{"id":407054,"date":"2026-07-21T21:23:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T21:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/407054\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T21:23:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T21:23:34","slug":"san-diego-animator-returns-to-his-roots-for-comic-con","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/407054\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego animator returns to his roots for Comic-Con"},"content":{"rendered":"

An animator from San Diego who has worked on high-profile films such as \u201cUp\u201d and \u201cInside Out,\u201d and who most recently wrote and directed the short film \u201cFloat<\/a>,\u201d has a new story out \u2014 and this one\u2019s personal.<\/p>\n

Bobby Alcid Rubio<\/a> was born and raised in Paradise Hills. Rubio, who is Filipino-American, had a heavily San Diego-flavored childhood, hanging around at taco shops and comic book stores, roaming around town and creating art with his friends.<\/p>\n

And so Rubio has embarked on a labor of love: A comic book series, written, drawn and published by Rubio himself, called \u201cNeighborhood Legend<\/a>.\u201d It isn\u2019t the first series for the animator, but he says it\u2019s the one that is most personal.<\/p>\n

The first issue follows Danny Reyes, a Filipino-American youth in Southern California attending \u201cSan Diego University,\u201d where he is taking classes and delivering breakfast burritos while trying to become an online influencer (\u201cD-Rey, the Neighborhood Legend 619.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\"Artist,<\/a>Artist, writer, and animator Bobby Rubio. (Image courtesy Bobby Rubio via c3 Communications)<\/p>\n

Unbeknownst to him, however, there are larger forces at work in his life \u2014 including a pair of magical eskrima sticks. The story blends cultural references and landmarks that will be very familiar to locals \u2014 with a superhero glow-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis one\u2019s, like, from the heart \u2014 it\u2019s a love letter to my hometown, it\u2019s a love letter to my culture, and I\u2019m super proud of it,\u201d said Rubio. <\/p>\n

San Diego County is home to one of the largest Filipino populations in the country, a product of its geography and the U.S. military. Filipinos also make up the largest group within Asian-Americans in the county. <\/p>\n

Yet, within and outside the county, Filipino representation in popular media remains sparse. Even eskrima<\/a> (also called arnis<\/a>), the national fighting system of the Philippines with its own richly detailed history, is often shown on screen wielded by non-Filipinos and mostly, if not entirely, divorced from its culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a rebellious martial art,\u201d Rubio said, referring to how Filipino warriors disguised their fighting<\/a> as dance under Spanish colonization. He said that as a sixth-grader, he created a Filipino superhero that he considers the predecessor of Danny Reyes\u2019 character in \u201cNeighborhood Legend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like I\u2019m reclaiming our culture back and letting people know this is ours \u2026. When I recreated this Filipino superhero I was like, I gotta give him eskrima!\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubio will appear at a San Diego Comic-Con panel<\/a> on Friday with a former art rival turned great friend and colleague, Keithan Jones<\/a> \u2014\u00a0who also grew up to become an artist and creator, and who founded both KID Comix<\/a> and Black Comics Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s basically us talking about our roots in San Diego, our creative journey,\u201d said Rubio. \u201cSo it would entail us being rivals and doing art battles in the library and then we would go to comic shops afterwards and talk about comics \u2026 We were making each other stronger, because iron sharpens iron.\u201d (There is a character in the first issue of \u201cNeighborhood Legend\u201d who might ring a bell or two.)<\/p>\n

Rubio says be plans to attend SDCC with copies of his first issue to try to drum up interest in his Kickstarter campaign for \u201cNeighborhood Legend,\u201d which he plans to launch in October. That site, which includes art and updates, can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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