The comic community supports Liam with protest art

For a group of comic book artists, the Spider-Man backpack carried by 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was arrested by federal immigration agents, served as a spark for a call to action.

“He was wearing Spider-Man’s backpack while the ICE agent had his hand on his backpack, and it stabbed me in the heart,” says comedian Greg Pak.

Buck, who is based in New York, has been working in superhero comics for more than two decades.

“I don’t know Liam, I don’t know what he was thinking, but if he was wearing a Spider-Man backpack, I feel like we told him stories about heroes and about heroes protecting people,” Buck says. “At that moment, those stories were a lie, and it makes me feel sick, because he was not protected.”

On February 1, Buck and a New York-based community organization called Comix Action went online #Comics4Liam campaigncalling on comic creators from around the world to “create artwork with Liam in mind,” as well as other children impacted by ICE.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Liam and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, of Columbia Heights on January 20 and sent them to a detention center in Texas; The judge has Since he ordered their release. However, four other children from the Columbia Heights School District are believed to remain in ICE custody at the same Texas detention center, the district says.

Artwork created so far for #Comics4Liam includes images of Spider-Man wearing the blue bunny hat that Liam wore while in captivity.

One story by New York artist Wilfredo Torres states: “One day you’ll know that there are so many people thinking and worrying about you even though you don’t know us.”

Other artwork includes caricatures of Liam wearing a bunny hat himself – riding a dragon, or surrounded by a bunch of bunnies in the snow

South Minneapolis comic artist Truong Le Nguyen drew Liam in his hat with Pikachu on top.

“We really try to connect with people in a narrative way, on a personal level, because these stories are personal to us,” Nguyen says.

Nguyen is a Vietnamese American who came to Minnesota as a child from a refugee camp in the Philippines.

“It’s something that resonates very personally, simply because I grew up with a lot of American ideals that were presented to me in very warm and glowing ways,” Truong says. “Now I see that this is not the experience that is shared with new immigrants, and this violence that is being imposed on immigrant communities is something that is very shocking to me, but it is also something that fits with the way the culture has shifted.”

With fellow Minnesota-based comedians K. Woodman Maynard and Jason Walls, Truong started another online cartoon campaign, “The ice is out! Cartoonists against the ice” Earlier this year. Truong’s comic strip shows how he now carries his passport with him, even though he became a US citizen when he was seven years old.

Truong says the art of comics offers a unique and accessible way to disseminate information and express uncomfortable feelings or painful experiences.

“Telling stories through the arts gives us this unique opportunity to be very honest about the emotional resonance and personal ways in which we all connect with each other,” he says.

As for Buck, he hopes Liam and his family will see the artwork one day. He also hopes it will lead to more work “to help Liam and people like Liam.”