Diwata Komiks Announces New Original Title at San Diego Comic Con 2022
Originally launching as a Filipino-American comics company in 2021, Diwata Komiks continues to celebrate its founders’ roots while expanding on the values already ingrained within its mission statement – to continue telling diverse stories with unique voices unified by a love for comics. Diwata Komiks rebrands wider simply as a diversity-focused comics company looking to continue telling stories from its creators’ multicultural heritages reflective of our globalized society today.
“Being a proud third culture kid, I’ve always known that the things I connected with varied greatly because I didn’t simply connect with the culture I was born into but the many I grew up in. I’m beyond thrilled by this new direction and extremely excited to share our new project in development!”
– Mark A.J. Nazal, Writer/Chief Creative
At an LGBTQ+ and Diversity panel during San Diego Comic-Con surrounded by other neurodiverse creatives, Diwata Komiks Chief Creative unveils The Hidden World of Anton Jimenez drawn by talented, up-and-coming queer Filipino artist, Gani Cabezas.
Photos: DK Chief Creative Mark Nazal at the ‘Celebrating Indigenous Comic Books and Pop Culture’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con where he talked about the importance of diversity and representation in our projects.
According to the panel, the title is based on Mark’s early intellectual property about a queer teen’s journey to discovering himself in a fantastical world he has yet to fit in. It tells the story of a seemingly-ordinary boy with the ability to manifest some of his sporadic thoughts into reality which grants him admission into an exclusive school for transcendent youth.
“It’s a different direction for us where we’re not looking to anchor Anton’s story to existing mythology but rather tell a what-if story full of many possibilities surrounded by characters from a variety of cultural backgrounds living in Los Angeles – a case of life mirroring fiction,” Mark continues. Along with Gani’s (Cabezas) amazing trademark ability to render characters that are distinctly colored, we can’t wait to share what lies beyond this ‘hidden world,’ he adds.
Along with the announcement of this new title, Diwata Komiks is proud to announce that the highly-anticipated follow-up to Carmina will be available to pre-order this weekend at diwatakomiks.com! Carmina: The Wrathborn Goddess will be shipping in late August 2022 followed by signing events (TBA) around the Los Angeles area culminating in a return to the star-studded Los Angeles Comic Con in December.
Stay tuned for the dedicated press release for Carmina Issue 2.