From UFOs To Secret Societies: Discussing ‘Project Monarch’ With Artist Victor Santos

Lizard men rule the Earth! The moon landing was faked! Conspiracy theories abound in Project Monarch, a new graphic novel due in comic shops October 18, 2023. Artist Victor Santos teams up with Michael Avon Oeming to draw the Dark Horse book. In a Comicon exclusive, Santos discusses the real-life Project Monarch as well as his favorite conspiracy theories.

Tom Smithyman: Project Monarch deals with a lot of conspiracy theories. Are you a big believer that things are often not what they seem to be?

Victor Santos: I’m sure there are a lot of things we are not informed about, due to security reasons or money interests. This doesn’t mean that an elite group of lizard men rule our planet, but I’m sure the governments are not telling all the truth all the time. This is something we see every day during the armed conflicts or the fight against terrorism.

Smithyman: Did you do much research into the actual CIA operation called Project Monarch?

Santos: Mike is very into this pop culture of conspiracies, from UFO to secret societies and stuff. I am more interested in the military-secret agencies part because I love thrillers and the spy genre, especially all the secret operations during the Cold War. However, both of us are rational guys, we know there is a lot of bullshit and craziness, but we can’t help to feel attracted by the power of these stories, independent of the veracity or realism of these theories.

So we know the “real” (this is a word that I’m not sure we can use completely accurately) part of these theories like MK Ultra and others, but we didn’t want what’s real or what’s crazy to spoil the fun. We wanted to use everything that can be useful for our satire about how the world works now (or how we perceive this world).

Smithyman: This graphic novel includes a faked moon landing, the illuminati and lizard men. So I’m guessing it was a little challenging to draw?

Santos: No, it was part of the fun! I really loved to draw the lizard men meetings, with this crazy mix with the Satanic-Panic element. One of the cool things of working on this novel was not having limits about what can happen, and that means that one day you can draw the filming of a dumb action blockbuster and the next a Philip K. Dick nightmare page.

Smithyman: You’ve said that you co-drew the book with Michael Avon Oeming. What is that creative process like? Do you bat ideas around before getting a script or is the process more linear? How do you determine who is drawing what?

Santos: We worked together in the early stages about what we wanted to do, what could be cool to use these theories or characters and what were our interests. For example, I love to create fake companies and agencies to parody real organizations like Blackwater or Monsanto. We are also fans of Stanley Kubrick, so the references to his cinema and his way to film are very present in the story.

Michael created a structure where we could work, basically he bears the weight of the script, so he drew one timeline which is basically the chronicle of the story told by this Kubrickesque director. I draw the other, longer part. Sometimes these two timelines converge but we have a script, so we can leave the space to the other to complete these more complex pages. We are also writers, so it’s easy to arrange an order to draw.

Smithyman: Your illustration style seems similar to Oeming’s. Does that make the working relationship between the two of you easier or more difficult?

Santos: It’s completely easier because we didn’t need to make any effort to emulate the other’s style. Both styles simply fit together. I worked on Mice Templar for five years, took Mike’s style of the series and put it into my direction, but it was an easy transition for the readers. We love the same artists, and we are good friends. Even with the geographical distance, we kept that friendship alive. Therefore, for me it is like working with my “desk buddy” in high school.

Smithyman: What is next for you after Project Monarch?

Santos: After Project Monarch is released, I have other book I have written that will be release at the end of the year, my third graphic novel set in the wargame Infinity: Corvus Belli universe.

I still working on developing different TV shows with a producer in the UK and another from Spain. The most promising of them is a young adult fantasy/sci-fi show titled Motorway.

Smithyman: What is the wildest conspiracy theory you’ve ever heard but still believe could be true?

Santos: I honestly think there is intelligent life out there, even light years from our planet. I think it’s a statistical truth. I don’t know if some other planet can contact us, but I’m sure that if they do, the government will keep the secret for some time. So I think the theory that governments hide contact with aliens can be (or maybe it has happened) eventually true.

Smithyman: We could certainly use some more intelligent life here on Earth! Good luck with Project Monarch!