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Speaker 1: This is Latino USA, the radio journal of news and

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Speaker 1: Curture Latino USC Latin Latino USA. I'm Maria Inojosa. We

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Speaker 1: bring you stories that are underreported but that mattered to you,

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Speaker 1: overlooked by the rest of the media, and while the

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Speaker 1: country is struggling to deal with these, we listen to

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Speaker 1: the stories of black and Latino Studio United Latino Front,

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Speaker 1: a cultural renaissance organizing at the forefront of the movement.

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Speaker 1: I'm Maria ino Jossa. Hey, Latino USA. Listener Gepaso Uncho

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Speaker 1: de los Chibos, a show from our archives right here.

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Speaker 2: Marvoya and DC do have a history, well complicated history

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Speaker 2: with cultural representation in their books, you know, being Latino.

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Speaker 3: At the same time, being in Chicano, living in.

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Speaker 2: Texas, I was longing for characters that understood me.

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Speaker 1: PRX It's Latino USA. I'm marieno Hosa Today. Ector Rodriguez

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Speaker 1: the creator of Elveso Hero. He's a comic book superhero

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Speaker 1: who fights Mexican cartels, corrupt officials, and advocates for migrants

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Speaker 1: on the border. By day, Ector Rodriguez is a school

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Speaker 1: teacher in Dallas, Texas, but by night he's hard at

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Speaker 1: work building up the world of elveso Hero Launched in

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Speaker 1: twenty eleven, the comic book draws from Ector's imagination and

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Speaker 1: his own experiences growing up on the border. Historically, there's

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Speaker 1: been very little diversity in mainstream superhero comic books. The

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Speaker 1: ones whose stories have recently been magnified by the big

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Speaker 1: screen are so few that we can almost name them

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Speaker 1: all here. In twenty eleven, Miles Morales, an Afro Latino

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Speaker 1: teen from Brooklyn, New York, was introduced by Marvel as

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Speaker 1: an alternate version of Spider Man, and seven years later,

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Speaker 1: Miles would be the star of the Academy Award winning

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Speaker 1: animated feature Spider Man into the Spider Verse. Marvel Entertainment

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Speaker 1: also brought Black Panther to the big screen. The critically

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Speaker 1: acclaimed film was nominated for six Oscars and won three.

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Speaker 1: Mexican actress sal Mahayak, alongside other non white actors, will

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Speaker 1: have a role in The Eternals. It's scheduled to be

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Speaker 1: released in November. Still, these big name superheroes haven't quenched

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Speaker 1: the loud and growing demand for representation in the comic

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Speaker 1: book landscape. Meanwhile, several Latino and Latina independent creators, from

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Speaker 1: illustrators to writers and others, are trying to make up

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Speaker 1: for that void. In this week's How I Made It Ect,

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Speaker 1: Rodriguez talk about growing up loving superheroes but not feeling

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Speaker 1: represented by them, something he'd eventually deal with by creating

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Speaker 1: his own comic world centered on the Border. Here's Hector Rodriguez.

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Speaker 2: I am the creator of the graphic novel LATINX series

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Speaker 2: El Peso hero. I was raised in the Border, so specifically,

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Speaker 2: I was raised in Egopas, Texas, which is about two hours.

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Speaker 3: Away from San Antonio and the sister.

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Speaker 2: City of Piedras Negras Quaila north of Mexico.

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Speaker 3: The border is a whole different world.

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Speaker 2: It's a bridge between cultures, languages, food. Growing up, I

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Speaker 2: had a huge appetite for Mexican entertainment media and so

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Speaker 2: I used to watch a lot of Lucha Livre, canteen

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Speaker 2: Flass and my grandparents love the golden age of Mexican cinema,

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Speaker 2: and so those characters are just greater than life, and

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Speaker 2: I had that influence.

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Speaker 3: My father.

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Speaker 2: He was also a huge geek himself, with being raised

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Speaker 2: by watching you know, the old schools uh Star track

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Speaker 2: and you know, reading Captain America Southern Rock, and so

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Speaker 2: I had these two worlds and I was just fascinated

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Speaker 2: with these greater than life characters. But you know, the

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Speaker 2: American characters never really spoke to me, you know, like

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Speaker 2: I like, I like to get around. You know, when

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Speaker 2: was the last time you saw Batman eat and banadas,

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Speaker 2: you know.

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Speaker 3: Or Superman eat pandulse, you know, spider Man and posole. No,

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Speaker 3: of course not. It was until by late ninety one ninety.

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Speaker 2: Two, we moved to Middle of Texas College Station, which

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Speaker 2: to me was a huge culture shock, going from a

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Speaker 2: majority Latino classroom, bilingual classroom to a general ed, monolingual classroom.

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Speaker 2: But really cool thing about College Station that they actually

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Speaker 2: had independent comic book stores, and so my dad would

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Speaker 2: take me and my siblings to pick up comic books.

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Speaker 2: You know, I was looking for that hero that really.

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Speaker 3: Spoke to my world.

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Speaker 2: Marveloy and DC do have a history, will complicate a

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Speaker 2: history with cultural representation in their books, with a lot

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Speaker 2: of black exploitation eras, and you know a lot of

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Speaker 2: typical stereotype characters within their books, you know, and they

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Speaker 2: were just you know, basically like second class superheroes. The

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Speaker 2: way I would fill the void of lack of presentation.

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Speaker 2: I started creating my own comics, and I remember I

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Speaker 2: started penciling and drawing, and then in middle school I

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Speaker 2: was selling my images, my prints. I was drawing first,

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Speaker 2: I mean, you know, just the Marvel characters of Wolverine,

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Speaker 2: Spider Man, venem. Kids would buy them for a couple

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Speaker 2: of dollars and it would be, you know, just popular characters.

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Speaker 2: And so in a way, I was flexing my creative muscles,

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Speaker 2: flexing my graphic art. And then on the side, I

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Speaker 2: would create these, uh, these small comic books, you know,

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Speaker 2: and usually I would I would have very simplistic story,

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Speaker 2: but nothing serious because I was still learning a lot

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Speaker 2: from the art.

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Speaker 3: One of the very first characters I.

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Speaker 2: Created had a mask that would change depending on the perspective,

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Speaker 2: and it changed through wherever I was looking at it,

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Speaker 2: which now that I'm thinking about it, is, well, that's

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Speaker 2: actually pretty deep.

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Speaker 3: And they just spoke to.

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Speaker 2: I guess, the the challenges being a Chicano kid in

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Speaker 2: a being a minority within my middle school world, and

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Speaker 2: living through being part of these different worlds, you know,

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Speaker 2: being part of the general public, and.

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Speaker 3: Then going back home to my family.

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Speaker 2: A great thing about our communist that we have a

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Speaker 2: long history of storytellers.

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Speaker 3: We have a lot of family mrs our storytellers.

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Speaker 2: We're natural storytellers ourselves. I'm Ecto the third, and he,

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Speaker 2: you know, he really believed in the American dream. And

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Speaker 2: so he was born in Kuahila, in Pidras Negras, and

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Speaker 2: so growing up he would tell us about, you know, crossing.

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Speaker 3: In and out putout any issue.

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Speaker 2: And I do recall my grandfather telling me this rumor

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Speaker 2: of these ex military guys breaking away from the Mexican

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Speaker 2: and Special Forces and creating their own criminal organization, you know,

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Speaker 2: and so and they're setting up shop in the border world.

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Speaker 2: And I felt that there needed to be a somebody,

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Speaker 2: a hero to confront them. And so there it was

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Speaker 2: the fuse to create a Pesto hero. It was two

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Speaker 2: dozand and three I started writing a pesto hero and

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Speaker 2: adding a lot of my cultural experiences, adding a lot

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Speaker 2: of individual nuances, and putting a lot of heart into

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Speaker 2: some of these cultural moments. Just as simple as a

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Speaker 2: pestle hero going to the border and not being able

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Speaker 2: to buy things because he forgot to change his puzzles

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Speaker 2: to dollars and seeing that the evaluation of the beesl

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Speaker 2: being an issue.

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Speaker 3: There's little things.

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Speaker 2: Like that, you know, I had that in the back burner.

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Speaker 2: It wasn't until I actually became an educator here in

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Speaker 2: Dallas where I found out the great need and opportunity

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Speaker 2: to have heroes that represented us, superheroes that needed to

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Speaker 2: be in the front cover, and noticing in my school

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Speaker 2: library there was This was two thousand and ten, my

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Speaker 2: first year teaching, and so seeing a huge lack of representation,

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Speaker 2: seeing that all of my students were Latino.

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Speaker 3: And noticing the.

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Speaker 2: Demographics changing, but the content definitely remained the same. Another

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Speaker 2: way that really was a catalyst for me to create

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Speaker 2: up as a hero was when one of my students

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Speaker 2: father was deported, and I felt that he needed to

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Speaker 2: have a hero to look up to within the very

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Speaker 2: same books he checks out in the library. I needed

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Speaker 2: to be that father figure within the school for him.

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Speaker 2: And this was early twenty eleven, so, you know, as

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Speaker 2: she just speaks to the long ways we have with

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Speaker 2: immigration policy in our country, regardless of who's in office.

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Speaker 2: But I felt that Ignacio rived Hero wasn't needed, you know,

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Speaker 2: and Beto Hero is a nickname of Ignacio and a

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Speaker 2: lot of kids growing up, they grew up with different nicknames.

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Speaker 3: I grew up with nicknames myself.

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Speaker 2: I was also Teto for Ecto Ectodin too. And so

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Speaker 2: Ignacio has you know, Nacho Nachitoo hero al toro Pesalo.

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Speaker 3: Which he is called in in Mexico.

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Speaker 2: So within the pesto hero specifically, this is a name

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Speaker 2: I was given to Ignacio by the border patrol in

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Speaker 2: a way devaluing his heroics. He's not worth a devalued

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Speaker 2: pessl kind of it, put down right, And so this

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Speaker 2: moniker becomes a joke between them, and it just catches

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Speaker 2: fire as a pesto hero, larger than life heroism. You know,

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Speaker 2: he's and have you heard about a pesto hero? You

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Speaker 2: know the I got a story to tell you about

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Speaker 2: pesto hero.

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Speaker 3: This name becomes legend and he owns it.

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Speaker 2: Ignacio is from a complicated family and the voter, and

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Speaker 2: so he himself is lost and is taken in by

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Speaker 2: a very humble family with a grandetta Dona Rosa and

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Speaker 2: her ranch hand on Fetimine. And so these characters become

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Speaker 2: their so his sarrogate grandparents, and so they take him

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Speaker 2: as their own as their grandson, and that's where he

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Speaker 2: learns a lot of the values Don Fetimine having a

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Speaker 2: interesting job to not also a ranch hand, but being

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Speaker 2: a a coyote helping folks cross with his trustee compass.

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Speaker 2: And so this is where we go into one of

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Speaker 2: the stories where in as your Borderland, where Don Fetimine

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Speaker 2: is gets a call and he is trying to find

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Speaker 2: a lost family in the border. So we talked about

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Speaker 2: coyotas you know, being very complex, very complicated, you know,

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Speaker 2: and for him is about helping families cross safely. And

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Speaker 2: so we add a lot of that challenging moral issues

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Speaker 2: with Azzo hero Ignacio getting a lot of his humanity

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Speaker 2: from Don Fetimine two and as well, we learned more

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Speaker 2: about the belt buckle that puzza hero has that has

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Speaker 2: been passed down from generations going through Mexican history from

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Speaker 2: the Mexican American War to the Mexican Revolution with Pantroviga.

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Speaker 3: And so it's very important to add.

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Speaker 2: That element of historical representation because I believe it's very

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Speaker 2: important to be proud of where you are, where you

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Speaker 2: come from.

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Speaker 3: Who you are, and so on.

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Speaker 2: The look for the pazzal Hero was inspired by my

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Speaker 2: own family, Missaelos, miss dios.

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Speaker 3: It's very simple.

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Speaker 2: It calls back to you know, Mido, Midio Chuli and Basinisconsin,

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Speaker 2: you know, and Midio Chuli, you know, wearing his white shirts,

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Speaker 2: blue jeans, belt buckle. Very simple, and it's something that

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Speaker 2: a lot of even a lot of my students connect,

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Speaker 2: you know, the hey that you know that looks like

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Speaker 2: my deal, a humble hero.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 2: I've gotten feedback where how come El Paso Hero speaks

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Speaker 2: only Spanish in the books, as well as why is

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Speaker 2: al Pesso Hero white?

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Speaker 3: Why does he look white?

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Speaker 1: You know?

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Speaker 2: To his colorism, to the colorism, and I'm and which

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Speaker 2: is something that I've I've never noted. All the artists

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Speaker 2: and myself, we do l Puso Hero regardless of what color,

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Speaker 2: and so at Pesto Hero.

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Speaker 3: Has been in different cues of skin color.

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Speaker 2: You know it An Paso Hero speaking only Spanish is

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Speaker 2: something that as long as I'm the writer, that's not

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Speaker 2: going to change, you know. And it's something that I

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Speaker 2: feel that it's very important to be proud of your

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Speaker 2: your native language, and it's important for that language diversity.

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Speaker 2: I love that they really want to make Las the

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Speaker 2: Hero their own which is perfect.

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Speaker 3: It's amazing.

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Speaker 2: I love the sense of ownership with the character. It's great,

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Speaker 2: you know, even you know, with you know, being asked

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Speaker 2: to at Pesto Hero represent more Native roots, you know,

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Speaker 2: some of the anti colonial some aspects as well, you know,

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Speaker 2: where Peszl Hero needs to send up more for Chicano

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Speaker 2: rights or you know, even the word Latins being used,

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Speaker 2: the controversy with the word being and so these dialogues

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Speaker 2: are really great, you know, and are important important to

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Speaker 2: have and for myself, I listen and I acknowledge and

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Speaker 2: I share my thoughts of that this character that was

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Speaker 2: created was created through.

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Speaker 3: My lens, you know.

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Speaker 2: And I definitely invite anybody to create their.

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Speaker 3: Own up pest of Hero story, to create their own

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Speaker 3: version of Pestil Hero.

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Speaker 2: The intent is heavy, you know, it's it's the reflection

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Speaker 2: of the border. And one of the most challenging parts

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Speaker 2: was the story and border Land where we're talking about

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Speaker 2: unaccompanied minors and detention facilities and for me myself, having

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Speaker 2: being with my students and you know, going to the border,

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Speaker 2: having those tough conversations with people that have lived through it,

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Speaker 2: and that's that's what makes it genuine That's what makes

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Speaker 2: a puzzle hero genuine is those those border stories are

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Speaker 2: coming from the heart, coming from genuine experiences, not just

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Speaker 2: you know, Google maps or Google researching. All these stories

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Speaker 2: come from the heart. The stories of a puzzle hero

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Speaker 2: are multi layered. You know, I grew up watching noveles

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Speaker 2: with Malita and my mom until this day, you know,

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Speaker 2: watch and Telemundo and Canalasteca, and so that's the core

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Speaker 2: of the story. It's a novella to my new readers,

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Speaker 2: It's a Mexican soap opera of a boy trying to

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Speaker 2: figure out who he is and where he's gonna go.

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Speaker 3: So, if you like Gunada Lobos, Yes Pa, Sily Rimondo,

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Speaker 3: Catarina Crie, We're breaking bad.

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Speaker 2: If you like watching Logan and Cicario, read a puzza hero.

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Speaker 2: The only pushback that we ever gotten was when we

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Speaker 2: did the alternative cover for Puzzy or Voter Stories, where

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Speaker 2: this was summer twenty fifteen in candidate Trump announces first

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Speaker 2: eventual candency, and you know, we felt that we needed

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Speaker 2: to speak against that negative speech. We needed to stand

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Speaker 2: up as a community and myself as a writer artists.

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Speaker 2: I needed to use my resources, my tool to stand up.

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Speaker 2: And so I spoke to my artist, Gemma, and I'm like, hey, Gemma,

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Speaker 2: you know I need you to make this cover and

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Speaker 2: we're going to make you homage to Jack Kirby, Jack

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Speaker 2: Curby's Captain America, punching out of Hitler, you know, fighting

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Speaker 2: against that racism, that negativity, that extreme ideology, and not

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Speaker 2: knowing the amount of authoritarian tendencies that we were fighting against.

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Speaker 2: A lot of the alternative news blogs picked it up

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Speaker 2: and really ran with it. But at the same time

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Speaker 2: we had some had some emails from one of Jack

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Speaker 2: Kirby's friends saying, how how you know Jack would love it,

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Speaker 2: you know, and and Jack was a huge soldier against fascism,

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Speaker 2: and so we we felt it was very uplifting email.

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Speaker 2: I developed Real Bravo Comics, which is my small press,

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Speaker 2: we'll see, and I felt that if I really wanted

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Speaker 2: to tell the story that needed to be told and

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Speaker 2: needed to be told, you seeing my small press, me

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Speaker 2: and myself having hundred percent creative control within the writing.

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Speaker 2: And so I've never had any yearning to look for

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Speaker 2: somebody more established to pick up a pest of hero

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Speaker 2: because I really wanted to make sure the story was

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Speaker 2: told in a very genuine way. We have the backing

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Speaker 2: of our fans to continue telling of pest of Hero stories.

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Speaker 2: I really don't gain any financial gains per se. You know,

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Speaker 2: It's more whatever goes in goes out into a pest

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Speaker 2: of Hero. I've been blessed and lucky that whatever I've

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Speaker 2: gotten from the posta Hero, I'm able to return it

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Speaker 2: back to the reader as more Elpesso hero stories. You know,

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Speaker 2: the future can hold so many surprises, so many twists

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Speaker 2: and turns, and you just have to be open for

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Speaker 2: whatever comes.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 2: I'm still an educator, so I'm not leaving that profession

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Speaker 2: anytime soon.

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Speaker 3: You know. There's a lot of students that need me,

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Speaker 3: and they need al puzz of Hero.

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Speaker 2: Our history and our culture is so rich, and we

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Speaker 2: need so many storytellers to share our personal lives and

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Speaker 2: our stories, you know, and so I just feel this

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Speaker 2: great honor and duty to continue ten more years to

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Speaker 2: share and tell these stories of Ignazio Rivetta, tell the

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Speaker 2: stories of Elpeza Hero.

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Speaker 1: That was ek Do Rodriguez, the creator of Elpeso Hero.

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Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Renaldo Leanos Junior and edited

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Speaker 1: by Andrea Lopez Cruzado. It was mixed by gabriel Lebiez

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Speaker 1: and Lia Sha Dameran. The Latino USA team also includes

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Speaker 1: Victoria Strada, Lori mar Marquez, Marta Martinez, Penileei Ramirez, Mike Sargent,

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Speaker 1: Nor Saudi, and Nancy Trujillo. Our director of Engineering is

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Speaker 1: Stephanie Lebau. Our senior engineer is Julia Caruso. Additional engineering

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Speaker 1: support by j J. Carubin. Our marketing manager is Luis Luna.

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Speaker 1: Our theme music was composed by Sea Rubinos. I'm your

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Speaker 1: host and executive producer Mariano Rosa. Join us again on

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Speaker 1: our next episode. In the meantime, look for us on

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Speaker 1: your social media and as always, remember no te maayas

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Speaker 1: astraa proxima jao.

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Speaker 4: Latino USA is made possible in part by California Endowment,

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Speaker 4: building a strong state by improving the health of all Californians.

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Speaker 4: The Annie E. Casey Foundation creates a brighter future for

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Speaker 4: the nation's children by strengthening families, building greater economic opportunity,

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Speaker 4: and transforming communities, and funding for Latino USA is Coverage

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Speaker 4: of a culture of health is made possible in part

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Speaker 4: by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

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Speaker 1: Perfect. I think it sounded good. Speak now or forever,

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Speaker 1: houlture peace. Now, everything's good.

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Speaker 4: Docky