In this comics anthology full of humor and heart, writers and artists from across the US pay tribute to the ways food and sports endure as touchstones in the Latin American diaspora. In the vein of Frederick Luis Aldama’s bestselling anthology Tales from la Vida, creators offer slice-of-life comics in an array of styles to capture common threads that bind this dizzyingly diverse community. From a simple quesadilla eaten hot on the way to school, to a Puerto Rican grandmother’s offering of guineitos en escabeche, to a homesick Chicano punk’s reverse-engineered tamales, food is a gift from elders to children, a marker of continuity and togetherness amid a dominant culture that may dismiss its flavors. Sports, too, provide a path to friendship and connection across national and language barriers, anchoring fans and participants in a sense of identity and place, whether through the perseverance of the Mayan game pok ta’ pok, the unifying surge of lucha libre or soccer fandom, or a father and daughter’s shared love of horse racing. Together, the creators collected in From Cocinas to Lucha Libre Ringsides share a mosaic of stories that vividly portray Latinx identity and life today.
Contributors:
Aleasha Acevedo, José Alaniz, Frederick Luis Aldama, Julio Anta, Charlene Bowles, David Bowles, Adrian Carrillo, José Cabrera, Valerie Martinez Cabrera, Mauricio Alberto Cordero, Jaime Crespo, Celeste Cruz, Ernesto Cuevas Jr., Chris Escobar, Rolando Esquivel, Tim Fielder, Dustin Garcia, Eric J. García, Jorge Garza, Oscar Garza, Lucas Gattoni, Blas Goncalves-Borrego, Estella González, Carina Guevara, Aaron Guzman, Javier Hernandez, Sam Jimenez, Eric Kittelberger, Alberto Ledesma, Pablo Leon, Darren López, Patrick Lugo, Jarred A. Luján, Eliamaría Madrid, Miguel Martinez, Paloma Martínez-Cruz, Carlos Meyer, Marisol Meyer Driovínto, Paul Meyer, Rosie Murillo, Rafael Navarro, Daniel Parada, Stephanie Nina Pitsirilos, Jazmin Puente, Raúl the Third, Anna Maria Richardson, Hector Rodriguez III, Theresa Rojas, Rafael Rosado, Andrea Rosales, Justin Rueff, Irma Ruiz, Angela M. Sánchez, Serenity Serseción, Javier Solórzano, Josh Trujillo, Cayetano Valenzuela, Diana “Dianita” Vargas Sampieri, Andrés Vera Martínez
Frederick Luis Aldama, a.k.a. Professor Latinx, is an award-winning author and editor of dozens of fiction books, comics, animation shorts, and scholarly books, including the comics anthology Tales from la Vida and the picture books The Adventures of Chupacabra Charlie and Con Papá / With Papá. The series editor for Latinographix, he is the founder and director of the Latinx Pop Lab and holds the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin. Angela M. Sánchez is a writer, cartoonist, magician, staff writer for Disney TVA, and author of the series Scruffy and the Egg, which addresses single parenthood and homelessness.
