Tucson native Jon Proudstar made history in 1996 when he released "Tribal Force," the first-ever comic book featuring an all-Native American cast of superheroes.
Despite having released only one edition after the publisher went out of business, the comic book has had an enduring legacy, including being featured in the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian and inspiring a generation of comic book authors.
"Every comic convention we have gone to we will see other Native American or Indigenous creators out there and they will come up to us and say, 'Yeah, I'm doing this because I knew about 'Tribal Force' in 1996,'" said Gene Jimenez, who did the color for the original comic book with Proudstar. "It has kind of paved the way for a lot of things.”
After a 27-year hiatus, "Tribal Force" is back.
Proudstar, in June, released a new edition through Jimenez's Los Angeles-based Machine Comix. A second edition is due out next month; copies will be available initially through the book's Kickstarter campaign, set to launch in early September. (Visit machinecomix.com for details.)
“I am like over the moon," Proudstar said of bringing back his passion project. "You have no idea. Everyone has always asked me, 'Hey, when is issue two coming out?' So this is groundbreaking.”
The revamped "Tribal Force #1" follows the adventures of Thunder Eagle, a Native American deity who builds a team of heroes picked from various North American tribes. There's Nita, a Yoeme Diné who goes by the superhero name Earth, the Jaguar-Mezo-Azteca warrior Jaguar-Knight and Little Bighorn, a Hunkpapa Sioux who stands 13 feet tall with four arms but can't talk as a result of fetal alcohol syndrome.
Jon Proudstar resurrected his 1996 comic book "Tribal Force" with the release of a new edition in June.
Proudstar's superheroes, whose mystical otherworldly powers are aimed at protecting and serving their ancestors and tribes, confront real native issues from an Indigenous peoples perspective.
Most of Proudstar's characters are drawn from the children he counseled over a 34-year career working with survivors of sexual and physical abuse. Proudstar said one of his goals was to create relatable characters that could inspire those kids.
“I saw what the kids were going through. The suicide rate was just horrible," said the 56-year-old father of two. "I wanted to reach out to kids passively to show them there are other ways to deal with it than suicide. At the end of the day it is a superhero comic book, but from time to time it’s the brushstrokes of what the characters went through in their lives.”
Proudstar's journey to "Tribal Force" started when he was growing up in Tucson, wondering out loud why none of the comic books he devoured had superheroes who looked like him.
"I always wondered what would happen if these superheroes I read about were not Caucasian, if they were Native American or Latino and how would it affect their stories," he said. "I was hoping someone would create a comic book like that, but unfortunately they never did. And whenever they came up with a native superhero it would seem superficial and not real.”
Marvel's "X-Men" series briefly had Thunderbird, whose real-life name was John Proudstar. The character, who had superhuman athletic ability, was killed off in the second issue of "Giant-Size X-Men."
Proudstar was so impressed with the character that he adopted his name when he started acting at 18. Over a nearly 40-year career, he has appeared in 43 films and TV shows, including his most recent, playing the father of Willy Jack in FX’s hit series “Reservation Dogs."
It was because of "Reservation Dogs" that Proudstar was able to revisit "Tribal Force," he said. He used money from the gig to produce the book. Jimenez signed on to color and publish it through Machine Comix, which he launched to highlight comic book creators who were focusing on underrepresented communities and Indigenous cultures. Philadelphia artist Chris Williams came on to draw the new version, building on the original comic created by Tucson illustrator Ryan Huna Smith.
"Tribal Force" publisher Machine Comix put out several different covers of the issue it released in June.
Jimenez said they printed 1,500 copies of the first issue including offering several different cover illustrations. They have so far sold about 400 or 500.
“It’s a challenge to get an independent comic book out there," said Jimenez, the creator of "Downtown," a comic book that features Hispanic characters trying to save their downtown neighborhood from gentrification. "We’re competing with Disney and Marvel. We're just two guys, one in LA one in Tucson. It’s not an easy task.”
But it's a task that Proudstar said he is willing to take on to send a positive message especially for kids like the ones he spent decades counseling.
"I'm creating heroes for survivors," he said.
Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1933, Superman has excited and inspired generations of superhero fans
