S1: It's time for Midday Edition on KPBS. Comic-Con is underway , so for today's show , we'll take you inside preview night. I'm Jade Hindman. Here's to conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. KPBS film critic and Comic-Con expert Beth Accomando tells us what keeps her coming back to the convention.
S2: Pop culture is something everybody partakes in all the time , whether they know it or not. If you watch a movie , if you watch a TV show , if you , you know , do anything that involves the popular arts , you are a part of this in some way , shape or form.
S1: Then a panel on the mainstream emergence of Afrofuturism , plus the career of animator Bobby Rubio. That's ahead on Midday Edition. San Diego Comic-Con is back in full swing. Last year's pop culture convention saw a diminished Hollywood presence due to writers and actor strikes. But now the studios and stars are back. But as longtime attendees know , the convention has so much to offer for pop culture fans of all kinds. On today's Comic-Con edition of midday , we are previewing some of the festivities , also highlighting the creators and artists who are advocating for representation in their fields. We'll talk about Afrofuturism and representation and animation. But first , we actually went on site last night at the San Diego Convention Center and checked in with KPBS Beth Accomando. Here's that conversation. So , Beth , we're here on the exhibit floor. There are a lot of tables , a lot of all kinds of things set up. What am I seeing ? What am I looking at here ? Describe the scene for.
S2: Me while you are on the exhibit floor. It is a quarter mile long , so you know , if you have to traverse this a lot , you're putting in a lot of miles and there's everything down here. There's some movie studios , there's collectibles , there's comics. You know , it all depends what you're interested in , but you could pretty much find it here. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , we're sitting in your booth.
S2: Um , you know , it's a great place to be. I'm a pop culture person. I love the fact that I can walk around here and say something like , no matter where you go , and somebody else will finish it and say , there you are. And I know they love Buckaroo Banzai , and I can't do that anywhere else.
S1: Well , it's a labor of love for sure. Well , okay , so let me ask you this , because last year's Comic-Con looked a lot different , right ? It was a little thin. Uh , you had the actors and screenwriters on strike. Now it seems like things are really kind of back in full swing.
S2: Like it was you could move around more. All the vendors were having more sales. They had like their best year ever for a lot of people. I did not miss Hollywood. I love the fact that they are coming back. But you know , to me , Comic-Con is so many things. It can be whatever you want to make it and there's always something to find. So , you know , this idea of , oh , it's back to normal now. You know , last year was a great year for me , I loved it. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , I mean , and the focus was really on comics , um , which is kind of the heartbeat of what Comic-Con is.
S2: You know , you're not going to find as many of the vintage comic book dealers as you used to. There's some big distributors that are no longer here. But you know what ? There are still comics here , and there's a lot of comic publishers here , a lot of indie comic publishers , a lot of artists. There's also web comic people. So you can find so much stuff here if you look for it. And the panels also will highlight not only the big comics , but also things that I love are the little nerdy stuff about inking or lettering or coloring. Stuff that I don't know anything about. And to be able to go to a panel and learn more about what that is makes me appreciate the craft of creating a comic even more.
S1: Well , I mean , also , there's a lot of film stuff. You are KPBS film critic , so anything we should be looking out for on that front.
S2: I love What We do in the shadows , and Matt Barry is one of my favorite people , and he's going to be here for a panel in Hall H. So I am looking forward to that.
S1: Uh , very nice. All right. Well , are you on a panel this year ? I mean , tell us about that. Yes.
S2: So I was actually writing for Giant Robot Magazine , which is a magazine about Asian pop culture. It's a fabulous magazine that used to be printed , like in the garage of the two publishers. I was doing some interviews with Hong Kong celebrities like Chow Yun Fat and Sammo Hung and people like that. And so there are some people on the panel to talk about the old days and where Giant Robot is going. So it's going to be a lot of fun.
S1: Oh , wow. And listen to that. Someone just turned on display. I can hear the movie's running in the background. There's just so much to take in here at Comic-Con. 600 hours of programming.
S2: But I will say that one of the best kept secrets here is the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival. And that has films running every day. And that's a great thing to check out if you love artists , Quick Draw is one of the funniest panels you will go to. It's three artists improvising cartoons right in front of you on a big screen , and that's always fabulous. So there really is so much to choose from. So it's hard to like , give advice because everybody's interests are different.
S1: You just have to like , pace yourself. There's so much to take in. And you've been doing this since the 70s. Yes. Um , so do you have any , like , really fond Comic-Con memories ? Yes.
S2: So what , this back in the old days , when the panelists would walk right out into the lobby after a panel. Guillermo del Toro came out and I had a chance to chat with him , and all these young filmmakers were giving him DVDs. And when he went to leave , he turned to his assistant and he said , where are my treasures ? And he was talking about the DVDs that these people had given him , and he actually watches them. I've heard from filmmakers it may take like 2 or 3 years , but he actually cares enough to do that. So I love that , and I think it reflects really the best of Comic-Con.
S1: Oh yeah , the opportunity to really get to meet with folks and see the creators who create all of this , uh , you know , there's a lot of offsite stuff happening too.
S2: They're going to kind of redo the Winchester bar or pub , and I am going to make an effort to go see what that's all about. And I even brought my cricket bat.
S1: Okay , well we'll wait , we'll see. We'll see what happens with that. I feel like the energy Comic-Con brings to San Diego each year is really , like , palpable , even for non pop culture fans. It's like the whole city really comes together to celebrate.
S2: Well , pop culture is something everybody partakes in all the time , whether they know it or not. If you watch a movie , if you watch a TV show , if you , you know , do anything that involves the popular arts , you are a part of this in some way , shape or form. So I think it's something everybody can identify with and it's very accessible in terms of , you know , the stuff that that it's highlighting. You can buy a comic anywhere , you can go see a movie anywhere. And , you know , a lot of people love this stuff.
S1: We also spoke to some attendees about what they're looking forward to most and what Comic-Con means to them. Tony Yao has been coming to the convention for over 30 years. He said everyone has their own reason for being there.
S3: You know , some people do cosplay , some people collect toys , comics , whatever it is. I mean , I'm a toy person. That's what I do. But a lot of people are here for the other things. Cards , uh , promo stuff , freebies , panels. So there's something here for everybody.
S1: Well , there definitely is still to come. While there's something for everyone , there's also representation for everyone.
S4: We get to on a race ourselves and actually like basically say , you know what ? This particular medium can actually represent everyone.
S1: Hear more about Afrofuturism and its growing popularity. When KPBS Midday Edition returns. Welcome back. This is KPBS Midday Edition. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Marvel Studios is back at Comic-Con this year , and as always , there's major hype around their Hall H panels. That's where they welcome the cast of the 2018 Black Panther movie and its 2022 sequel before they even hit theaters.
S5: My son , it is your time. Show me my respect and bowed down. You get to decide what kind of king you are going to be. Don't freeze and never freeze.
S1: Beyond being a massive success , the Black Panther universe brought Afrofuturism to the cinematic mainstream , and the movement continues to have a presence at the convention. I spoke with three Afrofuturist about how the movement influences comics and pop culture as a whole. Bestselling author and artist John Jennings joined the conversation. He's a Hugo and Eisner Award winner and a professor at UC Riverside. Also comic book artist Keith and Jones , founder of Kid Comics , which is a San Diego based independent comic book publisher , and Luana Richmond , executive director and founder of Greenworks. She also runs the Afrofuturism Lounge , which takes place during Comic-Con each year. Take a listen for listeners who might be unfamiliar with what Afrofuturism is. What is it ? Well , Afrofuturism has a lot of different definitions. It can be as narrowly defined as art , literature.
S6: Music that positions African-Americans in the center as opposed to on the margins or just plain absent. And like some of the early sci fi. Or it could be expanded into critical thought and social justice and thinking about black people throughout the diaspora thriving. It's a connection between the past , the present and the future. So some people use Sankofa as a thread connecting it , and for me , I use it to also get people to envision desired outcomes and reverse engineer their way to making those outcomes reality.
S1: We mentioned Black Panther earlier , but there are so many important figures who were at the forefront of the movement , who were.
S6: Some people credit a lot of connect make a connection between Dogon theory and Afrofuturism. And then now I would say I look at Tananarive Due , Steven Barnes , of course , John Jennings and Renaldo Anderson as people that are kind of on the forefront these days.
S1: John , you're a longtime afrofuturist and have dedicated much of your career to the movement.
S4: So have you ever seen , like , the Terminator or things like that ? Nature is like a creature that's made from , like , metal or like technology and flesh , that kind of thing. It's a cyberpunk reference from from science fiction. So I was doing like a bunch of those , just kind of referencing , uh , stereotypes , black stereotypes , and how they kind of keep popping up in media , you know , that kind of thing. And , um , one of my friends who was an Africanist , the name was Dana Rush. I was I was working at the University of Illinois at the time. This is like early 2000 , like 2007 , something like that. And she said , oh , I love these. This look really afrofuturist. And I'm like , I don't know what that is , you know ? And so I started doing , uh , you know , research. And it turns out that , yeah , you know , the term gets coined by Mark Dery , like 93. And I started doing research and went down to , you know , started doing digging around. And I realized like , yeah , this is a cultural movement that kind of uses the frame of science fiction and fantasy in that kind of Afrocentric , you know , uh , kind of epistemology or mindset. So since then I became like obsessed with it. And now I teach like three on the books , classes on Afrofuturism and different , uh , venues , um , at the University of California , Riverside now. Wow.
S1: Wow.
S7: who was who worked with the Malcolm X library here in San Diego. And they wanted to expand their Black History Month program by incorporating comics or art or something like that. So they approached me. I was about to turn it down , but I thought that , you know , I really I sat there and thought about it. I was like , this might be a great opportunity to build a platform where black creators can have have a venue where they can display their work and have a voice that's not filtered or overshadowed by bigger entities , like at San Diego Comic-Con , for instance. And so I created Black Comics Day , and I've been doing Black Comics Day every February for the last seven years now. And through that process is when I started hearing the term Afrofuturism , black speculative arts and stuff like that. And so , um , I just kind of fell into it in a natural way. And , um , which is when I ran into Luana and John and so many other creators in this space.
S1: What makes comics , you think in graphic novels , even a good medium to present afrofuturist concepts and ideas , unless they're when they're movies and series as well.
S4: Personally , I think that because you are utilizing symbolic means to to communicate , and actually because comics rely on representation that you can easily like , you know , really kind of disrupt the erasure of black images and comics because let's be real , like up until fairly recently or like , you know , in the particularly like the 1960s , you really did not see black superheroes at all. Right ? Until we get a character , say , like Black Panther or what have you. But of course , there were black characters in the cartoon , you know , the black. And what do you call it ? Black press the black. Independent media , like , you know , the Chicago Defender and things like that. But I think one of the major things is the fact that we get to on a race ourselves and actually like basically say , you know what ? This particular medium can actually represent everyone. And so it's a it's very empowering for , for like black creators to actually say that and actually like create and publish our works these days. I think it's a that's part of it , like really like looking at the past , but also , as Luana says , like using Sankofa to kind of push ourselves into the future. Yeah.
S7: I also would like to add that you're , um , asking what are the benefits of doing it through graphic novel media ? It's affordable. You have on paper , you have an unlimited budget. Whatever you visualize in your head , you can put it out on paper and you don't need to go find , um , super sponsors and raise all this money to make a film , for instance , or be rejected , flat out rejected because the studio doesn't believe in your project. So this medium lends itself to whatever you come up with , you know , creatively. And there's not there's no real barriers there other than the cost of paper. It's just it's more accessible. It's what I'm saying and what the success of the Marvel films , for instance , um , it's become part of the , I guess , as far as comic culture and how it's all tied into popular media now. So , um , things just fell in place at the right time , I guess. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Yeah. Well , I mean , you're all very involved in Comic-Con and organize outside of it.
S6: I think , you know , not to say that our event changed the what Comic-Con did , but I did notice a lot more black centered or Afrofuturism panels and workshops after the first year. And you know , I'm sure the success of the Black Panther film was a huge push for that. And so we see more of that and we see less pushback , um , of people trying to say what the race of an imaginary character should be when people cosplay. I didn't mention it before , but it's really cool for me to be with Keaton and John today because , you know , they were instrumental in helping me start the Afrofuturism Lounge.
S1: Well , Kevin , what about you ? You went to Comic-Con growing up and actually got your start there.
S7: Mhm. So it's not that we just appeared on the scene out of nowhere. So I guess like Luana said there's less static around it. The friction is. Yeah. Yeah , it's a little more. It's it's noticeably more acceptable. People feel more comfortable on both sides. The fans are more comfortable to showing professing their their love for the stuff. And the creators are more relaxed about presenting their voices in a more true manner , as opposed to it's crazy. When I was a kid , and this is I actually thought about that stuff when I made my own characters. Like , I would literally think about , well , if I made the leader of the superhero team black , that people might not like it. And then and I'm thinking as an older man now , I'm thinking like , how nuts and terrible it is for a child to have that kind of thought in their head , you know , and I'm talking about 11 years old , 11 , 12 year old having dreams of being a comic book creator and doing all this fantastic stuff , but also having enough sense to know that if I made particular characters a certain ethnicity , I might get pushback. And it just illustrates how real and how oppressive that type of thinking can be for a child , even though people may not notice it on on the surface , it's going on internally. And that's because when you're growing up , you're inundated with how to call it like it is. You're inundated with white characters from birth , you know , being the protagonist or being the heroes , you know. So it's it's it's not something a child actively thinks about , but it's subconsciously baked in there. And that's what I'm saying.
S6: But you're immersed in a system , especially when you were a child , where most of the messages about leaders and heroes , fictional as well as historic , were the stories of white men. Right.
S7: It's like what it was like , what John was saying , the the erasing of history and and our imagery like , you know , um , because to this day , we're still fighting the stereotypes. You still see films where the black characters are there for comic relief , or doing something goofy.
S6: Or the first to.
S7: Die , first order or non consequential , non consequential stuff , you know , um , and and it goes beyond just it goes beyond the African American. I mean you see with Asian characters you see it with Latino characters. For some reason we're pigeonholed into these stereotypes now. It's a lot better now. It is a lot better now. And I don't want to say there hasn't been progress because there has. And like I said , especially within the last ten years and we're finally climbing out of that , at least we're trending in the right direction. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , you know , it also , I mean , even when you look at how just education around black history , ethnic studies , all of that has been is being suppressed. Um , it is sometimes that you turn to , uh , something , you know , whether it's a series or a movie or a comic book within the Afrofuturism genre , and learn something about African culture or something like that.
S7: Right ? Right.
S4: Keith Warner brought up some really great points. Um , yeah. So what we're talking about really is , like , we've always suffered a certain level of narrative scarcity when it comes to black images , uh , of images of marginalized people. And the other thing is that traditionally in media , you know , the idea of whiteness has colonized the idea of of normality , right ? Or like it's the central it's the default of , you know , the character. Right ? You just assume that that person is going to be a white male. And so that has definitely been something that on one hand is actually like created a definitely a certain level of empathy that black people , I think extend to different characters. That is definitely had not been reciprocated until fairly recently. And , um , I was thinking about this too , as far as like how we're looking at Afrofuturism now , one of the most amazing things I think , that's come out of this movement is that the major institutions in our country have now actually celebrated Afrofuturism as a legitimate , like cultural movement. Currently , right now , there is an Afrofuturism show at the Smithsonian , at the National Museum of American History and Culture. It's been up for like a year , um , at the at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. There is a permanent Afrofuturist period room that was designed by Hannah Beachler , who was the Oscar winning set designer for Black Panther , is called Before Yesterday. We Could Fly. Um , there , um , has been shows at , you know , the Schomburg Center , uh , for Research in Black Culture. Um , there have been shows at the , at the , at the , um , at various , uh , museums across the country , including , um , just recently something at the Lincoln Center , actually , too , you know. Um , so there's these different , like , cultural movements. Carnegie Hall actually did an eight , eight week celebration of Afrofuturism that was curated by some of the top afrofuturist scholars in the in the country. So it's become a mainstream conversation , as Keith and Luana just said , you can actually walk into a a boardroom now and say , oh , I have this action adventure story and it's afrofuturist and people know exactly what you're talking about. So you're like looking at a point where before Black Panther and after Black Panther. And I would actually also add Jordan Peele's Get Out to that conversation , too. Yeah.
S1: Well , John , you're also an editor.
S4: And so I thought it'd be a great name for a imprint. And so we actually have , for instance , Afrofuturist work from Barbados. You know , Afrofuturist works from Brazil. We have an afrofuturist , uh , Count of Monte Cristo , a book called The Last Count. That's actually quite wonderful. So , yeah. So that's what we've been doing on the comics side. And I also created a brand new Afrofuturist character for Marvel called Ghost Light. Actually , that was , um , again , using Sankofa to find a black character that had been previously used in a , in a comic like in the 1960s and then reintroducing him as a superhero.
S6: So so can I. Can I just add that for a lot of people , Afrofuturism is seen as a way for because it's an inclusive look at futurism. If you look at , for example , Bitterroot , you've got um , not only are you looking at diverse people , but you're looking at people with different abilities. And , you know , most of the people that I know , I've very seldom run into anyone who disagrees with the fact that , you know , from an afrofuturist lens , we're not just looking at , you know , how black people can thrive. We're not trying to create the black planet that everybody fears. We're looking at a world where everyone can thrive.
S1: Well , and to to put a bow on that. Luana , can you just talk a little bit about , I mean , you know , Afrofuturism , um , gives us a glimpse into all that we can be.
S6: Everyone is in a space to be able to create content , media , messaging and Afrofuturism creates a space where we can imagine all the things that are possible. And , you know , I encourage people when they're doing that , to imagine , you know , the best possible things. But even when we look at it from a pessimist standpoint , being able to imagine those things helps us identify actions we can make to move in that direction. And also it helps people understand that , you know , there isn't like one way or one thing , you know , the word normal is probably my least favorite word in the dictionary because it implies that there is a norm in anything. And when we talk about human beings , the further we get away from expecting people to fit into a box , the closer we get to a society where everyone can thrive.
S1: Well , Lorna , this marks the seventh year of the Afrofuturism Lounge.
S6: So in the initial conversations , it was really going to be a private party for creators. And I honestly can't remember whose idea it was , but the idea came up to open it up to the public , because a lot of people in the public had never been exposed to many of the creators that were going to be in the room. And so that's how the first Afrofuturism Lounge was born , as a way to connect people who are working together and then to connect them with the public. We weren't really sure how many people were going to show up. I think we thought maybe we thought like 50 people would show up , or 100 people , 650 people registered that first year. What's really cool is Tim Fielder , who did Matty's Rocket and Infinitum , and he's done a lot of journalism. He's been in a lot of exhibits. He just did something at the met. You can hear his voice when you go to the Afrofuturism exhibit at the Smithsonian. Um , so he's a graphic designer and illustrator , and , you know , one of Walter Grayson's books that I have in my library is Illmatic Consequences , where he looks at like Afrofuturism and Hip-Hop. Together , they They got together and did a graphic history of hip hop , which , you know , a graphic novel , of course , is fiction. A graphic history written by a historian is going to give you great images of historic people and places , and they're going to be the speakers that will be talking at the Afrofuturism Lounge. We're also going to give people who attend the opportunity to vote on our People's Choice category for our $10,000 Inclusive Language Art contest , where we're promoting non-biased communication. But most importantly , you know , as always , the Afrofuturism Lounge gives people who normally don't get to spend time together and opportunity to connect while they're in the same city.
S1: That was my conversation with John Jennings , comics creator and UC Riverside professor Keith Jones , founder of Kid Comics. Also , Luana Richmond , executive director and founder of Gree owners. And you know , some convention goers have been going to Comic-Con for years and traveling miles to do it , like Sheldon Thomas , who's been going since 2015. This year , he's excited for the Deadpool and Wolverine panel. For him , all the comic chaos is worth it.
S8: As an introvert , all of these people is a little different for me , so. But it's fun , right ? It's kind of fun. It's chaotic , you know , there's a lot of stress , just kind of making sure you get to the things you really want to get to because there's so much stuff going on. Um , but at the end of the day , it's a lot of fun.
S1: Well , coming up , the legendary Bobby Rubio talks about his career and Filipino representation.
S9: What made me turn was they asked me.
S1: Welcome back. You're tuning in to KPBS midday edition. I'm Jade Hindman. You just got a quick preview of what's happening at Comic-Con. Animation is also getting its flowers at the convention , and many creators of that art actually start with a love for comics. That's the case for Bobby Rubio. Born and raised in San Diego , he has an animation career that spans nearly three decades. You got a favorite Disney or Pixar film ? He probably worked on it. He most recently worked on Paramount's Transformers one , which is having its big Hall H panel as we speak. Here's a clip from the trailer.
S10: You have proven yourself worthy.
UU: Take these and assess.
S10: Your full potential.
UU: As the film up. You got me up.
S10: It's time to show him. We are more than meets the eye.
S1: All the hype sounds really exciting. Bobby joins me now to talk about the world of animation and what he's got lined up at the convention. Bobby , welcome.
S9: Hi , Jade. Thank you for having me.
S1: Glad to have you here.
S9: It's very similar to a comic book artist. What we do is we get a script from the writer , and then we draw the images that is written on the script. So let's say if Optimus Prime is walking down the street with Megatron , it says it on the on that for the first panel and the second panel , they see a dog running. Then those images need to be drawn. And so that would be the storyboard artists. I would draw exactly what the lines asked for , and then a progression of images of them walking down the street , them seeing a dog that would then take be taken to the editor and cut together into a sequence. Of course , the scene would be much longer than them meeting a dog , but that gives you a general idea of what a storyboard artist does.
S1: Very cool. Well , like we mentioned , you've been in this business for nearly 30 years. I mean , you've worked on Treasure Planet , Up Inside Out , Avatar The Last Airbender , just to name a few.
S9: And that was a tremendous honor to me. And the funny thing was , originally I did not draw them as Filipino. I drew them as a white characters , as Caucasian , because I wasn't too sure if Disney or Pixar or anybody really wanted to see this. Now you got to understand , this was , uh , like almost ten years ago when I started on it. And so we didn't have the representation that we do now. But what was amazing was Pixar had my back and they were like , you know , the story is a it's a story based off of you and your son. What made me turn was they asked me , how would your son feel if he looks on screen ? And the character , the little kid doesn't represent him. And you know , that hit that hit me. I was like , okay , you know what ? I'm going to do this for my son. We'll do this for further generations. Let's let's do this , let's do this. Make them Filipino. And so I would so , so thrilled that , you know , Pixar allowed me to do that. And so , you know , I feel that a little bit of the , you know , the glass ceiling is broken , just like maybe just a little crack because there's still much to do. But at least , you know , we touched it and , you know , made a little crack. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , you mentioned that float is based on your son who is on the autism spectrum.
S9: And , you know , it was very difficult for me , very , very difficult for me to process that because as a father and a new parent , you , you know , you have these visions of what your child would be. And nowhere was I thinking autism was in the cards. So I went into a depression. I just shut the world out and my wife was like , you gotta you gotta get out of this funk. So she made me seek therapy. But also at the same time , she said , you know , you probably should tell your story. And so I did. I made a little funny thing as I made a comic book. I made a comic book cover , an image of this boy floating. It was called it was called Alex , based off of my son. And I think a few years after that , I was looking at my son. He was getting much older. He was like 9 or 10 , and I was like , you know , I really should tell this story because it's a good story. It's a story that must be told. And , and , you know , if I put it off , I will never do it. So I started doing an animatic , which is I did a bunch of storyboards , and then we cut it in editorial to see what it looked like. And I showed it to my friends and they were like , wow , this is amazing. You should you should show it to Lindsey. Lindsey Collins was the executive producer of the Spark Shark program , and when I showed it to her , she's like , this is perfect for the program and we'd like to give you the opportunity to write and direct your own short. And I and I took it and and I'm so grateful for that that opportunity. Yeah.
S1: That's excellent.
S9: Because , you know , you don't have to get a real boy and do effects and and do a blue screen on him and like , try to make them act. When you have animators , the top animators , especially at Pixar , they could be anything. They could be a Antz , they could be a toy , they could be and they could be a little boy. So animation allows you to the freedom to do any character. The effects of his hair flying up was also necessary in animation. The boy floating alone would definitely you would have to use CGI effects anyways. There's no way you could do that in live action. So that's why you choose animation.
S1: Right ? Well , you're based in Oakland , but San Diego is your hometown.
S9: That's southeast San Diego , and I went to Robert E Lee elementary. I believe it's Pacific Heights Elementary now. They changed it , and and I went to Morse High School and Alexander Graham Bell Middle School. Okay.
S1: Okay. All right. Did growing up in that area sort of help form your love for art ? Yes.
S9: You know , I was really into comic books , and I was really into cartoons , and I. And I don't know , Jade , if you talk to Keaton. Yes.
S11: Yes.
S1: Sure did.
S9: Okay , then I don't know if Keaton told you the story , but both him and I grew up together. I was really in the comic books. I really into cartoons. I was the best artist in elementary school. and when I went to middle school , my friends were like saying , hey man , there's this kid who can draw just as good. He draws as awesome , like robots and stuff and comics. I'm like , really ? Really. And I couldn't believe it because I had never seen that before. So we actually had an art battle , like his friends talked to my friends and which all led up to us having a battle in the in the library. He was on one end with his friends. I was on the other end of the table with my friends , and we had pieces of paper. And then we would draw like , okay , robots , let's draw robots. And we drew robots. And who had the better robot drawing ? Let's draw superheroes , a better superhero drawing. And you know , the funny thing ? And then the great thing is , is that that rivalry that we had , you know , at the time , it was it was a rivalry and I , I still liked him and I , I had all kinds of respect for him. But , you know , when you're a rival , you're like , oh , there's Keith and then there's brawling.
S12: So frustrating.
S9: And but Keith and I , man , we became friends. We were a really good friends. And I you know , I wish that to every artist. I didn't see it in the beginning. But you know , you need that competition to up your game.
S1: That's a whole link there , man. That's that's pretty cool. And it's interesting that you that you say that because when you were talking about float and being concerned about having Filipino characters in that , when I talked to Keith and along with a few others for an Afrofuturism panel , they also mentioned that same concern of being concerned about having black characters in comics.
S9: But yes. Yes. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , speaking of representation , you're actually debuting your first independent comic this year and it features a Filipino superhero.
S9: But it's about this kid that grows up growing up in San Diego , and he inherits a screamer , sticks a screamer is our Filipino martial art. It's a stick fighting. You've seen it in in movies. You've seen it in Dune. Black Widow has sticks. She fights screaming style Daredevil. It's everywhere prevalent in in in a bunch of movies. But you wouldn't know that it was a Filipino martial art form , and it's shocking and sad that people don't know that. And it's sad that I didn't find this out until I was much older. And so I took it upon myself to , like , create a superhero doing our Filipino martial art. But it's more than that. I definitely wanted to have a San Diego flavor. He wants to be in the university , but he can't afford it , so he works at a taco shop. Um , I wanted a bunch of San Diego. This to the book because most comic books are set in the East Coast , like Spider-Man and and most of the Marvel Universe is in New York. So there's big giant buildings and and skyscrapers and bridges of that sort. But then , you know , I wanted my book to reflect San Diego or the West Coast. So I wanted it to be more beaches and palm trees and , and taco shops and freeways and things of that nature. So it's another thing for like kids growing up here , San Diego kids , if they read the book , they'll be like , oh , I recognize this , right ? And this and this is cool. Cool. That is superheroes running around a world that I recognize.
S1: Right ? Right. Oh that's great. Well , you're also on a few panels this year at Comic-Con , one of which will pay tribute to early Filipino comic creators.
S9: It was Tony de Zuniga and Alex Nino that we are definitely focusing on , and I am familiar with their work. I didn't collect comics in the 70s. I started in the 80s , so they're a bit before me , but I saw how brilliant they were and how fast they were. And children need to know their history and they need , you know , hopefully it'll give them some pride and it'll also give them inspiration to think that they already are a part of this , you know , this , this comic book world. So we've had trailblazers that came before us , and I myself am standing on their shoulders and everything that they've done before. So we're thanking them. And hopefully , you know , those names , Tony Zuniga and Alex Nino will be remembered and continually remembered from here on out , and hopefully I can stamp in the next kid will be like , I remember Bobby Rubio.
S1: That's what it's about.
S9: And that's free because , you know , it's not inside the Comic Con. So for those of you who cannot go to the Comic Con , you can meet up with me. It's a mixer from eight to midnight. We're just hanging out. You know , you can come up and talk to me. We can take pictures. We could talk about the Padres and the Chargers and whatever you want. It's just nice to come back home and get to see friends and family again and get to geek out some comic book stuff while I while I'm here.
S1: Oh that's great. We'll enjoy yourself. I've been speaking with storyboard artist and comic creator Bobby Rubio. Bobby , it's so great to talk to you. Thanks for joining me.
S9: Oh , it was great talking to you , too , Jade. Thank you for having me.
S1: You know , young people are also enjoying their time at the Comic-Con. Madeleine Custodio has been going since she was two years old. It's her 12th year now , so we asked her about her favorite Comic-Con memory.
S13: Probably the ice cream truck last year with the the new movie or series that , I don't know. It was a cool ice cream truck , though.
S1: I'd remember the ice cream truck too. Sometimes it is the little things. Well , that's our show for today. If you missed anything , you can download KPBS Midday Edition on all podcast apps. Don't forget to watch KPBS Evening Edition tonight at five for in-depth reporting on San Diego issues. The roundtable is here tomorrow at noon. Before we go , though , I'd like to thank our Midday Edition team producers Ashley Rush , Giuliana Domingo and Jacob Ayer with the help of Lainie Alfaro , senior producer Brooke Ruth , art segment contributors Julia Dixon Evans and Beth Accomando , technical producers Ben Read , Brandon Troopa and Rebecca Chacon. The Midday Edition theme music is from San Diego's own Surefire soul ensemble. I'm Jade Hindman. Thanks for listening and make it a great day on purpose , everyone.
