A new Marvel’s Voices anthology one-shot is out this week celebrating Latinx creators and superheroes. It’s made of 15 stories featuring heroes like Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, White Tiger, Reptil, and Risque. There’s a lot to dig into here, as well as a lot of unique voices delivering important messages and reminding us of key Latinx characters.
Running 91 pages long, each story connects us to a character and their culture with a few sharing important messages too. It’s a treasure trove of stories featuring often underused characters that continues the high-bar set by the previous seven iterations of Marvel’s Voices. Largely this book reads like a taste tester featuring characters that haven’t popped up for some time, giving characters like Ghost Rider a bit more focus than usual.
There are great bonus features in this one-shot as well, like an introduction by Federick Luis Aldama that’s personal and genuine, a retrospective on White Tiger with interview snippets from character co-creator George Pérez, and some thoughts on Latin food from a few different creators.
Speaking of food, there’s a reoccurring theme of one-page food-focused stories in this collection that are well done. Edgar Delgado tells a story about making tacos, Karla Pacheco and Vanesa R. Del Rey use Ghost Rider to talk about making tortillas, and Nico Leon and Felipe Sobreiro have Reptil make tamales. Sprinkled throughout the collection, these one-page stories utilize the title character well while reminding us food is an important feature of any culture.
There are quite a few stories here and some will likely resonate with readers more than others. There’s a good variety as far as types of stories in part due to length since some tales are much shorter than others. In general, the art can feel a bit simpler, especially for superhero comics, but the art is never bad or half-baked. They aren’t all perfect either, with a story or two missing the mark or not quite capturing the heart and soul of a character.
There are standout stories aplenty, like Alex Segura and Alba Glez’s story “Homecoming” which features Sunspot taking out some racist goons. They connect with the character’s roots and personality well. Glez’s art captures Sunspot’s youthfulness and José Marzan Jr. supplies good inks with colors by Cris Peter. You can get a bit more insight into this story by reading the X-Men Monday that featured Segura.
“¿De Donde Eres?” features Miles Morales connecting with Black Panther by David Betancourt and Alitha E. Martinez with some impeccable messaging about Black and Latinx culture. Marzan Jr. inks this story with colors by Bryan Valenza with art that connects to these very important human moments.
“Fate and the Sorcerer Supreme” by Juan Ponce and Wilton Santos features a mystical story about saving the environment using the 1955 Sorcerer Supreme Nina the Conjuror and it has a strong message about protecting our planet. Along with inks by Sean Parsons and colors by Dijjo Lima, the art has a digital look to it that enhances the magical element. It’s a gorgeous-looking story.
“Latinx and Proud” by Julio Anta & Enid Balám do an exceptional job explaining why “Latinx” is used today, as well as remind us deportation is a real and frightening thing that happens to even kids. Inks by Oren Junior and colors by Federico Blee do well to capture the action in the opening and keep the conversation moving with much of the story set at Miles Morales’ dinner table.
“Loco-Motion” by Yehudi Mercado & Mauro Fodra featuring Ghost Rider taking on some racist white jerks wearing red. This story has a digital look to it with colors by Fernando Sifuentes that suits the flame effects and the tar pits Ghost Rider sends them to.
Marvel’s Voices: Community is exceptional at creating awareness of Latinx culture while connecting superheroes to real-life situations that involve racism, acceptance, and identity. It’s a comic that not only serves to inform readers on key issues and culture, but also entertains and serves as a reminder that Marvel has some of the strongest Latinx characters in comics. Knowing Latinx kids today have a comic like this that never existed until now makes it all the more impactful and essential to readers today.
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