Early years . The El Gato Negro characters were created by comic book artist and writer
Richard Dominguez, both making their first published appearance in
El Gato Negro #1 (October 1993) published under Dominguez's own
Azteca Productions imprint. The original series followed the adventures of
Francisco Guerrero, a
social worker living in
Edinburg, Texas and grandson to the original El Gato Negro, who adopted his grandfather's former nom de guerre in order to avenge the death of his best friend. The series also introduced
Agustin Guerrero, the original El Gato Negro of the early '50s and late '60s, as a major supporting character. Although the character officially retired from his former vigilante-activities, Agustin did appear in costume at the climax of the first story-arc entitled, "
Unknown passing, Unforgettable Return" (
El Gato Negro #1-3). Dominguez had originally intended to introduce El Gato Negro as member of a largely
Latino superhero group dubbed
Team Tejas, but after placing considerably more emphasis on his character development, Dominguez ultimately decided to abandon the Team Tejas project for a later date. The character's secret identity, Francisco Guerrero, was devised to have direct ties to the
Mexican Revolution. His
given name was borrowed from Mexican revolutionary
Francisco "Pancho" Villa, while the
surname Guerrero was mainly chosen for its English-translation "warrior", although Dominguez has hinted at a more historical significance, one which has yet to be revealed. Meanwhile, the shared alter-ego of
El Gato Negro originated from an abandoned settlement by the name of "El Gato", located south of
Pharr, Texas. Another strong influence was
Lee Falk's The Phantom, a crime-fighter believed to be immortal but is in fact descended from 20 previous generations of crime-fighters who all adopted the same persona. This, along with Dominguez's own appreciation of the
Silver Age of Comics, inspired the creation of a predecessor to the modern-day El Gato Negro. This character is now known as Agustin Guerrero, a former luchador-turned-adventurer of the late '50s and '60s. A notable 1997 issue revived
Margarito C. Garza's Relampago character, his first published appearance in nearly fifteen years. The series was later placed on hiatus during the late '90s, although the character consistently made appearances in other media.
2000s In 2004, rather than return to the original series, Dominguez launched a brand new series continuing the adventures of El Gato Negro entitled, "
El Gato Negro: Nocturnal Warrior". For this, Dominguez enlisted the aid of
Michael S. Moore to serve as writer and co-plotter, having previously worked together on the first published issue of
Team Tejas. The series also featured the work of guest penciller
Efren Molina, while Dominguez acted as letterer and inker. The combination of Moore's writing style and Molina's pencils gave the new series a few stylistic changes from its predecessor. Plans to release a compilation series of the original
El Gato Negro series are currently in the works. A brand new limited series entitled
Lucha Grande Comics which will feature the early adventures of Agustin Guerrero is also in development. ==Fictional character biographies==