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Speaker 1: Ah.

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Speaker 2: On a Monday afternoon, writer Gabymera is visiting her local

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Speaker 2: comic book store. It's a place in downtown Oakland that's

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Speaker 2: called Cape and Cowl.

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Speaker 3: You remember, I've come in for like adventure comics and stuff.

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Speaker 3: What you got anything fun? Anything?

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Speaker 2: This is where Gabby looks for heroes who are not

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Speaker 2: your basic white guy.

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Speaker 3: I'm gonna grab that.

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Speaker 1: I want like you know, girls kicking ass basically right,

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Speaker 1: Like I want to grab a Miss Marvel too.

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Speaker 2: As Gabby is flicking through comics at the comic book store,

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Speaker 2: there's a young man who's wearing thick black glasses and

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Speaker 2: a camouflage jacket, and he spots her.

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Speaker 4: Yo.

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Speaker 2: Yes, America is America, chap Is. That would be Marvel's

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Speaker 2: first Latina queer superhero. Gabby began writing for her in

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Speaker 2: twenty seventeen. She wrote twelve comic books about America's adventures

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Speaker 2: as a Spanglish speaking college student who can also punch

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Speaker 2: through dimensions of time and space.

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Speaker 1: I have I love Miss America.

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Speaker 3: That's my girl. Yeah, So thank you for you know,

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Speaker 3: it was important to me.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate that.

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Speaker 2: Despite her happiness at chatting with a fan, Gabby hasn't

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Speaker 2: always found community in the comic book.

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Speaker 1: World, and so sometimes on online space as it can

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Speaker 1: be like, oh, you're not telling this story, writer, you

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Speaker 1: shouldn't tell the story.

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Speaker 2: For Gabby, the in person experience has been a lot

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Speaker 2: more positive.

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Speaker 3: Whatever you're doing here, and please keep doing.

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Speaker 1: That, like whatever magic if you're actually a witch, you

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Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like keep it up.

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Speaker 2: From futuro media. It's Latino Usa. I'm Maria. You know

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Speaker 2: hoosam and today. A portrait of writer Gaba Ribera. Before

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Speaker 2: Gaby Ribera got into writing comic books, she wrote Juliet

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Speaker 2: Takes a Breath. It's a twenty sixteen novel, which is

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Speaker 2: a coming of age story about a young queer Latina

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Speaker 2: who leaves the Bronx, which is where she grew up,

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Speaker 2: and that novel got her some attention from an unusual place,

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Speaker 2: Marvel Comics. They asked Gabby if she would be interested

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Speaker 2: in writing specifically for their superhero America Chavez. After decades

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Speaker 2: featuring mostly white male heroes, Marvel Comics has recently been

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Speaker 2: making an effort to introduce more women, more people of color,

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Speaker 2: and LGBTQ heroes in their comics. But some people were

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Speaker 2: angry with these changes. Shortly after Gabby began writing for

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Speaker 2: America Chavez, she started getting threats and being harassed online.

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Speaker 2: This was a tough time for Gabby. Suddenly she was

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Speaker 2: swept up in an online backlash called Comic Scape, which

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Speaker 2: criticized the comic book industry's attempts to be more inclusive.

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Speaker 2: I sat down with Gabby to learn more about her

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Speaker 2: beginnings as a writer and about her experience shaping a

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Speaker 2: queer Latina superhero. During a really tense moment, Gaby Rivera,

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Speaker 2: Welcome to Latino, USA.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, Maria. I'm so excited to be here with you.

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Speaker 2: I'm excited too. I'm excited too. So your favorite term

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Speaker 2: for yourself is what quirky reekan is what you are

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Speaker 2: on Instagram. But you love to call yourself a nerd, right.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I love nerd Burger, butch the lover boy. I

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Speaker 1: have a couple of terms for myself, Maria, keep on going,

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Speaker 1: keep on going. I think butch Dia is really the

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Speaker 1: one that I'm embodying these right, because everybody has a

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Speaker 1: butch da. You know, she's got her fade, she's got

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Speaker 1: her corona. She's sitting at the barbecue in the back

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Speaker 1: and she loves you so much.

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Speaker 3: That's me.

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Speaker 2: You grew up in New York. You are not only

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Speaker 2: in New Yorker, You're from the Bronx. So tell us

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Speaker 2: a little bit about little Gabiribera growing up in what

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Speaker 2: part of the Bronx and what life felt like.

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Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I was just a little baby in

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Speaker 1: the eighties growing up. My neighborhood was, you know, that

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Speaker 1: kind of mix of like Bronx like hood ish but

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Speaker 1: also some suburban right at that like intersection of Westchester.

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Speaker 3: County in the Bronx.

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Speaker 1: I had my grandparents on my mother's side living in

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Speaker 1: the house with us, and we had my father's family

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Speaker 1: like two blocks away. So I was also always surrounded

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Speaker 1: by like my Puerto Rican family, and we went to church.

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Speaker 1: I grew up, you know, super religious Pentecostal, Puerto Rican evangelical, speaking.

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Speaker 3: In tongues all whoa and yeah, I know, you know.

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Speaker 1: It's also there was a kind of like a traditional

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Speaker 1: quote unquote, like a American sort of upbringing too, right

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Speaker 1: like my parents. My mom was a teacher, you know,

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Speaker 1: so she was taught kindergarten for thirty five years in

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Speaker 1: New York City, My dad was a salesman for Cafe

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Speaker 1: Bustello for almost like thirty years of his life.

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Speaker 3: So there was kind of this like nuclear.

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Speaker 1: Family whatever Puerto Rican middle class looks like in the Bronx,

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Speaker 1: very strict but also very secure households. And in the

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Speaker 1: middle of that, you know, we were in the Bronx

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Speaker 1: and there was definitely struggle and violence.

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Speaker 3: It was wild to be in so many like constrained.

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Speaker 1: Morally good, controlled environments, right, and then have all of

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Speaker 1: this like beautiful neighborhood chaos, real life, real people happening

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Speaker 1: all around me.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So you write your first novel in twenty sixteen.

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Speaker 2: It's called Juliet Takes a Breath. It's a story that's

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Speaker 2: basically based on your experience of coming out to your family,

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Speaker 2: and you move across the country to do this internship

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Speaker 2: in Portland, Oregon. So when did you decide you wanted

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Speaker 2: to write this novel.

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Speaker 1: Well, there's just like a couple of like moments beforehand, right,

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Speaker 1: So at seventeen, I went to the New yeek In

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Speaker 1: Poet's Cafe in East Village in New York, you know,

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Speaker 1: the birthplace of slam poetry, and it blew my mind

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Speaker 1: that like language could.

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Speaker 3: Sound like that.

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Speaker 1: Like again, I went to like all girls Catholic school

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Speaker 1: in White Plains, so the writing that I was doing

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Speaker 1: was very much like structured and following like with these

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Speaker 1: you know, well intentioned but white ladies were offering me

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Speaker 1: to read.

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Speaker 3: And so at the New Yeek.

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Speaker 1: In Poet's Cafe, I heard like black and Puerto Rican

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Speaker 1: and brown and like after Latino and all everybody really

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Speaker 1: just bodying language and elevating it, so that I did

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Speaker 1: performance poetry for a while.

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Speaker 5: Maybe America just swallowed all of us, including our histories,

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Speaker 5: and spat out whatever it wanted us to remember in

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Speaker 5: the form of something flashy, cinematic and full of catchy songs.

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Speaker 5: And the rest of us without that first hand knowledge

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Speaker 5: of civil.

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Speaker 1: Unrest, and the rest of us who weren't even born there,

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Speaker 1: we just inhaled what America gave to us. So poetry

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Speaker 1: was the thing that kind of burst me open and

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Speaker 1: allowed me to get comfortable and feel alive speaking my truth.

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Speaker 1: And so for Juliette Takes a Breath, it is autobiographical.

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Speaker 3: When I was.

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Speaker 1: Nineteen, I fell in love with a feminist book. I

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Speaker 1: connected with the author. I made an internship. I took

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Speaker 1: my little Puerto Rican queer behind from the Bronx to Portland, Oregon,

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Speaker 1: and you know, my whole world's kind of in a

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Speaker 1: lot of ways, just blew wide open.

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Speaker 2: And so you get a lot of success and attention

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Speaker 2: with your first novel, and then Marvel Comics reaches out

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Speaker 2: and they ask you to write for the character of

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Speaker 2: America Chavez, and this is Marvel's first Latina queer superhero.

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Speaker 3: Tough is Boriguadesada.

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Speaker 6: The Hudson people also call me America Chaves.

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Speaker 4: Nice to meet you, though I have a feeling you

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Speaker 4: won't feel the same way about me.

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Speaker 2: So what was that like? Were you at all afraid?

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Speaker 3: Listen, I'm terrified all the time, right, like.

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Speaker 1: I think you know, it's the Catholic gill and the

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Speaker 1: evangelical fear of like the end of the world. Right,

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Speaker 1: So I'm happily terrified at all times. And when the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to write for America Chavez, and again, like Marvel

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Speaker 1: already had America Chavez as a character in the universe,

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Speaker 1: and they just wanted to tell a solo story for her,

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Speaker 1: and so I was excited to do that.

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Speaker 3: And it was just a wild opportunity. Listen, Maddy.

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Speaker 1: When I was writing Juliette and I had no job,

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Speaker 1: and I was depressed and unemployed and going through like

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Speaker 1: the worst parts of my whole life, not sure if

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Speaker 1: I was going to survive. I was just like, please, God,

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Speaker 1: let this book at least give me just like one opportunity,

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Speaker 1: one to get a job to support myself. And then

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Speaker 1: she comes out and then like, I get this opportunity

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Speaker 1: with Marvel, and I was like, Okay, let's do it.

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Speaker 1: I don't care that I've never written a comic before.

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Speaker 1: I don't care that this is the most like huge,

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Speaker 1: intimidating gig.

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Speaker 6: Of a lifetime.

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Speaker 3: I'm like, We're just gonna do it. I don't care

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Speaker 3: that I don't know how to do this. I am

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Speaker 3: going to learn. I'm going to hit the ground running.

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Speaker 3: Let's go.

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Speaker 2: I love the fact that you make America Chavi is like,

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Speaker 2: not surprisingly pretty nerdy. She ends up going to Soto

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Speaker 2: Mayor University. Wink wink, sony. Yes, And I love this

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Speaker 2: notion of a superhero that is accessible. Right. Your whole

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Speaker 2: thing is I want to make a superhero super human? Yeah, why, Maria.

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Speaker 1: I feel like the only way that I've been able

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Speaker 1: to heal and grow as a person is by really

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Speaker 1: connecting to like the root of who I am. And

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Speaker 1: so with America Chavez, I was like, I want to

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Speaker 1: love her, I want everyone to love her, and I

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Speaker 1: want her to be goofy and relatable like every Latina

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Speaker 1: character for the most part, with the exception of like

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Speaker 1: Jane the Virgin and Ugly Betty are like these tough,

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Speaker 1: no nonsense, like all I do is like eat bullets

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Speaker 1: for breakfast, and like we can have those stories. Yes,

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Speaker 1: we can have all the Rosa Diaz is, and I

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Speaker 1: love Rosa Diaz. Shout out to Stephanie Patrice on Brooklyn

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Speaker 1: ninety nine.

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Speaker 3: I'm having dinner with my parents. You don't even like

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Speaker 3: your parents. You call them smiley morons and hug freaks.

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Speaker 2: Plans are plans. I'm a badass and I'm.

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Speaker 1: An anarchist, But like, let's have a Rosa Diaz and

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Speaker 1: let's have her be goofy and have a moment maybe where.

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Speaker 3: She cries.

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Speaker 2: Coming up on Latino USA, Gabby's America Chaviz face is

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Speaker 2: a backlash.

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Speaker 1: Maybe this is a moment where I don't write comics anymore,

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Speaker 1: you know, maybe I don't need to go to comic Con.

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Speaker 3: If all these people, these angry men, hate me so much,

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Speaker 3: stay with us.

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Speaker 2: Yes, hey, we're back. And when we left off, we

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Speaker 2: learned about Gaby Rivetez upbringing in the Bronx, and how

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Speaker 2: her first novel led her to write for America Chaviz,

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Speaker 2: which is Marvel's first queer Latinas superhero. In this next

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Speaker 2: part of our conversation, we dive into Gaby's experience writing

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Speaker 2: for comics. The comic book industry has historically been dominated

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Speaker 2: by white men. In twenty ten, only six percent of

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Speaker 2: mainstream superheroes were women, but over the last years Marvel

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Speaker 2: Comics has been trying to be more inclusive. They released

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Speaker 2: an Afro Latino Spider Man.

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Speaker 3: My name is Males Morada. I'm the one and only

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Speaker 3: Spider Man. At least this is what I thought.

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Speaker 2: A Muslim American Miss Marvel, a teenaged Pakistani American girl,

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Speaker 2: and there's a very good chance we'll get to see

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Speaker 2: her on the big screen in the future. And a

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Speaker 2: female four Natalie Portman walking on the Comic Con stage

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Speaker 2: holding a hammer. I have never gasped harder in my life.

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Speaker 1: Wow, thank you.

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Speaker 2: But some people weren't really happy about this. The reason

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Speaker 2: why comic book fans are so outraged right now is

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Speaker 2: because the characters they're invested in are going away.

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Speaker 5: The point is most of these characters are completely pointless

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Speaker 5: carbon copies with only a few differences.

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Speaker 2: The Left really have a way of ruining everything.

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Speaker 3: Everything to them is a social cause.

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Speaker 2: The issue escalated in twenty seventeen after a Twitter selfie

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Speaker 2: of female employees at Marvel Comics was received with a

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Speaker 2: wave of sexist and angry tweets. This social media campaign

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Speaker 2: became known as comics Gate, which is a reference to

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Speaker 2: gamer Gate, a similar online harassment movement against women in

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Speaker 2: the video game industry. Comicsgate grew a large following on

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Speaker 2: Twitter and on YouTube, where some accounts made it their

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Speaker 2: main purpose to make hateful comments. I spoke with Gabby

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Speaker 2: about this difficult moment and what she sees as her

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Speaker 2: future in comics during this time. When America Travis is

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Speaker 2: out in twenty seventeen, there's a moment where some women

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Speaker 2: who worked at Marvel post a picture on Twitter, and

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Speaker 2: all of a sudden, this picture starts this like ridiculously

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Speaker 2: hateful online backlash attack. So what was this all?

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Speaker 1: About You know, I do not claim to understand at

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Speaker 1: all that type of like level of hate and being

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Speaker 1: consumed by wanting to take other people down. I do

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Speaker 1: know that for me writing America Chaves really upset certain folks,

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Speaker 1: and they took a lot of time out of their

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Speaker 1: lives to make videos and to make media about how

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Speaker 1: much they hate me and.

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Speaker 3: All this stuff. And so for a while that was

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Speaker 3: really terrifying.

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Speaker 1: Also, people doxed me, and which means that like they

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Speaker 1: took all my information, put it on the internet, like

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Speaker 1: made threats, wanted people to come to my speaking engagements

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Speaker 1: and harass me and threaten me death threats, men reminding

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Speaker 1: me how ugly I am and how I'm a disgrace

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Speaker 1: to Latini Dad and all of these things.

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Speaker 3: That people do.

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Speaker 1: And it made me not want to do comics anymore.

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Speaker 1: And I was just like, damn, you know, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's wild too, because there's a lot of people in

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Speaker 1: this world that I don't like, and I don't spend

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Speaker 1: my days trying to tear them down. So I was

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Speaker 1: just like, wow, maybe this comics world isn't for me.

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Speaker 1: Maybe going to the police station to like recall and

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Speaker 1: to document that I've been threatened and sitting there with

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Speaker 1: my friend kat Lazo and trying to explain why I

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Speaker 1: feel scared and who is threatening me online. Maybe this

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Speaker 1: is a moment where I don't write comics anymore, you know,

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Speaker 1: maybe I don't need to go to Comic Con if

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Speaker 1: all these people, these angry men hate me so much,

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Speaker 1: and so that was tough. But you know, once again,

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Speaker 1: I just rooted in my communities, right, I'm not writing for.

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Speaker 3: People with that much hate.

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Speaker 2: In prepping for this interviews, I'm kind of looking at

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Speaker 2: what's happening not only with your characters like America Chavis,

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Speaker 2: but Ms Marvel, the Muslim American. I gotta say, Gabby,

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Speaker 2: there's a part of me it's like, oh my god,

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Speaker 2: I gotta go down and get some comic books now,

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Speaker 2: Like I feel like I want to read these things now,

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Speaker 2: and good right. I know you're like, yes, Maria, But

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Speaker 2: the same time, I was so surprised to find that

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Speaker 2: there are now quote unquote all right comics that are

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Speaker 2: being produced, and that the people who attacked you on

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Speaker 2: Comics Gate have a following, especially on YouTube.

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Speaker 3: What do you say to them, I'm Maria, Like, at

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Speaker 3: the end of the day.

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Speaker 1: I really just want everyone to kind of take a

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Speaker 1: deep breath and realize that it's all going to be okay,

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Speaker 1: and it's okay to love people, and it's okay to

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Speaker 1: move with compassion, and you don't have to be so

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Speaker 1: scared of losing your place in this world that you

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Speaker 1: want to resort to violence against the people that you

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Speaker 1: imagine are the reasons that you're losing that place. It

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Speaker 1: must be in a lot of ways exhausting to be

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Speaker 1: so angry and so scared, and at the same time, damn, like,

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Speaker 1: how much more do you need from the world to

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Speaker 1: feel good about yourself. I want to let everybody know

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Speaker 1: that if you don't want to read comics written by

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Speaker 1: queer women, or black people, or trans folks or any

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Speaker 1: of that, there's.

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Speaker 3: Lots of comics written by white guys.

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Speaker 1: Just for you. What really saved me, and what really

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Speaker 1: turned all of this into big love, was when I

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Speaker 1: went to individual comic book shops and did signings. I

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Speaker 1: started doing that, and I shut off the Internet. I

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Speaker 1: shut off Twitter. I was off Twitter for like a year.

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Speaker 1: I blocked all those comments. I don't look at reviews,

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Speaker 1: but I got the courage to go to individual comic shops,

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Speaker 1: especially by invitation, and it was there and in colleges

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Speaker 1: also across the country where I met really good, good

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Speaker 1: human beings who loved America, chaves who loved that there

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Speaker 1: were like women and queer people and brown people in

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Speaker 1: the comics and yes, a lot of them look like me.

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Speaker 1: And you know what a lot of them look like,

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Speaker 1: you know, regular ass white dude at the mall coming

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Speaker 1: up to me and being like, I loved America.

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Speaker 3: It was so nice, It was so refreshing, and I

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Speaker 3: was like.

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Speaker 1: I must remember that, like, it is not mainstream culture

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Speaker 1: that I'm a part of. I'm part of these little

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Speaker 1: pockets of good people everywhere doing their best to just

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Speaker 1: like love themselves and each other. And so comic bookshops

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Speaker 1: that's where I felt love from comic people.

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Speaker 2: I love the fact that you find a way to

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Speaker 2: take like the negative and then suddenly you flipped it

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Speaker 2: because you know, some people might have said, after what

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Speaker 2: you experienced with comic Skate that you would walk away.

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Speaker 2: In fact, you have said, haha, I'm coming back. And

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Speaker 2: you have a new comic book. It's called beb Free.

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Speaker 2: It's the story of a fifteen year old Latina girl

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Speaker 2: who lives in the future in a post climate change America.

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Speaker 2: A plague has eaten all of the greed and greedy

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Speaker 2: people in the world, which I kind of love bb Free.

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Speaker 2: Oh my god, I love her so much. Brown skin,

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Speaker 2: a little redonditas or a little you know, she's got

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Speaker 2: a little bit of how would you say.

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Speaker 4: She got a little mate gone on her, and she's

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Speaker 4: just adorable. I look at this character bb Free, and

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Speaker 4: I'm like, I want to read this comic book right now,

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Speaker 4: So tell us about what gave birth to bb Free.

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Speaker 1: I love that you love her so much already, That's

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Speaker 1: all I want. What's fun about Bbfree is that it

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Speaker 1: actually comes from a short story that I wrote. I

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Speaker 1: write about the plague. It's called Imbalance all caps, and

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Speaker 1: the plague of Imbalance put out into the world by

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Speaker 1: Mother Nature that eats greed and ends up kind of

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Speaker 1: killing everyone who is essentially greedy. It starts with the

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Speaker 1: one percent and then kind of trickles its way down.

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Speaker 3: So what is that world?

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Speaker 1: And so we PLoP a beautiful, chabby, little fifteen year

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Speaker 1: old Puerto Rican girl from the Florida swamps, and she's Bbfree,

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Speaker 1: and she wants to go on an adventure.

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Speaker 3: She wants to go on a road trip.

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Speaker 2: So finally, Gabby, I want to ask you about joy.

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Speaker 2: So you're launching a new podcast. It's called Gaby Rivera's

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Speaker 2: Joy Revolution, and basically you're asking people, you know, how

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Speaker 2: do you find joy in your life? So I'm going

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Speaker 2: to flip this on you and ask you, so, how

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Speaker 2: does Gaby Rivera find joy.

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Speaker 3: In her life?

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Speaker 1: Well? Number one, this is like a joy that is

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Speaker 1: rooted in acknowledging, like pain and suffering and the reality

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Speaker 1: of the world around us. I don't take it for

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Speaker 1: granted that ten years ago I didn't think I was

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Speaker 1: going to live. I was having panic attacks, I had

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Speaker 1: no money, I had no future. My gender presentation was changing,

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Speaker 1: and I was like, well, everybody hates dykes, right, nobody

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Speaker 1: wants a masculine lesbian around. So I'm never going to

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Speaker 1: get a job. I'm never going to find my place

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Speaker 1: in this world. So here now, ten years later, that

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Speaker 1: I'm a thriving, supported artist, writer making my way in

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Speaker 1: the world.

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Speaker 3: That is my joy.

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Speaker 1: And I love myself, and I love myself enough to

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Speaker 1: be like, I don't need to give people who don't

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Speaker 1: love me my energy.

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Speaker 3: It's all good. I'd rather be here talking to you,

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Speaker 3: you know.

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Speaker 2: Well, my dear nerd Burger, my dear quirky Weaken, my

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Speaker 2: dear butch Dia. We just want to say thank you

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Speaker 2: so much.

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Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, what an honor, Maria, Thank you so much.

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Speaker 2: Gabri Rivera's new comic book BB Free is available now.

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Speaker 2: This episode was produced by Fernando vie Fabian and edited

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Speaker 2: by Sophia Palisaka. The Latino USA team includes Miel Masis,

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Speaker 2: Andrea Lopez, Gruzsado, Julia Ta Martinelli, Alisa Scarce, Gini Montalgo,

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Speaker 2: Alejandra sarrasad Rinaldo, Leangnos Junior and Julia Rocha, with help

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Speaker 2: from Marta Martinez and Raul Prees. Our engineers are Stephanie Lebau,

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Speaker 2: Julia Caruso and Lia Shaw, with help from Alishiba YouTube.

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Speaker 2: Our digital editor is Luis Luna. Our theme music was

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Speaker 2: composed by Zane Robinos. If you like the music you

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Speaker 2: heard on this episode, stop by Latino Usa Dot or

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Speaker 2: again check out our weekly Spotify playlist. I'm your host

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Speaker 2: and executive producer Maria jo Josa. Join us again on

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Speaker 2: our next episode and in the meantime, I'll see you

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Speaker 2: on all of our social media. Hi los meo cioo.

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Speaker 6: Latino USA is made possible in part by California Endowment,

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Speaker 6: building a strong state by improving the health of all Californians,

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Speaker 6: The New York Women's Foundation funding women leaders that build

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Speaker 6: solutions in their communities, and celebrating thirty years of radical

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Speaker 6: generosity and funding for Latino USA is Coverage of a

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Speaker 6: culture of health is made possible in part by a

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Speaker 6: grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

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Speaker 2: Wait, you love Pippy long Stocking loves I love Pippy

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Speaker 2: long Stocking? How is that?

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Speaker 3: Can you feel it between us? The Pippy between us