Remember Amazing Arizona Comics, the indie comic book by a guy who grew up in the Valley and moved back just when the state started going to hell in the last year or so?
Well that guy, Russ Kazmierczak Jr., is set to debut his creation at San Diego Comic-Con later this month.
“I don’t know if a local Arizona comic will go over well in San Diego, but it’s worth a shot,” Kazmierczak said in a press release. “It’s the biggest comic con in the world, and Arizona has made global headlines the last 18 months. Maybe the chemistry will work out.”
His characters include June Monsoon and Speed Cameron, a living speed camera who turns superhero when Gov. Jan Brewer pulled the plug on freeway photo enforcement, as well as Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s celebrity posses. He also tackled the unexpected bursting of Tempe Town Lake’s dam. Kazmierczak is working on his fifth issue.
So what made Kazmierczak use Arizona culture for his canvas?
“I moved back to Phoenix from Orange County in January 2010, right when the SB 1070 controversy was in full swing,” he said. “Other states, including California where I’d just come from, were protesting Arizona. The line was so clearly drawn, and Arizona was so blatantly branded a national villain, that I thought, ‘This is the perfect context for a comic book.’ ”
You can find out more about Kazmierczak’s work, and where you can find him in San Diego, at the Karaoke Fanboy Press blog. You can get your hands on copies of Amazing Arizona Comics at shops that carry local indie comics, like Mesa’s Evermore Nevermore.
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