| Ivan Velez Jr. | |
|---|---|
 Velez at JHU Comics in Manhattan | |
| Area(s) | Superhero comics LGBT comics |
Notable works | Blood Syndicate Ghost Rider Tales of the Closet |
Ivan Velez Jr. (born 1961) is an openly gay Latino American cartoonist, writer, museum educator, and teaching artist, known for creating the groundbreaking comic book series Tales of the Closet, and for his work with the DC Comics imprint Milestone Media, and with Marvel Comics.
Ivan Velez Jr. was born in the Bronx, New York in 1961 to parents of Puerto Rican descent. [1]
Velez created one of the first narratives about queer youth in his series Tales of the Closet (1987-1993). The author notes that he struggled watching people in the gay community die from a lack of education and communication about AIDS. So, he created a comic to educate both straight and queer teens. [2]
This brought him to Milestone Media in the early 1990s, where he expanded Latino representation to include queer, straight, and multicultural Latino characters in Milestone Media's series Blood Syndicate. Notably, Velez's characters portrayed more than one type of Latino identity; such as Dominican, Puerto Rican, Afro-Hispanic. Velez brought Latino and Afro-Caribbean characters to Marvel Comics, as during his work on Vol 3, issues 70-93 and -1 of Ghost Rider , when he depicted supporting characters of color. [3]
Following the cancellation of the Milestone line, Velez worked as a freelance writer for DC's other imprints and for Marvel Comic, where he was the company's second Latino writer, after George Pérez. These assignments included Ghost Rider , Venom , and Abominations for Marvel; Eradicator and Extreme Justice for DC's main superhero line; Flinch for Vertigo; and Scooby-Doo , Dexter's Laboratory , Ben Ten , and The Powerpuff Girls for DC's Johnny DC imprint. [1] In working for Marvel and DC, Velez has been one of the few Puerto Rican writers to work for the Big Two in American comics publishing. [2]
Velez illustrated works that commented on his experience as gay, Latino man in the United States. His work has appeared in Gay Comix, for which he illustrated one cover, Details, HX Magazine, [4] and the anthology Qu33r. Velez edited graphic novels for Dutton Books (Dead High Yearbook), earning an award from the American Library Association. [1]
In an interview with CBR.com, Velez stated that the style in which he rendered the series differed from his previous work by depicting various peoples and time periods of American history with a greater sense of realism. [3]
Believing that Americans, including younger people, were a growing market for more characters and superheroes of color, [2] Velez used his work to advocate for LGBT characters, including young members of that community. Velez acknowledges that the mid 80s were the time of the multicultural initiative and the onset of the AIDS crisis, which he sought to address through frank explorations of issues facing gay and transgender teens in his educational and LGBTQ awareness project, Tales of the Closet. [3]
Velez differentiates his comics from mainstream heroes like Superman or Batman in that popular stories are restricted to predictable narratives that corporate foresees will sell. Velez felt that mainstream heroes were depicted through a typically upper-middle class and white perspective, while other races were portrayed through negative stereotypes, and sought to make comics for children who hailed from different economic, educational or ethnic backgrounds. [5]
As of 2017, Velez resides in the Bronx. [6]
George Pérez was an American comic book artist and writer, who worked primarily as a penciller. He came to prominence in the 1970s penciling Fantastic Four and The Avengers for Marvel Comics. In the 1980s he penciled The New Teen Titans, which became one of DC Comics' top-selling series. He penciled DC's landmark limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths, followed by relaunching Wonder Woman as both writer and penciller for the rebooted series. In the meantime, he worked on other comics published by Marvel, DC, and other companies into the 2010s. He was known for his detailed and realistic rendering, and his facility with complex crowd scenes.
MAX Comics is an imprint of Marvel Comics specializing in comic book media aimed at adult-only readers. It was launched in 2001 after Marvel broke with the Comics Code Authority and established its own rating system.
Milestone Media is a company best known for creating Milestone Comics, which were published and distributed by DC Comics and the Static Shock animated series. It was founded in 1993 by a coalition of African-American artists and writers, consisting of Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis and Derek T. Dingle. The founders felt that minorities were severely underrepresented in American comics and wished to address this.
Dwayne Glenn McDuffie was an American writer of comic books and television, known for producing and writing the animated series Static Shock, Damage Control, Justice League Unlimited and Ben 10, and co-founding the pioneering minority-owned-and-operated comic book company Milestone Media, which focused on underrepresented minorities in American comics.
James H. Williams III, usually credited as J. H. Williams III, is an American comics artist and penciller. He is known for his work on titles such as Chase, Promethea, Desolation Jones,Batwoman, and The Sandman: Overture.
Chris Batista is an American comic book artist, known for his work on a number of titles for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, including Steel, Spaceknights and Thunderbolts.
Greg LaRocque is an American comics artist best known for his work on the Legion of Super-Heroes and The Flash.
In comics, LGBT themes are a relatively new concept, as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) themes and characters were historically omitted from the content of comic books and their comic strip predecessors due to anti-gay censorship. LGBT existence was included only via innuendo, subtext and inference. However the practice of hiding LGBT characters in the early part of the twentieth century evolved into open inclusion in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and comics explored the challenges of coming-out, societal discrimination, and personal and romantic relationships between gay characters.
Christopher Williams, who goes by ChrisCross, is a comic book illustrator, known mostly for his stints pencilling Milestone Comics' Blood Syndicate and Heroes, Marvel Comics' Captain Marvel and Slingers and DC Comics' Firestorm.
Robert Rodi is an American novelist, playwright, comic book writer, essayist, and performance artist.
Ron Wilson is an American comics artist known for his work on comic books starring the Marvel Comics character The Thing, including the titles Marvel Two-in-One and The Thing. Wilson spent eleven years, from 1975 to 1986, chronicling The Thing's adventures through different comic titles. He co-created the Wolfpack characters with writer Larry Hama.
Carlos Luis "Charlie" Vázquez is a self-identified queer American artist, writer, and musician of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent and a New York Foundation For The Arts and NEA Fellow for poetry. He is also the editor of Fireking Press, where he has published a novel and a book of short stories. He serves as the deputy director of the Bronx Council on the Arts, and runs the group's writing center. His fiction, erotica and essays have appeared in a number of anthologies, magazines, and websites. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his partner, poet John Williams.
In American mainstream comics, LGBT themes and characters were historically omitted intentionally from the content of comic books, due to either formal censorship or the perception that comics were for children and thus LGBT themes were somehow inappropriate. With any mention of homosexuality in mainstream United States comics forbidden by the Comics Code Authority (CCA) until 1989, earlier attempts at exploring these issues in the US took the form of subtle hints or subtext regarding a character's sexual orientation. LGBT themes were tackled earlier in underground comix from the early 1970s onward. Independently published one-off comic books and series, often produced by gay creators and featuring autobiographical storylines, tackled political issues of interest to LGBT readers.
Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez is a writer at Marvel Entertainment, Editor-in-Chief at Darryl Makes Comics LLC, Art Director/Owner at Somos Arte and Studio Edgardo creative services, and creator of La Borinqueña, an original comic book character that has grown into a cultural phenomenon and a nationally recognized symbol of Puerto Rican patriotism, social justice, and equality.
Gabby Rivera is an American writer and storyteller. She is the author of the 2016 young adult novel Juliet Takes a Breath, and wrote the 2017–2018 Marvel comic book America, about superhero America Chavez. Her work often addresses issues of identity and representation for people of color and the queer community, within American popular culture.
Shawn C. Martinbrough is an American comic book artist. The long-time artist for Robert Kirkman's Thief of Thieves, Martinbrough is known for his film noir-influenced drawing style.
Josh Trujillo is an American writer known for his work on comic book franchises such as Adventure Time,Captain America, and Rick and Morty. He has recently been announced as the next writer of Blue Beetle.
