It was in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, when trans women of color started a revolution and movement that led to the galvanizing force for LGBT political activism. Today, we stand together with Black Lives Matter to end racism now and forever. We know that liberation is not a given; it is fought for and we will not be silent. We are in solitary with the Black community during this urgent time and will speak out against discrimination, harassment, and violence.
I am Fernando Velez, the creator and the visionary of Class6. I'm 32 years old from Yauco, Puerto Rico, a small town continually rocked by earthquakes, hurricanes, and a struggling economy. My vision of superhero narratives began at a young age as I wandered the streets of my small town, hearing the sounds of our music and the rhythm of the island.
Back then in the '90s, my reality was different. My mother had lost her best friend from AIDS and as I came out, she struggled in accepting me because she didn't want to lose another son. Years earlier she had lost a son from cancer, my older brother at the age of 6 when I was 5.
At that time, HIV/AIDS was considered by many as a "gay disease" and my closed-minded mother was fearful of losing another son. For me, being young; being gay; trying to be myself was difficult. My three attempts at su***de ended with me being hospitalized in a psychiatric ward as well as weeks to a religious conversion camp. It was hard to be gay; it was hard to be myself; it was hard to find support.
This world that I was caught in was crushing me. I was just a young kid who lost his big brother, whose dad was an alcoholic, whose mom was trying to provide stability to our family with both love and food on the table.
I didn't know what to do but to get out of the house, to walk, to listen to the music, and to imagine a different alternative reality with characters who could create new possibilities, new destinies, new paths forward. I recalled reading comics as a child as a form of escape yet not being able to relate to any of the heroes that could help empower me. So, as I wandered the streets, I envisioned a collection of gay people who could save the world, save my world, save me from my disillusionment.
Class6 is more than a series of comic books. It represents gay life in comics and shows the hardship in life that many in our community go through. It's a narrative of freedom; for that kid who was me, Fernando, and for the many like me who never knew of heroes who could lead to saving us, heroes that could make our voice be heard, to create a better world, to have equality for all.
We (speaking for my future husband and me) have teamed up with 10 other Latin artists to create an LGBTQ heroes series starting with 6 heroes that represent various parts of the community: Le***an (Jaseri), Transgender (Neveah), Bear (Kian), T***k (Nami), Drag Queen (Queen Izaar), and Leather (Eron). These six heroes’ fates are interconnected by an unforeseen force, and together they form Class6. Their mission is to defend vulnerable LGBTQ persons from hatred across the globe. As soon as their fight begins, however, things change as they discover that there is a much larger conflict they must join, on a scale grander than they could imagine, a conflict which has pitted humanity against an ancient enemy for an unimaginable period of time, an enemy that has infiltrated human society to take back what they believe is theirs, our star. We have been victims of discrimination, violence, and even death, and yet in this series, we, the LGBTQ community, are humanities’ last hope of survival. Will the world unite on our side to fight our common enemy, or will humanity regress into division, prejudice, and hate? To find out, continue reading this Kickstarter page to learn more about the heroes of Class6, and the adventure that awaits them.
We have combined the first 6 episodes of season one to create a Midseason One special with 280 pages.
In the first season of Class6, we introduce you to our gallery of heroes and villains. We live in a world where secrets have ruled the universe for millennia. A world where countless human beings have been belittled, forbidden from speaking up, and forced to live in a system controlled by a select few. Donald Trump, our greatest enemy, is about to gain the power to do what Hi**er and Napoleon could never accomplish: conquer the world. He is no regular politician breaking down the world into ruins; he is much worse. Donald and his international allies are going after something unimaginable. They seek to win the war that the human race has secretly been engaged in for hundreds of thousands of years, but not in our favor. A war started in another universe that mysteriously vanished. A war which they are on the other side, against humanity. Now, this war is concluding, centered around our star. Will humanity wake up in time to become the savior race it was meant to be?
Our LGBTQ heroes and their allies must stop Donald Trump and his squad of villains before they ruin our world. Everything is interconnected; the heroes of Class6 crossed paths for a reason, to save us. Today they fight for gay rights, tomorrow, their fight will be for the survival of the human race.
To know more about the stories, characters and current episodes visit us at www.kravencomics.com.
