San Diego Comic-Con brings huge crowds and exclusive content releases with it, we discuss some of our favorite announcements from Day 1! Plus, how teachers and librarians are using comics to teach. Then, a look into some federal funds that were just released benefiting San Diego County schools. Also, we introduce you to an alternative type of comic and arts convention also happening this weekend.
Another comic and arts convention the same weekend as Comic-Con?
July 25, 2025 at 5:00 AM PDT
Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson ….it’s Friday July 25th
Another comic and arts convention happening this weekend that isn’t Comic Con!More on that next. But first... let’s jump into the headlines….
DAY 1 OF COMIC CON KICKED OFF YESTERDAY AND THAT MEANS HUGE ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEW CONTENT FOR US ALL
VETERAN COMIC BOOK CREATORS JOE QUESADA AND CHRISTOPHER PRIEST WHO CONTRIBUTED TO MARVEL’S BLACK PANTHER SERIES, ARE BACK TOGETHER AGAIN
THEY ADD TO THEIR RESUME AND THE MARVEL KNIGHTS UNIVERSE WITH “THE WORLD TO COME” RELEASING IN OCTOBER WHICH WILL BRING US A NEW PUNISHER SERIES, APTLY TITLED PUNISHER #1
DISNEY PLUS WILL ALSO BE RELEASING A PUNISHER SPECIAL PRESENTATION STARRING JOHN BERNTHAL IN 2026
DC OF COURSE IS IN THE MIX AS WELL ANNOUNCING BATMAN: KNIGHTFIGHT BY JOSHUA WILLIAMSON AND DAN MORA
THAT SERIES WILL FOLLOW BRUCE WAYNE AS HE FACES ROBINS WHO HAVE TAKEN UP THE BATMAN MANTLE, BATARANGING ONTO TV’S IN NOVEMBER
NICKELODEON AND AVATAR STUDIOS ALSO SHARED A FIRST LOOK AT AVATAR:SEVEN HAVENS
THAT UNIVERSE WILL FOLLOW TWO EARTHBENDING TWINS IN THE WAKE OF GLOBAL DISASTER
LEAVE A COMMENT ON OUR KPBS INSTAGRAM AND LET ME KNOW IF YOU’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO ANY OF THESE SERIES!
THE 9TH U-S CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS RULED THURSDAY THAT CALIFORNIA’S LAW REQUIRING BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR PEOPLE PURCHASING AMMUNITION IS… UNCONSTITUTIONAL
THE RULING STEMS FROM A COALITION OF SAN DIEGO GUN-RIGHTS GROUPS ALLEGING THEIR SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS WERE BEING INFRINGED UPON
THE LAW WAS STRUCK DOWN TWICE BY U-S DISTRICT JUDGE ROGER BENITEZ WHO HAS FREQUENTLY RULED IN FAVOR OF FIREARMS
IF YOU ARE SOMEONE WHO HAS AN UNWANTED WEAPON, THE SAN DIEGO COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE WILL HOST A GUN BUYBACK AND SAFETY EVENT PROGRAM THIS WEEKEND IN ENCINITAS
THE EVENT WILL TAKE PLACE FROM 9 AM UNTIL 2 PM,
THIS SATURDAY AT ENCINITAS CITY HALL ON VULCAN AVE
THERE’S A NEW STAR ON THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME HONORING LOS BUKIS, THE GRAMMY NOMINATED MEXICAN REGIONAL BAND
THE BAND HAS TOURED THE WORLD, TOPPED CHARTS, SOLD OUT SOFI STADIUM AND SOLDIER FIELD IN CHICAGO AND NOW CAN BE SEEN ON THE WALK OF FAME
SPEAKING IN SPANISH OF COURSE THE BANDS CO-FOUNDER MARCO CALLED THE HONOR A BLESSING FROM GOD AND SAID THE BAND WAS DEDICATING ITS STAR TO IMMIGRANTS IN THE COUNTRY WHO QUOTE STRIVE EVERY DAY TO SERVE
THE CEREMONY WAS EMCEED BY COMEDIAN GABRIEL FLUFFY IGLESIAS
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
THROUGHOUT COMIC CON WEEKEND, THE SAN DIEGO CENTRAL LIBRARY IS HOSTING PANELS FOR TEACHERS AND LIBRARIANS.
SUSAN KIRTLEY IS A PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH AT PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY.
SHE CO-HOSTED A PANEL ON HOW TEACHERS CAN INCORPORATE COMICS INTO THEIR CLASSES.
Often people will assume that it's so much easier to teach a comic when in fact they're very complicated texts. Because you need to think about what is the image doing, what is the text doing, what are they doing together and apart, and what's happening between the panels.
KIRTLEY SAYS READING AND CREATING COMICS CAN TEACH STUDENTS HOW TO TELL STORIES IN DIFFERENT WAYS.
THE COMIC-CON CONFERENCE FOR EDUCATORS AND LIBRARIANS RUNS FROM 10 A.M. TO 6 P.M. TODAY, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY/ALL WEEKEND LONG
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS EXPECTED TO RELEASE ABOUT $14 MILLION DOLLARS IN FROZEN FEDERAL FUNDING FOR SAN DIEGO COUNTY SCHOOLS. FEDERAL OFFICIALS NOTIFIED THE STATE THIS WEEK THAT THEY’RE WORKING TO RELEASE FUNDING FOR AFTER SCHOOL AND SUMMER SCHOOL PROGRAMS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.
THE MONEY IS PART OF ABOUT $50 MILLION IN FEDERAL EDUCATION DOLLARS THAT HAS BEEN FROZEN SINCE THE BEGINNING OF JULY.
SAN DIEGO UNIFIED BOARD OF EDUCATION VICE PRESIDENT RICHARD BARRERA TESTIFIED BEFORE FEDERAL LAWMAKERS WEDNESDAY ASKING FOR HELP IN GETTING THE RE MAINING FROZEN FUNDS RELEASED.
“You can continue the bipartisan advocacy efforts to demand president trump release 5.4 billion dollars of illegally impounded funds for a budget you have already passed.”
SAN DIEGO COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION DATA SHOW MORE THAN 36 MILLION DOLLARS IN FUNDING FOR COUNTY SCHOOLS WILL REMAIN FROZEN.
THE HEAD OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROT ECTION AGENCY HAS ANNOUNCED WHAT HE CALLS A 100 PERCENT, PERMANENT SOLUTION TO CROSS-BORDER SEWAGE POLLUTION IN SAN DIEGO. EPA CHIEF LEE ZELDIN MADE THE ANNOUNCEMENT THIS WEEK IN MEXICO CITY PROMISING MANY THINGS INCLUDING THE DOUBLING OF TREATMENT CAPACITY AT SOUTH BAY’S INTERNATIONAL WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT BY 20-27.
“We wanted to stress test timelines for projects. To get projects done quicker. Including some very important projects that had been moved up into 2025 completion.”
ZELDIN VISITED SAN DIEGO IN APRIL AND SAID HE PICKS UP A SIMILAR SMELL OF SEWAGE THAT SA N DIEGANS HAVE COMPLAINED ABOUT.
COMIC-CON ISN’T JUST A PLACE FOR GEEKY FANDOM, IT’S ALSO A SPACE WHERE ARTISTS – EVEN YOUNG ONES JUST STARTING OUT — CAN FURTHER THEIR CAREERS, OUR ARTS REPORTER BETH ACCOMANDO CHECKS IN WITH LITTLE FISH COMIC BOOK STUDIO AND ITS COMIC-CON ARTIST INTENSIVE PROGRAM.
ALONS O NUNEZ We've got dedicated students between the ages of 14 and 22, and they're going to create three to four-page comics. Then they're going to take their work to Comic-Con, show it to professionals
We will check in with these young artists about using Comic-Con to further their young career plans.
It’s Monday morning and Alonso Nunez is kicking off this year’s Comic-Con Artist Intensive program.
ALONSO NUNEZ …Remember, we have today, tomorrow, and Wednesday to work on these things.
The intensive part is no joke.
- ALONSO NUNEZ Here at Little Fish Comic Book Studio, we are creating comic books. We've got dedicated students between the ages of 14 and 22, and they're going to create three to four-page comics between now and Wednesday…… They are making work with the goal to have it finished and to be viewer-ready for professionals.
Nunez has been running Little fish Comic Book Studio for 13 years, and he wants his students to see that comics can be a viable career.
- ALONSO NUNEZ …Guys, our theme for the year is reference and memory.
- GARZA SANTIAGO …the prompt comes from the novel beloved, and it speaks about, I guess, the act of remembering and the ways in which memory and history affects us in the present.
Twenty-one year old Garza Satiago is thinking through her own take on this theme.
… So I was thinking funeral-esque, including original characters. And so in the novel that I'm writing, it toes the line between grief and imagination versus psychosis. In the form of ghosts. So where do these ghosts come from?
Meanwhile Declan Graham found inspiration in a poster for La Dolce Vita.
- DECLAN GRAHAM I'm thinking a frantic 1960s movie set. A very driven director, and then a bunch of people who can't understand all his references and his desires for this Wack movie.
Satiago is participating in the Artist Intensive for the first time.
- GARZA SANTIAGO …I am definitely excited… but I think I'm sensitive as an artist. I think I'm just going to have to build a tough skin when it comes to artist critique.
Seraya Cornejl is doing the program for the third time.
- SERAYA …I had done it two years before. Both times I had my work looked at and critiqued by Joe Phillips. It really impacted me. It was really good critique that I totally understood it, and I'm trying to put into my work now. using reference from real life.
Kate Balogh is currently at BYU but returned to San Diego just to take part in the program again because of how it helped her take feedback.
- KATE … it was easier to take critique, and it was easier to focus on not on like, Oh, I'm a bad artist. I failed. And instead to look at, Oh, I can improve this…I think it's made me more professional in just the way that I handle my art.
Nunez is proud of the growth he sees in his students.
- ALONSO NUNEZ … They've generally done really good about not making excuses in in the sense of, I was really tired, I was in a hurry. All of that could be true. You could have lost your work and you did it last night. But if you are showing it to a professional, just put all that away and just listen to what they say, and you're going to get good advice.[00:08:48.17] … I think they're inspired by the atmosphere of seeing all these professionals around them where they're able to put that away and just listen. They'll take notes, generally, in the sketchbook…
For Balogh, the experience changed how she views Comic-Con itself.
- KATE … I just stopped and I was like, oh, my gosh, everything here was made by somebody… It was something that never really clicked with me until that point. And it was so inspirational… It makes me want to be able to create that feeling someday, to be one of those people putting up the posters or to just keep coming as a fan to enjoy it.
The program also gives a clear-eyed look at what it really takes to make a comic.
- ALONSO NUNEZ …So the mystique and the false impression that a finished comic page just materializes perfect in a store is erased. They know that it's work, erase, fix, white out, correct, cry, labor, and then hopefully you arrive at something good.
And there is no better place to find out just how good you are than at Comic-Con.
Beth Accomando, KPBS News.
Comic-Con and its portfolio reviews run through Sunday. We will follow up with the students from he Comic-Con Artist Intensive program next week.
WHILE COMIC-CON IS HAPPENING AT THE CONVENTION CENTER, THERE’S ANOTHER COMIC AND ARTS CONVENTION HAPPENING JUST A FEW BLOCKS AWAY.
IT’S CALLED INDIGI-CON AND IT CELEBRATES NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE. REPORTER JACOB AERE SAYS IT'S THE FIRST EVENT OF ITS KIND IN CALIFORNIA.
Chag Lowry is a comic book author and a panelist at San Diego Comic Con … and the brand new Indigi-Con. It's an event to celebrate indigenous culture and traditions through comics.
Lowry is co-directing the event.
“So we invited eight comic book artists and writers from tribes around the country.”
He wants Indigi-Con to inspire native youth and educate Californians on tribal history and cultural practices.
Lowry hopes the artists from the event will become a close knit family.
“When you have a strong family you can do anything – then you can be the superhero in your community and you can do amazing things. Because you have the strength of your family and your people within you.”
Indigicon takes place Friday, July 25 and Sunday, July 27 … at UC San Diego Park & Market in downtown San Diego. Lorwy hopes this year’s event is the first of many in the years to come. Jacob Aere KPBS News
That’s it for the podcast today. This weeks pod was produced Andrew Dyer, Brenden Tuccinardi and ME. It was edited by Quinn Owen AND Brooke Ruth, As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Lawrence K. Jackson, Thanks for listening and have a great