Arigon Starr at Comic-Con

San Diego’s Comic Con attracts over 100,000 attendees...

And One Kickapoo Indian.  AAY!You might be wondering why a singer-songwriter turned actress-playwright wanted to attend a comic book convention. As a very young girl I attended Comic Con and have always been a fan. I cut my teeth on the Archie Comics, then moved on to Superman, Batman, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Creepy, Eerie and tons of other books. One of my favorite ways to get through biology or math class was to secretly open my sketchbook and draw comics featuring my favorite bands like the Beatles, Queen or the aforementioned Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. I’ve been drawing since I could hold a pencil and always dreamed of putting out my own comic book.

For the first time in print and exclusively for News From Indian Country, I’m sharing one of my final drawings from the upcoming Super Indian. Many of you already know that Super Indian is a radio comedy series that will debut in November 2007 on the Native Voice One and American Indian Radio on Satellite networks.

Super Indian will also hopefully become a full-fledged comic title.

I say “hopefully” because one of the many problems with being an independent artist is finding the budget to make dreams come true. Ask any artist, filmmaker, musician, writer or performer and we’ll all tell you the same thing. Launching a film, book, CD or play is a risky venture. Adding “It’s about Native America!” to the pitch will definitely get you the cold shoulder. We don’t have the “numbers” that will guarantee audience--and most Native projects that get the big budgets from major studios or networks are set in the past. My actor friends call them “leather and feather” gigs--and as we all know, we’re usually portrayed as vanishing people on the brink of extinction.

Super Indian is different.