once that is done, the world opens wide, and their mythological experiences broaden. Quetzalcoatl/Ehecatl, Tezcatlipoca, and Huehuecoyotl all make appearances, mentoring, perhaps, their children.

After La Llorona’s arc, what becomes the point? Someone is trying to end the Fifth Age, expel the sun from the sky, before a new sun can be chosen.Or at least this would be the grand arc of the overall series. I can’t see something like that being a small, one-time arc. There would be steps in between. Perhaps they would only realize what this was all leading up to in the end.

There would be action, of course. Fight scenes. But I would want to see this address questions. What does it mean to be a god? What responsibilities do they have as the children of gods? More importantly: are they ready for all this? It would have to be character-driven. The cast would be diverse.

One of them would have a difficult time with the idea of being a god’s daughter. Her own major development arc would involve being killed and sent to Mictlan (the Underworld) where she undergoes a series of trials to allow her return. This would entail her - a character that previously preferred to use her skills and smarts - realizing that she could use her god-given abilities just like she could use her smarts or skills, and there was no shame in it. She would get over a fear of being “reliant” on those abilities.

I am thinking as well that each character’s particular arc (in which they gain the most development) would end in them taking on a Nahuatl name as well, to reflect their acceptance of who they are and what they can do. Perhaps one or two characters would already have done so before their appearance within the story..