Al Madrigal’s comic “Primos” introduces Mexican superheroes

Brut America

“Mexicans are the world’s superheroes.”  Tired of not seeing enough Latinx representation, comedian Al Madrigal wrote a comic book with Mexican superheroes ... AWA Studios

Transcript

00:00All superheroes are super white if you think about it like it would say it's

00:04Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, everybody who's just all created in the 50s and you know early

00:0860s so you have it's all white guys and you know the occasional white woman.

00:15I want Latino, Latina, Latinx kids in LA you know all over the country to see themselves in a comic

00:33you know and see themselves represented on TV. I can't express enough how frustrating it is to like

00:42watch TV, be such like an avid consumer of entertainment and not see

00:51anything close to who you are and what you are on television.

01:04As an actor and a writer I'm trying to push these stories out there

01:07and it's incredibly difficult it's just so taking it into our own hands is something that just had

01:15to be done and there's no other way because no one else is doing it and it's upsetting.

01:37So we have this El Paso freedom fighter meeting up with this Latino skate rat from South LA

01:46who meets up with their badass yeah super spy Mexico City cop cousin. The idea of cousins

01:56in general is so cool not close enough that they're on top of each other it's such a more

02:02like loving relationship and also you can match up in ages and there's mentors like

02:09five years older than you it's just like this big web of this extended family that could come

02:15together and be so powerful. So you gave me not just one but three superheroes and the universe

02:22that they're in and it's deep to Mexican culture in mythology I mean the basic idea is the minds

02:27did it they did get the spaceship out of space and now they're back and they're pissed

02:32we really have given a lot of thought into making sure that they stand out they're unique

02:39and they're authentic at the same time but then it's something that anybody can read.

02:56It's very important for kids to see heroes that look like them. I've been yearning for years to

03:01get a great Mexican superhero someone that really speaks to the Latino community and just really

03:05really has the vibe the representation of Mexican superheroes is meager I mean there's two Mexican

03:12superheroes at Marvel there's white tiger and at DC there's blue beetle who are they exactly

03:19there's great black superheroes there's great Asian superheroes but the Latino

03:23superheroes they're meager and Mexicans they're non-existent.

03:35I remember when I was at Marvel we created Miles Morales the writer had the idea to make him half

03:40Hispanic and I said what Hispanic is he I don't know well you'd better because if he's Dominican

03:47he's different than Puerto Rican he's different from Mexican from Chilean from Guatemalan you

03:52figure out now what type of Hispanic is he so I feel like the whole thing about Primoz it's

03:57totally green white and red through and through.

04:10You can't beat authenticity people when people view something they can tell

04:16if the authorship is real. Especially Latinos. Especially.

04:28Mexican-Americans largest group 64 and a half percent of that Latino population in the United

04:35States nothing Mexicans are the world's superheroes like they're really who you send in.

04:47But there'll be enough loose threads there at the end don't be surprised if there's a

04:51sequel coming very quickly it's built to last it's supposed to be a franchise not just a story.

04:55I was never raised by my parents to think about a career in entertainment.

05:05I was raised to have a serious job I never imagined to have a world live in a world where I could

05:10make money in the living off of words and pictures. Yeah if anyone's watching this conversation

05:16if I can implore Latinos anybody that's interested in anything creative we need you so bad jump in.

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