The Four Color Media Monitor

Borderzine interviewed a couple running a publisher called Dukes Comics in El Paso, Texas, developing comics reflecting local views:

Elvira Carrizal-Dukes and Ronnie Dukes create the world they want to see, literally.

Their graphic novel company, Dukes Comics combines Elvira’s writing skills and Ronnie’s art skills to share borderland culture with the world.

“We’re trying to portray El Paso more as a metropolis with urban people and urban aesthetics. We’re not a sleepy desert town,” Elvira Carrizal-Dukes said. “Fort Bliss here in El Paso brings a lot of diversity and a lot of different worldviews. We wanted to make that perspective, but especially from a female Chicana perspective which you hardly see.”

Their first work, A.W.O.L. Ausente Sin Permiso is about military soldier Cruz Ochoa receiving orders to go to Korea when she receives an ominous message about her brother being kidnapped and his impending murder. Instead of going on her mission, she goes AWOL to rescue him.

Themes in this book surround the military, immigration and sticking to your family values – all themes that the Dukes thought that borderland residents could relate to.

Let's hope that, when they speak of immigration, they mean legal, because there's been far too much of the opposite in the past 2-3 years, as the result of disastrous leftist policies. That said, the comics in focus do seem to emphasize some impressive ideas:

“We’re trying to appeal to a diverse range of young people. We want them to see brown and black bodies throughout our book. People who are intelligent and strong,” Elvira Carrizal-Dukes said. “We also are trying to paint this new way of living that we feel is how we want to change our society.”

This change that they wish to see in society is shown in different aspects of the book. The characters they write are BIPOC characters who are science, technology, engineering and mathematics experts. They’re brave and aren’t afraid to go against the grain if it’s for the benefit of their communities. They normalize bilingualism, a common skill with many borderland residents.

The worlds in the graphic novels are also glimpses of what could be in the future. While some ideas are pure imagination– like flying cars that don’t use gas or oil or a high speed train that runs along I-10 to cut down on emissions – others are based on things that could come to El Paso, like the plans for a large park that would cover part of I-10 by downtown.

“I want people to be excited for the future. I’ve visited multiple city planning meetings that are for 20 to 30 years into the future and added them into the book. That’s a legit future of El Paso,” Ronnie Dukes said. “I want people to be amazed at some of the technology and think ‘that’s practical.’ I want the world to create solutions.”

All this is fine, so long as it isn't intended to serve far-left ideologies, and giving everybody an inspiring example of careers they could build up is setting an excellent example. And the following gives an idea why they call their outfit Dukes Comics:

Their newest work, released in 2023 in English, is called Daizee and The Dukes. It’s about main character Daizee and her family, the Dukes, and how they buck the status quo by making vehicles and cleaning the environment to create a better community. They’re labeled as deviants, but in their eyes, it’s worth it to make a better tomorrow.

“We want to create positive stories, that feature positive deviance, which is going against the status quo in order to change your community even though the powers that be might consider you outlaws or deviants,” Elivra Carrizal-Dukes said. “In order to create change, you gotta do it.”

Clearly, it's meant as a riff on notable TV shows like the Dukes of Hazzard from 1979-85, and certainly makes for a most amusing title for a comic. I wish these folks good luck in producing their visions, which certainly provide inspirations for careers and professions in science that, if utilized correctly, can certainly benefit the future.

Labels: indie publishers, museums, politics, science