Born in the Civil Rights Era Bronx of the 60s, Ivan Velez Jr is a Latinx, Creative Capital / Xeric grant winning cartoonist and writer for mainstream and independent comic books. Ivan’s also an urban artist with great significance to the comic book industry. Creator of the 80s comic series Tales of the Closet, and Co-Creator of the early 90s series Blood Syndicate, Ivan has drawn and written comics that give greater representation to racial and sexual diversity. Ivan’s focus throughout his career has been to create complex stories featuring under-represented and culturally diverse heroes as they navigate real-life issues that plague our global communities. Breaking the glass ceiling, he was only the second Latino and Puerto Rican to work for the top two mainstream comic companies Marvel and DC. Ivan has consistently pushed against those boundaries of the status quo to create inspirational works and characters.
