Anticipating “America Chavez”#1 – by Gabby Gonzalez

America Chavez is a character I deeply admire and look up to, for good reasons. She is a kick-ass superhero who uses her dry-wit humor and her super strength to fight off bad guys. America is different from most superheroes we see in the popular media and culture. She is a queer Latina who was raised in a queer utopian universe. However, America Chavez is not bogged down by the labels that she encapsulates. She is willing to fight for the good, even if she does not even know the limits of her powers. I have been dying to see her in a solo series for a long time.

As soon as I picked up The Young Avengers, written by Kieron Gillen and drawn by Jamie McKelvie, I knew she was my favorite character in the series. I have read a bazillion superhero comics and I still haven’t quite seen a character like America Chavez. People can argue that there have been Latina superheroes before, but I argue that they have had smaller roles, and/or are written stereotypically, and/or don’t stay too long in their particular comics. What surprises me the most is that Marvel has hired Gabby Rivera, a queer Latina YA author. This shocks me, because Marvel’s track record for diversity is not the greatest. It wasn’t until 2016 that they hired their first black female writer. Marvel and other companies have been known to give their big-name projects to more recognized white male writers. It doesn’t mean that white male writers can’t write diverse characters, but if each book has a white male author then the characters are going to be written in a white male perspective. If you want to check out America, before her own series hits the shelves, try picking up Young Avengers and The Ultimates. Her new solo series is about America Chavez leading the Ultimates and going to multiverse college.