Without having to travel to Anaheim, you can join in WonderCon today. Which also means with 50% less exhaustion, you can noodle around panels that you might not have gone to because you didn’t have to commit three hours in line. Let’s start with this one: Rise of the Latina Superheroes. Why? Not just because it’s supporting up-and-coming indie creators, though it partially is. It’s also because we need these voices and these perspectives.
Kayden Phoenix’s books aren’t aimed at me, but I’ve read the previews and I see a lot of potential. Only the first three books are available, each starring a different member of her Latina superhero team, A La Brava. Collaborating with Latina artists Eva Cabrera and Amanda Julina Gonzales, they’ve created Jalisco, “…a blade-wielding folklorico dancer who uses her culture as a weapon,” Santa, a masked brawler that takes down ICE detention centers (and yes, luchadores factor in heavily in the origin), and Loquita, a teen detective in the supernatural world. There are more listed, so it’s clear Phoenix’s ambition and imagination have a lot more stories to tell.
Though WonderCon has not officially published their panels on the YouTube channel, you can join Phoenix, Gonzales, and a host of other creators including Barbra Dillon of Fanbase Press to talk about the “Rise of the Latina Superheroes” at 1 pm Pacific today (3/26/2021) — and I’m guessing the panel will remain on the YouTube channel for a while. You can also stop by their virtual booth this weekend and pick up their books.
