My biggest struggle with
him, aside from convincing him to eat his vegetables
at dinner, is getting him excited about speaking
Spanish. After coming across the comic book Amigoman,
I found something that can satisfy us both.
Like many kids his age, my nephew is obsessed with
superheroes. With Halloween right around the corner,
his current 4-year-old life dilemma is choosing between
a Batman or Spiderman costume. My biggest struggle
with him, aside from convincing him to eat his vegetables
at dinner, is getting him excited about speaking
Spanish. After coming across the comic book Amigoman,
I found something that can satisfy us both.
Antonio
Alvarado, aka Amigoman – The
Latin Avenger, a mild-mannered History teacher by
day and a bilingual
vigilante by night in the City of Del Oro. Alvarado
fights crime while helping kids improve their reading
and Spanish skills.
The
story of Amigoman began when creator Anthony “AO” Oropeza
couldn’t find any comics with Latino superheroes
at his local book shop. So he decided to develop one
of his own, and gave the main character a background
similar to his and the people he knew. Regarding Amigoman’s
origins Oropeza writes:
I
wanted my character to be like guys from my neighborhood – blue
collar with some the ambition to do something with
their life as being one option and then the opposite
as the other.
I ultimately would give him an American type of story
with a positive twist. Just like many from my neighborhood
my character would have a difficult youth but eventually
would be set on a path to make himself a better person.
Aware
that comics are enjoyed by readers of all ages, Oropeza
made an AMIGO-Reading
Rating System, creating
different levels of stories and plot lines so that
kids and adults could learn from Amigoman’s adventures.
So
with my nephew’s penchant for reading the
same books over and over again, he can finally pick
up some more Spanish words through a positive Latino
role model. And maybe next year, he’ll want to
be Amigoman for Halloween.
Got to the NewsTaco.com page and make a comment and let them know how much
you like them writing about your friendly barrio
superhero - Amigoman!
----------------------------
Thanks, Renne!! Cool article
and we hope you like our comic book! Thanks from
all of us at
Strong Ave. Studios!
