Comic books are by far one of the biggest inspirations in pop culture today. You’re bound to find a bit of the Caped Crusader or your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and the like sprinkled in everything from film to TV, literature, even interpretive fashion.
Latinos have had a major part in this golden age of the comic book industry. As there are many inkers, film producers, actors, journalists, photographers and cosplayers who help bring to light some of our favorite superheroes. Read on as ‘LLERO peeps some of the innovative Latinos who changed the comic book game.
Joe Quesada
Marvel Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer, Joe Quesada, first became interested in comics after picking up an issue of The Amazing Spider-Man. He related to Peter Parker because they were both from Queens, N.Y. His career in comics began in the ‘90s as a freelance artist for Valiant Comics, then moving on to DC Comics and creating the character known as Azrael, who, if you watch the hit TV series Gotham, may have met by now. The Cuban-American artist went on to open his own publishing company, known as Event Comics, with writer/inker Jimmy Palmiotti. It was through this venture that Quesada gained the editorial experience required when Marvel Comics came calling. Around the time Quesada joined Marvel Comics, the company was nearly shutting down due to low sales. With a team of talented freelance creators brought in by Quesada, they successfully launched the comic book line Marvel Knights. Later as Editor-in-Chief, Quesada would launch other popular lines like the Ultimate Marvel book line. Today, as Chief Creative Officer, Quesada has overall creative oversight on all aspects of the Marvel brand—from book publishing to film and television—ensuring that all characters and stories stay as true to their essence as possible.
Photo by Enid Alvarez/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
Axel Alonso
Comic books weren’t anywhere in Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief, Axel Alonso’s career plans. The half Mexican, half British, Cali-born and raised comics creator went to school for sociology and political science, after which he somehow stumbled upon a career in journalism writing profiles for magazines and newspapers. One particular story he wrote on the editor of High Times magazine would surprisingly jumpstart his career in comics. Alonso applied for a want-ad in a newspaper for an editor position for DC Comics’ Vertigo line. When he went in for the interview, the editor who interviewed Alonso remembered his name from that very article he had written about the editor of High Times, it just so happens that the Vertigo editor and the subject of the piece had a past rivalry over a girl. Suffice to say that Alonso landed the gig.
Alonso went on to edit numerous titles with DC, eventually taking over after his mentor’s untimely death. He then moved onto Marvel, working first as a senior editor—eventually taking the helm shortly after Joe Quesada moved onto his CCO position in 2011. With Alonso at the helm, Marvel has launched many new faces like Robbie Reyes, a.k.a. the all-new Chicano Ghost Rider, and Kamala Khan a.k.a. the Muslim girl known as Ms. Marvel. He also oversaw the recent Secret Wars arc, which saw the birth of an all-new Marvel Universe—revamping a large part of the Marvel line.
Photo Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Los Bros Hernandez
Gilbert, Jaime and Mario Hernandez—also known as “Los Bros Hernandez”—are comic book creators best known for their classic series titled Love and Rockets. Initially self-published by the brothers in black and white, becoming one of the first series in the independent alternative comics movement in the ‘80s. The stories within the series typically were independent of one another—with each brother creating their own storylines with their own unique characters—and often drew inspiration from the comic book scene, punk rock and the Mexican-American culture they grew up around in Oxnard, California. The series was later picked up by Fantagraphics Books, who republished the first issue in color with mostly Gilbert and Jaime contributing both the artwork and storylines. After the release of the 50th issue of Love and Rockets in 1996, the brothers temporarily stopped working on the series to take on their own independent projects. The series was revived as Love and Rockets Vol. 2 in 2001, and the brothers continue to release the series until this day—even landing a deal to make one of the more popular storylines titled “Palomar” into a film.
Photo of Los Bros Hernandez via newwavecrashing.com
Kellvin Chavez
To think that the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Latino-Review.com, Kellvin Chavez, first started his site as a hobby. Chavez was formerly a Wall Street trader’s assistant from Queens, N.Y., who spent his time off taking in as many movies as he could. Chavez’ stepmother worked for a VP at Universal who invited them to the premiere of the first X-Men movie in New York. While at the premiere, Chavez asked his stepmom’s boss how one would go about getting invited to film premieres more often. The answer: “You either have to be a journalist, own a magazine or a movie website.” Presto, Latino-Review.com was born. Working on the site mostly during his time off at first, in the last 16 years, Chavez—along with the help of die-hard journalists managed to propel the site into one of the go-to online sources for breaking news about the hottest upcoming films. Latino-Review was first to break that Heath Ledger would play The Joker in The Dark Knight, they also wrote a review of the script for Batman Begins, which put them on the map whilst also getting them in hot water with the studio. Then, there was that one time when Chavez’ team posted an sneak image of the Destroyer from the Thor film set, which prompted Marvel Studios to send Latino-Review a letter asking them to give up their source in exchange for set visits. That’s when you know you’re doing journalism right!
Photo Courtesy of Latino-Review.com
George Pérez
Award-winning comic book writer and illustrator, George Pérez, was into comics since his early days growing up in the South Bronx. Pérez’s passion for the medium would lead him to his first job in the field as an artist’s assistant for Rich Buckler, making his official debut as a penciler just a year later on Marvel Comics’ Astonishing Tales #25. Pérez became a regular contributor at Marvel going on to co-create the character the White Tiger, which was comics’ first Puerto Rican superhero. He also worked on The Avengers, for which he won numerous awards, including an Eagle Award for Best Comicbook Cover and one for Favorite Artist. Pérez moved on to DC Comics where he took part in co-creating The New Teen Titans series. He later had the opportunity to work on DC’s epic story, Crisis On Infinite Earths, which won a couple of Jack Kirby Awards for Best Finite Series. DC Comics even named Pérez as one of the honorees in the company’s 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great.
Photo of George Pérez via @perezartist | Twitter
Umberto “El Mayimbe” Gonzalez
Starting out as a film development executive dropping news tips to movie gossip site, AintItCool.com, from time to time, Umberto Gonzalez gained notoriety as a journalist while working with Latino-Review.com as their superhero flick reporter. He was the guy to follow for all the inside, news-breaking scoops on movies featuring your favorite cape clad vigilantes. Known to his online following as “El Mayimbe,” this film journalist isn’t your typical movie reviewer. His infamy comes from his ability to get the juiciest scoops by way of schmoozing his sources with VIP services at nightclubs or entry into the hottest events. Sometimes he comes by this top secret information before even the folks involved with the film know what’s up—something that has gotten him a few lawsuit threats from major film companies in the past. Self-proclaimed as a “fanboy journalist,” the New Yorker of Dominican and Colombian descent, parted ways with Latino Review last year and launched his own site, HeroicHollywood.com, where he and his team of writers serve up daily doses of superhero cinematic content including editorials and, of course, spicy, top-secret spoilers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MveI7bf3kNE
Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez
Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez has loved comics for most of his life, collecting recycled bottles as a kid for change in order to satiate his pulp fiction addiction. His favorite pastime even earned him a side hustle as he would produce his own homemade comics and sell them to his classmates in school. His penchant for comics eventually led the Brooklyn, N.Y. native of Puerto Rican descent to meeting Hip-Hop luminary Darryl “DMC” McDaniels—of the legendary Hip-Hop group, Run DMC—who asked Miranda-Rodriguez to help run DMC Comics as its Editor-in-Chief. Miranda-Rodriguez would later meet Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso who commissioned Miranda-Rodriguez and McDaniels to work on a short story, which appeared in Guardians of Infinity #3 and featured a Spanish-speaking version of Groot and Thing (from Fantastic Four) stylized like DMC with a black fedora and all. Most recently, Miranda-Rodriguez was approached by the organizers of New York City’s Puerto Rican Day Parade who were looking to collaborate with the comics creator. This relationship birthed the comic book character, La Borinqueña, who is a badass Boricua who wears a costume resembling a Puerto Rican flag. La Borinqueña will officially debut this summer during the Puerto Rican Day Parade, with a full comic book issue release in the fall featuring the new heroine.
Felipe Smith
Felipe Smith got into comic book creation via the indie route. Having developed his own series with a bit of an adult twist, the Argentinian-Jamaican writer-artist had trouble at first selling such a mature series to American publishing houses. After discovering manga, which were more open to adult content at the time, Smith knew what he had to do. He ceased trying to sell his ideas to U.S.-based companies and set his sights on Japan. Teaching himself the language over the years from his part-time gig at a Japanese restaurant and picking up the rest on his own, Smith produced a short series, catching the eye of a book agent in Japan. With this agent’s help, Smith became one of the first American-based writer-artists to ever sign a deal with Japan-based publishing company, Kodansha. Smith went on to produce the highly-popular, three-volume series Peepo Choo. More recently, Smith was approached by Marvel to help create the All-New Ghost Rider series, which introduced a new character—a young Chicano from L.A. named Robbie Reyes—taking on the popular possessed rider’s mantle. Today, Smith does character design work on Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series. He will also be voicing the character Philly The Kid in the upcoming anime series Canon Busters.
Photo Courtesy of Felipe Smith
Jason Laboy
Growing up with a passion for baseball, Bronx, N.Y. photographer, Jason Laboy’s attention was focused on baseball cards. He enjoyed how the photographers were able to capture players at the most opportune time. However, he felt that none of his favorite players were ever photographed in the best light, which prompted him to wonder about possibly becoming a photographer one day himself. During his teen years he even went as far as borrowing his father’s camera and heading out to ball games to shoot the players in action. Many years later, Laboy began shooting for e-sports competitive gaming events, and even went on to win an award presented to him by Twin Galaxies—an organization that tracks video game world records—for his excellent work in the global video game culture. And, his childhood dream would come true in some way, as Twin Galaxies also released a trading card series featuring Laboy’s work.
Shooting video game competitions led the way to shooting cosplayers, as many cosplay artists often dress as video game characters. Finding cosplayers as another interesting subject to shoot, Laboy began attending comic book conventions in his area—at one point shooting a remarkable set of photos at Big Apple Con, which he sent to the editors of Cosplay Culture, who not only featured Laboy’s work, but also brought him onboard as one of their staff photogs. Today, when he’s not shooting more traditional sets like family portraits or images for fashion spreads and music ads, you’ll find Laboy capturing breathtaking imagery of faux Men of Steel and web-slingers for Jason Laboy Photography
Photo Courtesy of Jason Laboy
Patrick Skye
During the work week, Patrick Skye is your typical Time Warner employee making a living in the company’s client relations department. However, every other weekend when there is a huge comic-con nearby, the professional N.Y.-based cosplayer dresses up as some recognizable superheroes hitting convention floors, posing for photos and wowing onlookers with his costumes of The Flash, Daredevil, Green Arrow, or either the green or white Power Ranger—whichever character he feels the most connection with at the time. The amazing craftsmanship he puts into every one of his costumes—using materials like worbla and foam along with cloth—has not only garnered the Honduran-Puerto Rican cosplayer a large fanbase, but it has also brought about national attention as he’s been featured in numerous geek culture media—like Cosplay Culture magazine and on CW TV Network’s online segment, “CW FanTalk” for his phenomenal The Flash costume where he chopped it up with John Wesley Shipp, who played The Flash in the ’90s TV series. Patrick Skye also caught the attention of Jason David Frank, who played Tommy Oliver a.k.a. the green and white Power Ranger in the ‘90s hit TV series. Frank not only constantly shouts out Patrick, but also brought him onboard as one of his official Team JDF ambassadors.
Photo Courtesy of Jason Laboy