Monday, March 25, 2024

The 2024 Latinx Comic Arts Festival is in the books!

Thank you to our community of exhibitors, drivers and riders, volunteers, photographers, broadcasters, dancers, sponsors, and planning teams, it was our best and most well attended event ever. We are so grateful for every single person who touched this event and for our Modesto Junior College students and families. We welcomed so many babies this year!

Thank you Yvonne De La Cruz Sanchez for creating the incredible cosplay outfit for her daughter who became our iconic Latina Folklórico Sailor Moon. She brought our poster to life!

A very special thank you to Tyrone "Malow" Diaz for the incredible footage and recap film below. We are forever grateful for the time, effort, and amor that went into this historical piece. 

~Dr. Rojas & the Exec Planning Team
Modesto, Califas
March 25, 2024









Monday, March 18, 2024

Saturday, March 16, 2024

A Message from The Latinx Comic Arts Festival Regarding Modesto Junior College's Campus

Attention LCAF Community and Attendees:
 

This is a reminder that the Modesto Junior College campus, where the event is being held, does not allow alcohol on the premises.

This means that there is no alcohol allowed in our buildings or parking lots. Please help us keep this a safe, ongoing community event.   

We look forward to welcoming everyone Friday and Saturday, March 22-23rd, to celebrate our 5th year!   

~The Latinx Comic Arts Festival 

 

Friday, February 16, 2024

2024 Festival Poster and Promo Image!

As difficult as it was to imagine topping last year's Festival icon, we've done it again!  Here, we present a variant of this year's poster with our icon Folklorico Sailor Moon created by Amber Padilla (@CandyMistakes). Amber is both our poster artist and designer. 

Notice the detail on the dress and braids. Amber also customized the background. You'll this and more throughout the Festival program booklet. Full size posters and lowrider variant will be available for sale at the event. 



Monday, August 21, 2023

Fanbase Press' Graphic Medicine Series, 'Ripple Effects,' Honored with 2023 Harvey Award Nomination, Featuring Contributions from LCAF's Dr. Theresa Rojas

 

The Latinx Comic Arts Festival is proud to share that Fanbase Press' Graphic Medicine series, Ripple Effects, has received a 2023 Harvey Award nomination in the Digital Book of the Year category, with contributions for LCAF Founding Director Dr. Theresa Rojas.  







Ripple Effects is a five-issue comic book series which explores life as a superhero with an invisible illness, specifically type 1 diabetes.  The series was inspired by creator/writer/colorist Jordan Hart's lived experience with an invisible and incurable blood-clotting disease called thrombophilia.  



The series was created, written, and colored by Jordan Hart (Terminarch, Doppelgänger, Emergence), illustrated by Bruno Chiroleu (El Borde, Mara and Samu), flatted by Shane Kadlecik, lettered by Oceano Ransford (Eisner Award-nominated Rikki, The Sequels, Haphaven), and featuring cover art by Justin C. Harder (CLAUS Studios).  In addition, the collected trade paperback features a foreword by Matthew Noe (Librarian, Harvard Medical School).



What sets this series apart is a positive, person-first representation about life with an invisible illness . . . which just so happens to also include superhuman abilities. But, Ripple Effects isn't just a story about a character with an incurable disease. It’s also a thrilling and relevant superhero tale that touches on the difficulty of finding a work/life balance, the class struggles and economic inequality experienced by many in our nation, and the desire to help others during trying times.



In an effort to help readers better empathize with and understand the difficulties of navigating invisible illnesses, every issue of the series features an "Unseen Ripples" essay series written by individuals with invisible disabilities who relate Ripple Effects' events to their own lived experience, ranging in topic from paranoid schizophrenia to thrombophilia.  Essay contributors include:

  • Dr. Theresa Rojas - Founding Director - The Latinx Comic Arts Festival, Founding Board Member - Graphic Medicine International Collective
  • Jazmine Joyner (They/Them) - Writer / Editor, The Story Eater 2024
  • Mike Ahn - co-creator, Out of Order
  • Amanda Lawson
  • Jordan Hart - writer, Ripple Effects, Terminarch, Doppelgänger, Emergence



Earlier this year, Ripple Effects was nominated for a 2023 Eisner Award (Best Digital Comic) and the 2023 Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards. The series was included in the American Library Association’s (Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table) 2022 Best Graphic Novels for Adults Reading List and was named the winner for the 25th annual Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards in the Graphic Novels & Comics category.  

The series was collected into a printed trade paperback which is available through Fanbase Press and Amazon.  The collected digital edition is also available through Hoopla, Comics Plus, and Kindle. 



For more information on Ripple Effects, please visit www.RippleEffectsComic.com or www.fanbasepress.com. Ripple Effects may also be found on Facebook and Twitter, @RippleFXComic. 




 

VOTING FOR THE HARVEY AWARDS

The 2023 Harvey Awards will be presented on Friday, August 13, 2023, during New York Comic Con.  A full list of the 2023 nominees may be found here

The Harvey Awards welcome professionals from across the comic book industry to vote on this year’s awards. This means all professional creators – writers, artists, colors, letterers, designers and editors are eligible to vote. In addition to professional creators, publishing professionals (sales, marketing, etc.), comic book retailers and librarians are also eligible to vote.

If you fit any of the above criteria or work in the comic book industry, click here to apply to become a voter.




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ABOUT FANBASE PRESS
As an Eisner Award-nominated comic book publisher and geek culture website, Fanbase Press produces new and distinctive works, as well as daily reviews, interviews, and podcasts, that span the pop culture spectrum and give voice to the themes, ideals, and people that make geekdom so exceptional.

Fanbase Press’ previous titles, including the 2018 Eisner Award-nominated Quince, the 2022 International Latino Book Award-winning Nuclear Power, the 2020 Foreword INDIES Award-winning Quince: The Definitive Bilingual Edition, and the 2023 Eisner Award-nominated Ripple Effects, are available online at www.fanbasepress.com and on Amazon, as well as digitally through Hoopla Digital, ComicsPlus, and Kindle.

ABOUT THE LATINX COMIC ARTS FESTIVAL

The Latinx Comic Arts Festival is the California Central Valley's only celebration of Latino comic arts creators and friends. We showcase some of the most talented people in the country, featuring Latinx cartoonists, writers, artists, animators, storyboard artists, comic arts educators, and more! LCAF takes place on the campus of Modesto Junior College in Modesto, California, and is an ALL-AGES, FREE, FAMILY FRIENDLY event that is open to the public. LCAF features two days of exhibitors, 10 panels and workshops, a virtual art gallery, and a lowrider exhibition on Saturday. 

In support of the mission of an HSI, LCAF "expands the educational opportunities for Latinos and other underrepresented populations"* by directly addressing the need to develop more programming for our growing Latinx student body (now over 54%) and the larger Modesto Junior College and Central Valley communities. 

Part of the mission of Modesto Junior College is to transform lives through programs and services. The Latinx Comic Arts Festival presents a dynamic, innovative, and thoughtful event that benefits our entire MJC community and establishes the Festival as the premier Central Valley comic arts event focused on Latino creators.  While LCAF will afford our students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to meet a variety of talented creators, it’s also a way to get people—entire families—on campus. For many, it will be an initial introduction to our campus.

Friday, May 19, 2023

Fanbase Press' Graphic Medicine Series, 'Ripple Effects,' Honored with 2023 Eisner Award Nomination, Featuring Contributions from LCAF's Dr. Theresa Rojas

The Latinx Comic Arts Festival is proud to share that Fanbase Press' Graphic Medicine series, Ripple Effects, has received a 2023 Eisner Award nomination in the Best Digital Comic category, with contributions for LCAF Founding Director Dr. Theresa Rojas.  






Ripple Effects is a five-issue comic book series which explores life as a superhero with an invisible illness, specifically type 1 diabetes.  The series was inspired by creator/writer/colorist Jordan Hart's lived experience with an invisible and incurable blood-clotting disease called thrombophilia.  



The series was created, written, and colored by Jordan Hart (Terminarch, Doppelgänger, Emergence), illustrated by Bruno Chiroleu (El Borde, Mara and Samu), flatted by Shane Kadlecik, lettered by Oceano Ransford (Eisner Award-nominated Rikki, The Sequels, Haphaven), and featuring cover art by Justin C. Harder (CLAUS Studios).  In addition, the collected trade paperback features a foreword by Matthew Noe (Librarian, Harvard Medical School).



What sets this series apart is a positive, person-first representation about life with an invisible illness . . . which just so happens to also include superhuman abilities. But, Ripple Effects isn't just a story about a character with an incurable disease. It’s also a thrilling and relevant superhero tale that touches on the difficulty of finding a work/life balance, the class struggles and economic inequality experienced by many in our nation, and the desire to help others during trying times.



In an effort to help readers better empathize with and understand the difficulties of navigating invisible illnesses, every issue of the series features an "Unseen Ripples" essay series written by individuals with invisible disabilities who relate Ripple Effects' events to their own lived experience, ranging in topic from paranoid schizophrenia to thrombophilia.  Essay contributors include:

  • Dr. Theresa Rojas - Founding Director - The Latinx Comic Arts Festival, Founding Board Member - Graphic Medicine International Collective
  • Jazmine Joyner (They/Them) - Writer / Editor, The Story Eater 2024
  • Mike Ahn - co-creator, Out of Order
  • Amanda Lawson
  • Jordan Hart - writer, Ripple Effects, Terminarch, Doppelgänger, Emergence



Earlier this year, Ripple Effects was included in the American Library Association's (Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table) 2022 Best Graphic Novels for Adults Reading List and was named as a finalist for the 25th annual Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards in the Graphic Novels & Comics category.   



The series was collected into a printed trade paperback which is available through Fanbase Press and Amazon.  The collected digital edition is also available through Hoopla, Comics Plus, and Kindle. 



For more information on Ripple Effects, please visit www.RippleEffectsComic.com or www.fanbasepress.com. Ripple Effects may also be found on Facebook and Twitter, @RippleFXComic. 




 

VOTING FOR THE EISNER AWARDS



The 2023 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards will be presented on Friday, July 21, 2023, at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel during San Diego Comic-Con.  A full list of the 2023 nominees may be found here.  All SDCC attendees with a Friday and/or 4-day badge are able to attend the Eisner Awards.



Voting for the Eisner Awards is being held online using a two-step process. The first step is for prospective voters to apply here. After filling out the form, eligible voters will be invited to go to the ballot and cast their votes. Those who previously registered will automatically be invited to fill out the new ballot. All professionals in the comic book industry are eligible to vote. The deadline for voting is June 9. New voters must have registered by June 2 in order to be invited to the ballot.  




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ABOUT FANBASE PRESS
As an Eisner Award-nominated comic book publisher and geek culture website, Fanbase Press produces new and distinctive works, as well as daily reviews, interviews, and podcasts, that span the pop culture spectrum and give voice to the themes, ideals, and people that make geekdom so exceptional.

Fanbase Press’ previous titles, including the 2018 Eisner Award-nominated Quince, the 2022 International Latino Book Award-winning Nuclear Power, the 2020 Foreword INDIES Award-winning Quince: The Definitive Bilingual Edition, and the 2023 Eisner Award-nominated Ripple Effects, are available online at www.fanbasepress.com and on Amazon, as well as digitally through Hoopla Digital, ComicsPlus, and Kindle.

ABOUT THE LATINX COMIC ARTS FESTIVAL

The Latinx Comic Arts Festival is the California Central Valley's only celebration of Latino comic arts creators and friends. We showcase some of the most talented people in the country, featuring Latinx cartoonists, writers, artists, animators, storyboard artists, comic arts educators, and more! LCAF takes place on the campus of Modesto Junior College in Modesto, California, and is an ALL-AGES, FREE, FAMILY FRIENDLY event that is open to the public. LCAF features two days of exhibitors, 10 panels and workshops, a virtual art gallery, and a lowrider exhibition on Saturday. 

In support of the mission of an HSI, LCAF "expands the educational opportunities for Latinos and other underrepresented populations"* by directly addressing the need to develop more programming for our growing Latinx student body (now over 54%) and the larger Modesto Junior College and Central Valley communities. 

Part of the mission of Modesto Junior College is to transform lives through programs and services. The Latinx Comic Arts Festival presents a dynamic, innovative, and thoughtful event that benefits our entire MJC community and establishes the Festival as the premier Central Valley comic arts event focused on Latino creators.  While LCAF will afford our students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to meet a variety of talented creators, it’s also a way to get people—entire families—on campus. For many, it will be an initial introduction to our campus.

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

2023 Program Electronic Program Booklet is Here!

The complete 2023 Latinx Comic Arts Festival program booklet is now available below! Huge thanks to J.M. Hunter, Amber Padilla, and Dr. Theresa Rojas for their work on the booklet and to Manuel Martinez for his original art.