Yours truly is a sucker for independent comics. Several years ago, I fell in love with the comics of Pedro Martin, whose comic Mexikid Stories, has become a staple of my online experience. He tells the tale of his childhood in the 70s and 80s, growing up in Watsonville, California, the seventh of nine children. It’s great fun, and highly relatable, too, if you came of age at the same time. Martin’s now released his debut graphic novel, Mexikid. 

Mexikid differs from the weekly paneled stories of his online fare, opting instead to tell one long story. In the novel, Martin and his siblings take a long and hilarious trip to Mexico to get his paternal grandfather and bring him back to the United States. For the journey, Martin and his younger siblings are traveling in a haunted Winnebago, while his older siblings follow suit in a pickup. 

Martin calls himself a “Mexikd” because unlike his oldest five siblings, he (and his three younger siblings) were born in the United States. Thus, they don’t have the birth connection with the family’s homeland, creating an interesting cultural clash where Martin feels something of an outsider to Mexican culture, even though he’s surrounded by Mexican culture—albeit America. 

This cultural difference is humorously demonstrated with a trip to a Mexican supermercado, where the young boys are entranced by delicious drinks in front of them. Pedro starts to drink, and his mother quickly stops him and tells him no—the drinks are made out of raw cow’s milk, which the young boys haven’t been exposed to, and drinking it would give them severe upset stomachs. Disaster is averted, until we see that one of the younger siblings has happily and unknowingly consuming one—with the expected results being hilariously and dramatically illustrated. 

Mexikid also tells a beautiful story of a young boy coming to know his elderly grandfather, a cool but true tough guy who served in the Mexican Revolution and is initially seen as an intimidating force. But Pedro comes to know and understand his grandfather on the trip back to the United States, and it’s a beautiful journey to experience. Mexikid will make you laugh out loud, but its tale is ultimately a loving and heartfelt one, full of fun stops along the way while offering a slice of life of an immigrant family in the 1970s. 

Purchase Mexikid: Amazon