Theo Tso visibly relaxes the longer he’s in his studio.
“This is the sanctum,” he says, gesturing to the framed sketches on his wall during our Zoom call. “This is where the magic happens.”
The self-taught comic book artist, who lives on the Las Vegas Indian Colony where his tribe of Southern Paiutes resides, grew up leafing through his father’s comic stash in their old shed. He read all about the mystical Dr. Strange. He pored over the sci-fi anthology of Tales of Suspense. And ultimately, he became his own damn hero.
“I was always telling people ‘Oh yeah, follow your dreams.’ But mine was slowly slipping away. So I actually retired, rented this space out here and I’m actually working on my comics just about every other day,” he says.
One comic in particular has kept Tso at the grindstone all these years, and that’s Captain Paiute: Indigenous Defender of the Southwest. The fictional Native American hero, with his bulging biceps and wind-swept hair, is a symbol for an underappreciated population.
“When I created Captain Paiute back in the day, my platform was that Batman and Superman would never come to the reservation. If they did, they wouldn’t know what to do with our traditions. They wouldn’t know how to handle our situations on a daily basis,” says Tso. “We’re a unique people who, to this day, still have to fight for identity. It gives the native kids, the little boys and little girls, somebody they can look up to, a hero of their own.”
At Rancho High School, Tso remembers reading Tribal Force, a ’90s comic book created by Jon Proudstar, who plays Leon in the hit FX show Reservation Dogs. Up until that point, Tso hadn’t seen much Native American representation in comics, and if he did, they were rife with stereotypes and tomahawks. “I thumbed through that book till I wore the pages out,” he says. “I was just in awe of the story and how these characters came together.”
Tso’s comic book drawing really started to advance in high school, and he found himself influenced by Todd McFarlane, best known for his detailed artwork in The Amazing Spider-Man. Under the tutelage of his teacher, Vicki Richardson, who founded North Las Vegas’ Left of Center Gallery, Tso—or “Teddy,” as she affectionately called him—found the courage to keep drawing.
A decade ago, the first issues of Captain Paiute were created. Early iterations of the hero looked too much like Batman, so the character went through several revisions. But his ability to wield the power of “pah” remained.
“My people were water people, we were always by the water, that’s why they call us Paiutes. ‘Pah’ means water in my language, so I kept that aspect,” Tso says. “Since we’re in a desert, water’s sacred. He can use the power of water, he can manipulate it.”
Theo Tso’s comic book art
But he also returns the water back to the earth, “drawing on the aspect of, we were stewards of the land. We took care of the land. We put back what we took,” Tso adds.
Across panel frames, Captain Paiute can be seen conjuring steam and tidal waves, beating back the forces of evil and calling out people who mock tradition by wearing tribal regalia as a costume. There’s a teachable moment within these vibrant, action-packed pages. And Tso’s ready to educate.
This year, he announced Captain Paiute would be rebooted with the character’s Indigenous name, Nuwuv, which means “the people.” And Tso plans to introduce new characters to his comic book universe, including a more hardcore hero who takes justice into his own violent hands. One sobering tale will also touch on the mass sterilization of women that happened on reservations in the ’60s and ’70s. Shining light on injustices many might not know about is a must for Tso.
The artist plans to release a magazine of comic book stories quarterly later this year. But if you can’t wait for that, check out his exhibit at the Spring Valley Library, running through July 14.
“I’m just doing it for the rez kids, and basically for my kids to say, ‘Hey, if your old man can do this, you can do anything,” Tso says.
The Art of Theo Tso, Creator of Captain Paiute Comics Spring Valley Library, 4280 S. Jones Blvd., thelibrarydistrict.org. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Friday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
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