On -sims: Latino Comic Con

A little shy of 20% of the US population is of Latino descent. And yet, you don't see them very well-represented at most comic conventions. Sure, the Hernadez brothers make the rounds frequently and are well celebrated, but you tend to see more Black creators at conventions, despite their only making up about 12% of the broader population. Now, there are certainly all sorts of issues to unpack if you want to explain that, but I'm going to leave that for the moment and instead point out this...

The Latino Comics Expo. It's a comic convention specifically highlighting Latino and Latina creators.

Now, some of you might think, "Well, who might they get besides Los Bros?"

Here's a partial list of guests: Raul Aguirre, Lalo Alcaraz, Frederick Aldama, Carlos Avila, Erik Arreaga, Alex Trijjo, Michael Aushenker, Jose Cabrera, Luis Calderon, Jaime Crespo, Ricardo Delgado, Anthony Aguilar, Alejandra Cisneros, Luke Lizalde, Steve Guerra, Jessica Miranda, Erik M. Esquivel, Neil Segura,Ray Medivil, Gabriela Gamboa, Crystal Gonzalez, Jason Gonzalez, Erik Gonzalez, Erich Haeger, Javier Hernandez, Mario Hernandez, Donna Letterese, Alfonso Vijil, Jim Lujan, Ozi Magaña, Liz Mayorga, Pepe Melan, Ofloda Monstro, Roman Montes de Oca, Hannibal Garcia, Jacqueline Ortiz, John Narcomey, Rafael Navarro, German Orozco, Daniel Parada, Jose Pulido, Neil Rivas, Jules Rivera, Grasiela Rodriguez, Octavio Rodriguez, Simon Sotelo, Carlos Saldaña, Alex Olivas, Luis Perlata, Josh Edelmann, Gary Lee Jackson, Dan Madigan, and Christian Ramirez.

Like any long guest list, there are probably some names there that you don't recognize. But there should be several on there that you do. I read Alcaraz's La Cucaracha every day, I'm reading Aldama's book Your Brain on Latino Comics currently, I just logged some anthology comics into my database with portions by Letterese. But more importantly, it points to just how many Latino comic creators are out there today. Some of them are focusing on Latino issues and concerns, others not so much. Which is precisely why this type of gathering should get more attention. There's a significant group of people making comics here that are largely overlooked instead of celebrated.

Not surprisingly, the LCX is in an area that's a little more heavily populated with Latinos (45% of the LA population), but with such a broad representation across the US, I sure as heck wouldn't mind seeing similar cons in other cities. Miami (65%)? Austin (34%)? New York (24%)? I don't know that they could get to the level of success/popularity that a lot of ReedPop and Wizard shows get to because they're a decidedly narrower focus, but I think that also provides an opportunity to serve what is essentially a completely unserved market right now. Somebody, get on that!

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