HELLO BARKADA

arts & culture centered on the margins

How learning to see the entrenched practices of empire within the popular arts has shifted my perspective on what it means to be a conscientious TV viewer and filmgoer, particularly as it relates to the BDS call to boycott Disney. Originally published on January 10, 2024. 

Calling all Barkada in NorCal! Hello Barkada is a confirmed vendor at the PACBI-committed, 15th annual East Bay Alternative Book & Zine Fest, aka EBABZ Fest, on Saturday, December 7, at the Brower Center in Berkeley. Available at my table will be zines & tings, including works featuring East Bay cartoonists Breena Nuñez, Lawrence Lindell, and Trinidad Escobar.

Hello Barkada is confirmed to join the OC Zine Fest on its 10th anniversary, on Saturday, September 7, at the Anaheim Central Library! This zine fest also marks the first time Hello Barkada will table outside of San Diego County. I will bring zines. Also art and crochet tings, like Ube and Calamansi KittyCorns, Dreambirds that fundraise for Friends of the Congo, and more.

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Black and white illustration of a woman sitting in a bubble-filled bathtub, and a man washing her hair as she sits in the bath.

Hello Barkada Comics #1: "Family"

BY MAXI RODRIGUEZ

COMICS

In this comic strip that launched the Hello Barkada Comics series, Latina body-positivity cartoonist Maxi Rodriguez shares her perspective on the value of chosen family. 

Please don't be alarmed: Stephanie Williams is in demand and on a roll

PROFILES

How the writer of Nubia: Queen of the Amazons and Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic: The Family Snikt went from clinical lab work to comic book bylines

On Radical Openness

ESSAYS

How learning to see the entrenched practices of empire within the popular arts is shifting my perspective on what it means to be a conscientious TV viewer and filmgoer.

Color photo of Japanese American cartoonist Elizabeth Ito.

Elizabeth Ito's Peabody-winning City of Ghosts captures overlooked stories of Los Angeles

PROFILES

The animation veteran and former Adventure Time director discusses the storytelling and appeal of her award-winning Netflix show.

A rock painted blue with a pink happy face lays on a concrete curb.

Help Our Grassroots Organization Thrive

ABOUT

When you become a Hello Barkada backer, patron, or client, you help support independent arts journalism and programming by, about, and for marginalized communities. Be a part of the momentum we're building in 2023 and consider a contribution, collaboration, and zine purchase today!

Black text says "Most Read" followed by bold black line break.
White text says "The Breadth of Trinidad Escobar's Arrive In My Hands. Published by Black Josei Press, Trinidad Escobar's Arrive In My Hands is a collection of Queer erotic comics, poem-comics, and illustrations that surges off the page like desire released from dormancy." Text on a darkened illustration of oceanside cliff formations that look like two women laying on their left sides in an embrace.
White text says, "Queenie: Godmother of Harlem. Inspired by the life of Stephanie "Queenie" St. Clair, this graphic novel by Elizabeth Columba and Aurélie Lévy and published by Megascope / Abrams ComicArts is a gripping read." Text on a darkened photo of the hard cover book on a red and white embroidered tapestry.
White text says, "Hello Barkada Comics #8. Each edition of our comics series features a new emerging or established cartoonist. In our first of 2023, nonbinary Caribbean American artist FeliceY shares a coming-of-age story in 'I Just Need a Pad.'" Text on a darkened black and white illustration of the second first panel of the comic featuring the narrator saying, "I need a pad."
Print outs of Hello Barkada activity sheets on a light gray and white shag rug.

Free and Fun Activities Always Available

COMMUNITY

Each activity is made to stir curiosity, start conversations, and build connections. No printer? No problem: Printing isn't necessary! These can be written, typed, and colored on in any free PDF editing application. 

A brown hand holding up the black and white zine in front of a leafy green hedge. The cover of the zine features falling leaves and the title, "isang mahal."

Inside our Premiere Zine, "Isang Mahal"

Our first micro-press effort is a 16-page zine featuring the first print reproductions of our 2021 comics series as well as original written and illustrated works. Profits offset our operations and help us commission artists and writers in 2023. Once 100 copies are sold, profits will also be shared with the cartoonists whose comics are featured in the zine. Buy a copy today!