Marvel Celebrates Latino Superheroes and Creators in a New Comic

With the power to open portals and cast spells, Eva Quintero is Marvel's new Latina superhero.

The young Mexican witch makes her debut in

, a comic produced mostly by Latin American artists, who through characters like Miles Morales, Héctor Ayala and Nina the conjurer, intends to teach the culture of their countries, the parties traditions, gastronomy, music and language.

One of the authors, the Mexican Juan Ponce, comments: “This comic represents something historical.

I have never seen a book with such diverse creators, representing these heroes who are from different parts of Latin America, it seems incredible to me.

I am proud to be part of this."

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'Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales';

a generational icon

Both Marvel and its main rival, DC, have long opted to seek new protagonists beyond the usual heterosexual white man. For years, his comics — and, more slowly, his films — have become more inclusive: new superheroes reflect different genders, sexual orientation and identity, ethnicity or religion, just like society. But

also broadens the geographic focus, traditionally centered on the US, and can also boast of a real change: the Latino heroes are written and drawn by creators who share the same roots.

Released in December, the comic is an anthology of nearly 100 pages, a long size by publisher standards. The introduction, written by Frederick Luis Aldama (an academic specializing in Latin American comics, movies and series and also a comic book author) says: “With these superheroes and many others I found my refuge and empowerment. With them, I learned to strengthen myself against a childhood full of blows and insults from those who called me a "dirty Mexican." These stories are the bricks and mortar that many of us have used throughout our lives to find belonging and identity.”

The first appearance of Eva Quintero occurs in the comic 'Marvel's Voices: Communities'. The story 'As strange as you' was produced by writer Terry Blas, cartoonist Julius Ohta and colorist Erick Arciniega.Marvel

The scholar and director of Latinx (an inclusive term to refer to people of Latin American origin, which encompasses those who do not identify as men or women, or who do not want to be defined by their gender) Pop Lab (University of Texas) recounts by video call how the representation of Latin American characters in the comic book universe has increased and improved: “When you look at the Marvel or DC encyclopedia of the 2000s, they mention one or two Latin heroes, when there were already more than 100 at least.” Something similar happened at the

at the COSI Columbus (Ohio) center, which houses one of the publisher's largest collections of comics and costumes. “10 years ago there was no Latino representation in this show. But I just went there a week ago and they have exposed characters like Héctor Ayala and América Chávez [two of the company's first Latino superheroes]”, celebrates the expert.

Aldama, 2018 Eisner Award winner with the book

, comments that

does a good representation of Latinos, who show characteristic traits of their ancestry, a certain way of dressing and narratives that bring complexity to their identities: “In the In the past, when we had a Latino superhero, he was almost like a white hero with a brown face.

However, creating a Latin character is not just putting color on it.

It is to tell the richness of his culture, his struggles, his family and all the elements that make up the character.

It's the thing with all the superheroes that appear in

.

The creatives, both in the writing of the script and in the drawing, were very skillful.”

latino superheroes

The first Latino character in comic book history is Zorro, says Aldama. The character is linked to Joaquín Murieta, a 19th-century Mexican bandit who inspired John McCulley to write

"There were a lot of spin-off series around Zorro in the 1940s, but they were all white, rich and defended the poor," says the scholar. Only in 1975 did Marvel's first black Latino superhero emerge, Héctor Ayala, alias Tigre Blanco, created by George Pérez and Bill Mantlo in the comic

A hero born in Puerto Rico, who is very connected to his culture, his community and his roots. In

, the White Tiger stars in a story inspired by real events known as the "garbage offensive", which occurred in Harlem in 1969. In the plot, written by Cuban Daniel José Older, Ayala fights alongside a group of Puerto Rican militants called Young Lords for the right to sanitation for their neighborhood.

Internal art from 'Marvel's Voices: Communities'.

Héctor Ayala appears in the story "Pa'lante Juntos", produced by the writer Daniel José, the cartoonist Germán Peralta and the colorist Jesus Aburtov.Marvel

Just as there were well-constructed heroes, others were nothing more than an accumulation of stereotypes, such as the superheroine of Brazilian origin Furia Verde, created in October 1979 by E. Nelson Bridwell in the comic

In the book

, Aldama notes that

the white-skinned heroine, who works as a model in her civilian life, was depicted with European-like descent and in skimpy, highly sexualized clothing. Brazilian Nina the Conjurer, on the other hand, launched by writer Robbie Thompson in

comic in 2016, is a character who wears a lot more clothes than her 1980s compatriot. This Brazilian sorceress was recovered by Juan Ponce in

Inspired by the folklore of the natives of the Amazon region, it tells how the heroine faces the furious spirit of nature called Anhangá.

Ponce comments that he did extensive research on the native peoples of Brazil to create this story and that he chose his protagonist for family reasons: “When they told me that I could choose any character, I thought of Nina because I wanted someone with whom my daughter could be identified in the pages, someone strong and colored.

Internal art from 'Marvel's Voices: Communities'.

Nina the conjurer stars in the story 'Fate and the Sorcerer Supreme', produced by writer Juan Ponce, cartoonist Wilton Santos, ink artist Sean Parsons and colorist Dijjo Lima.Marvel

Another big step in comic book history came when Brian Michael Bendis created Miles Morales in the fourth installment of

in 2011, a half-African-American, half-Puerto Rican Spider-Man. This character stars in two stories in

The first, written by David Betancour, features Morales at a Puerto Rican food and music festival. Spiderman, a fan of the musician Bad Bunny, reflects on identity and how many people doubt his Puerto Rican heritage, and Black Panther gives him a special spider suit stamped with the Puerto Rican flag. In another part of the comic, Spiderman decides to participate in a march for the rights of immigrants in New York and has a long conversation with his mother about the meaning of the word

.

Julio Anta, who has written this story, comments: "Although this is undoubtedly a controversial issue within our community, I hope that this comic will help explain it and defend a language that is inclusive and respectful of the personal identities of each one."

Internal art from 'Marvel's Voices: Communities'.

Miles Morales appears in the story 'Latinx and Proud', produced by writer Julio Anta, cartoonist Enid Balám, ink artist Oren Junior and colorist Federico Blee. Marvel

Comunidades

also features a totally new Latina heroine. Created by writer Terry Blas, Eva Quintero is a young Mexican witch who goes to a souvenir shop in New Orleans and is fascinated by the number of items made for the Day of the Dead, a traditional Mexican celebration. The young woman, very proud of her roots, buys an old ring and is attacked by a forgotten spirit. The expert Frederick Aldama points out that “for Marvel, introducing a new character is something very important, because what they usually do is take another that has already existed and simply remake it with a change of image. So when they create a new superhero, a teenager who is very rooted in her Latina status, that's really amazing and exciting."

The scholar claims to perceive a "great advance" of Latino heroes in comics in recent times: "It's like taking us 10 steps forward, that's why this series is really remarkable.

We have been very slow on the issue of inclusion, despite the fact that diversity is what generates true innovation.”

is just the latest in a wide range of books designed to uplift marginalized voices and celebrate the diversity of the publisher's characters and creators.

The

series

is also comprised of

the

comic

which tells the story of black characters;

which

has Native American heroes;

which features Asian superheroes, and

which

teaches LGTBI+ protagonists.