A new group of superheroes is coming to town. Just don’t expect them to grace your kids’ lunchboxes or find them inside a kids’ meal.
The Super Chikis don’t go around blowing up bad guys, and they don’t have typical superhero names: Ana, Samantha, Daniela, Veronica, Indira, and Esperanza. The fact that they have everyday names makes these preteen characters more relatable to the young girls they hope to inspire.
Luz Andrea Diaz is the creator of Super Chikis. At a recent launch of Super Chikis in San Antonio’s Geekdom Event Center, Diaz said these superheroes are supposed to reflect the city’s diversity.
“At this company, what we want to do is we want to have a new Latino superhero,” Diaz said. “Superhero girls who are powerful, talented, just like us. They portray positive characters. Most of the characters are Latina, and others are girls of color — minorities. We are promoting diversity. We are also promoting tolerance.”
Diaz didn’t have to go far to find inspiration for her characters. Two superheroes are based on her daughters, 9-year-old Johana Velazquez (aka “Samantha”) and 7-year-old Angela Velazquez (aka “Ana).
Johana’s superpower is painting, and Angela’s superpower is singing.
“Whatever I sing becomes reality,” said Angela, while pointing to her sister. “And everything she paints — like if she draws a spider — poof, a spider pops out.”
And not to leave the parents out, Diaz said each comic will come with a companion guide to help mom or dad also participate in each adventure.
“They can talk to each other,” Diaz said. “ ‘Did you see how they use their super powers? Do you have any superpowers?’ "
If all goes according to plan, the young girls who read the comics will come away confident that they are superheroes too, Diaz said.
“Everybody has a different talent,” she said, “and that is our own superpower. And we can share that with the world.”
Diaz has high hopes the Super Chikis will save the day with a little tolerance, diversity, and kindness.
Norma Martinez can be reached by email at norma@tpr.org and on Twitter @NormDog1
