Superpowering la Raza

Latinx Comic Book Storytelling

IFLatinx Comic Book Storytelling: An Odyssey by Interview were merely Frederick Luis Aldama’s fifth book on the subject in 10 years, that feat alone would be impressive. (Latinx, pronounced “La-teen-ex,” is a term that is both gender-neutral and trans-inclusive that has emerged primarily in academia and activist social media to refer to persons of Latin American heritage.) But Aldama’s new tome on the ever-expanding universe of Latinx comics is also one of 29 books he has published in the last 14 years. It’s a vast oeuvre that includes Aldama’s own bilingual flash fictions along with his well-regarded studies of Latinx pop culture, cinema, fiction, sports, and multicultural modes of humor. A distinguished professor of arts and humanities at the Ohio State University, Aldama also lectures on video games and visual art, directs the university’s Latino and Latin American Space for Enrichment Research (which he also founded), and serves as an affiliate faculty member at the Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Brain Imaging. With a schedule that packed and a roster of intellectual pursuits that deep, why has this man written five books on Latinx comics? Aldama makes a point that is bolstered by the number of comic artists interviewed in this anthology: Latinx comics may be the 21st-century’s only art form that has remained vital and accessible to young people while still managing to convey the histories, politics, and mythologies of Mesoamerica and the Caribbean and also speaking to the deeply personal conflicts of their readers. With their tendency to be caught between worlds, comic book heroes flex their superpowers as they transcend the mundane struggles that ensnare so many, including a dysfunctional family life, an uncaring culture, or an unforgiving job. “With an absentee father, you are forced to define manhood yourself. Comics were an obvious draw. Superheroes especially,” says Alex Olivas, a Washington, D.C.-based comic artist interviewed in the book. Olivas’ own father was both a social activist and a federal inmate. “They used the same formula that Disney used: victimized orphans dealing with the legacy of their parents who become social crusaders. At their worst comics are male adolescent power fantasies. At their best they taught generations of children to read. These stories taught fatherless boys and girls about morals and ethics . ... Comic books allowed me to explore my Latino heritage and to define manhood for