Boom Kid Vol. 1 - Chapter 4
The Ultimate Beef Saga Continues. Never Forget.
Boom Talk
Wow, this is the first time this chapter has been shared independently of the printing of Boom Kid: The Ultimate Beef EP book.
This chapter is the one I am the most proud of to this day. Here’s why:
I worked on this chapter during the 2020 pandemic, which gave me more time to make more methodical, creative decisions.
With the extra time, I analyzed the weaknesses of the previous chapter and addressed them here. I focused on improving the colors and camera angles.
We explore these characters' backstories. You learn about their passions, influences, and tastes. You get a sense of their values. Most importantly, you realize they are children of 9/11.
I want to take a few moments and focus on that last point— I am a child of 9/11.
This panel was the most important one in the book for me. I was sharing my visual memory of that day. I remember it so vividly: watching the television while simultaneously seeing the silhouettes of the towers in chaos.
It was vital for me to share how much that event impacted me and my community.
This year I saw my sister share her exprience about 9/11.
It hit me: I realized how much we’re still affected by it. The impact is crazy, as both of us were in central Brooklyn when it went down.
I can only imagine the experiences of my future professors and mentors from my alma mater, City Tech (located at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge).
Or various New Yorkers, like Casey Neistat, who were right there at Ground Zero as the planes hit. Or the folks whose health is still impacted today.
That day feels like a mental atomic bomb. We continue to feel the pain and suffering many years after.
I apologize for bringing up any past traumas. I am forever unpacking this event. My point is that it’s easy to submerge those thoughts and lock them away, but I can never forget.
It’s more than a slogan for me. It’s a curse.
I had to talk about it in this chapter.
During the pandemic, that feeling of chaos we were all feeling was all too familiar to me. It was the same feeling I felt in 2001.
But I knew the only way to combat it was with the power of love, and I put that love into this chapter.
I committed to using this comic to stand for something and remind people that from chaos come new beginnings—new beginnings for us to make the world a better place.
A percentage of the profits from the sales of The Ultimate Beef EP went to The Innocence Project, an organization that helps those who are wrongfully criminalized by the Justice system.
Many folks were ready to join me in improving the world by buying a copy of my book.