Tag Archives: pablo leon

Silenced Voices: Reclaiming Memories from the Guatemalan Genocide educates through entertainment

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In this moving intergenerational tale perfect for fans of Messy Roots and Illegal, Eisner-nominated creator Pablo Leon combines historical research of the Guatemalan Civil War with his own experiences as a Guatemalan immigrant to depict a powerful story of family, sacrifice, survival, and hope.

Langley Park, Maryland, 2013

Brothers Jose and Charlie know very little about their mother’s life in Guatemala, until Jose grows curious about the ongoing genocide trial of Efrain Rios Montt. At first his mother, Clara, shuts his questions down. But as the trial progresses, she begins to open up to her sons about a time in her life that she’s left buried for years.

Peten, Guatemala, 1982

Sisters Clara and Elena hear about the armed conflict every day, but the violence somehow seems far away from their small village. But the day the fight comes to their doorstep, the sisters are separated and are forced to flee through the mountains, leaving them to wonder…Have their paths diverged forever?

Story: Pablo Leon
Art: Pablo Leon

Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.

Bookshop
Amazon

HarperAlley provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site

From Cocinas to Lucha Libre Ringsides: A Latinx Comics Anthology is a fantastic anthology

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In this comics anthology full of humor and heart, writers and artists from across the US pay tribute to the ways food and sports endure as touchstones in the Latin American diaspora. In the vein of Frederick Luis Aldama’s bestselling anthology Tales from la Vida, creators offer slice-of-life comics in an array of styles to capture common threads that bind this dizzyingly diverse community. From a simple quesadilla eaten hot on the way to school, to a Puerto Rican grandmother’s offering of guineitos en escabeche, to a homesick Chicano punk’s reverse-engineered tamales, food is a gift from elders to children, a marker of continuity and togetherness amid a dominant culture that may dismiss its flavors. Sports, too, provide a path to friendship and connection across national and language barriers, anchoring fans and participants in a sense of identity and place, whether through the perseverance of the Mayan game pok ta’ pok, the unifying surge of lucha libre or soccer fandom, or a father and daughter’s shared love of horse racing. Together, the creators collected in From Cocinas to Lucha Libre Ringsides share a mosaic of stories that vividly portray Latinx identity and life today.

Contributors: Aleasha Acevedo, José Alaniz, Frederick Luis Aldama, Julio Anta, Charlene Bowles, David Bowles, Adrian Carrillo, José Cabrera, Valerie Martinez Cabrera, Mauricio Alberto Cordero, Jaime Crespo, Celeste Cruz, Ernesto Cuevas Jr., Chris Escobar, Rolando Esquivel, Tim Fielder, Dustin Garcia, Eric J. García, Jorge Garza, Oscar Garza, Lucas Gattoni, Blas Goncalves-Borrego, Estella González, Carina Guevara, Aaron Guzman, Javier Hernandez, Sam Jimenez, Eric Kittelberger, Alberto Ledesma, Pablo Leon, Darren López, Patrick Lugo, Jarred A. Luján, Eliamaría Madrid, Miguel Martinez, Paloma Martínez-Cruz, Carlos Meyer, Marisol Meyer Driovínto, Paul Meyer, Rosie Murillo, Rafael Navarro, Daniel Parada, Stephanie Nina Pitsirilos, Jazmin Puente, Raúl the Third, Anna Maria Richardson, Hector Rodriguez III, Theresa Rojas, Rafael Rosado, Andrea Rosales, Justin Rueff, Irma Ruiz, Angela M. Sánchez, Serenity Serseción, Javier Solórzano, Josh Trujillo, Cayetano Valenzuela, Diana “Dianita” Vargas Sampieri, Andrés Vera Martínez

Get your copy in comic shops! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.

Bookshop
Amazon

Mad Creek Books provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site

Marvel and Scholastic are Launching Original Graphic Novels for Young Readers

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Miles Morales: Shock Waves

Marvel and Scholastic have announced a multi-year Original Graphic Novel program featuring some of Marvel’s most iconic Super Heroes including Miles Morales, Kamala Khan, Shuri, and more! These new stories will launch as part of Scholastic’s Graphix Media line, building from the success of Marvel and Scholastic’s prose collaboration program that kicked off earlier this year.

Next spring, Marvel and Scholastic’s new OGNs will make their debut with Miles Morales: Shock Waves, written by bestselling author Justin A. Reynolds with art by Eisner Award-nominated artist Pablo Leon! Following one of Marvel’s most popular characters, Miles Morales: Shock Waves will introduce readers to a riveting new story that will thrill both new and well-versed comics readers alike.

In Miles Morales: Shock Waves, Miles Morales is a normal school kid who happens to juggle school at Brooklyn Visions Academy while swinging through the streets of Brooklyn as Spider-Man. After a disastrous earthquake strikes his mother’s birthplace of Puerto Rico, Miles springs into action to help set up a fundraiser for the devastated island. But when a new student’s father goes missing, Miles begins to make connections between the disappearance and a giant corporation sponsoring Miles’ fundraiser. Who is behind the disappearance, and how does that relate to Spider-Man?

Following Miles Morales: Shock Waves, Marvel and Scholastic will debut all-new adventures following Kamala Khan, written by rising graphic novel writer Nadia Shammas, and Shuri, written by New York Times bestselling author Roseanne A. Brown! More details on these new OGNs will be released in the coming months.

Earlier this year, the collaboration between Marvel and Scholastic launched to critical acclaim with Shuri: A Black Panther Novel by New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone; soon to be followed by Avengers Assembly: Orientation by popular middle-grade author Preeti Chhibber this August. In addition to releasing new OGNs starting in 2021, Marvel and Scholastic will continue its prose collaboration with new and sequel novels for readers everywhere.

Review: Refugees Book 1

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cover_v2Refugees tells the true stories of people migrating from Latin America into the United States, and why anyone would take such a risky journey. Immigration affects everyone, and things aren’t as simple as “just go home.” There’s always a story behind them.

Self-published by Pablo Leon, Refugees was one of my “must gets” at this year’s Small Press Expo. When I grabbed my copy from him at the convention, Leon warned me that this wasn’t a “happy” story, and I should be prepared for the brutal content within. Leon made it clear this comic’s purpose wasn’t to entertain but to educate.

Within it’s pages it does that and then some painting a bleak and depressing story, three in total, of the situations that would drive individuals to make the journey to the United States. But Leon explores more than that. He shows us how brutal that journey truly is and the danger one faces when making it. Gangs, bribery, rape, torture, they’re all shown and explored as families attempt to be reunited and a better life is attempted to be reached.

But Leon also explores the policy that impacts immigration. From the rise of gangs like MS-13 and Barrio 18, to death squads, to the drug war, it’s all touched upon with brutal honesty.

Leon also provides the art. The combination of narrative and art creates almost like a poetic vibe about it all, but that also creates some flaws. There’s some issues with the lettering in the comic where it’s too small and the narrative at times jumps around being told in first person and third. That might be due to the fact it was a webcomic turned print, but it’s enough that I noticed and those issues stick out.

As a whole, this comic is powerful, even with it’s flaws. It creates a first person narrative and experience that lays things out in an honest and brutal way. This is the type of comic you wish was handed out so individuals could learn more about the situation and reality of it all. As it says, “immigration affects everyone,” and it’s not simple at all. Leon demonstrates that perfectly.

You can read the comic online, it’s updated every Friday.

Story: Pablo Leon Art: Pablo Leon
Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8 Recommendation Buy