KINGSVILLE (February 5, 2024) — Lino Placencio, an alumnus of Texas A&M University-Kingsville and now a comic book creator and writer, has received an invitation to be the first guest speaker for the Social Psychology of Comic Book Media lecture this spring. The event is scheduled from 6 to 8:50 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 6, and can be accessed via Zoom.
Initially, the idea of creating a comic book seemed surreal to Placencio, but after five years of following his ideas, he published his first issue of Bloodline. The second issue is in the works.
“My fiancé and I were just talking about silly comic book plotlines. The more we talked about it, the more serious we got about it,” Placencio said. “Eventually, I was able to put it all together with the planning and writing, and that’s how Bloodline came to be.”
The Bloodline series is about a teenage girl named Kassandra who possesses jewelry that activates her powers depending on whose blood it touches.
Placencio, a South Texas native, earned both his bachelor’s in communications and master’s degree in sociology from Texas A&M-Kingsville. During his time at the university, the mind behind Bloodline participated in theatre productions. He also was the creator and host of the Comic Crunch radio show. Comic Crunch gave him a platform to discuss comic books and video games. Now as a proud alumnus, he wants to be an influencer for the community.
Adjunct Lecturer Dr. Peter Pardo teaches The Social Psychology of Comic Book Media and hopes that by inviting Placencio to speak to his class, students will be able to see connections between comic books, other areas of study and their own sense of community.
“We wanted to show that comic books aren’t just for children. These have adult themes. There is some seriousness, some psychological and sociological sciences behind this media,” Pardo said. “The course encapsulates video games, cartoons and all media of comic books.”
Pardo hopes his course will inspire students, showing them that they can be transformative leaders using the resources in their local community. Placencio contributes to this goal.
“I want him to speak to the students about the process. Some of these students may be inspired by not just the comics or characters that they read. If they knew someone who came from the same culture, city, or university that they did, that would create more inspiration for students,” Pardo said.
The Social Psychology of Comic Book Media Zoom lecture can be found at this link.
https://tamuk-edu.zoom.us/j/97336696031?pwd=TEladUFHaHJJUFBhZXBCZzlFc3ZBUT09
Additional guest speakers will be featured in upcoming sessions of the course.
-TAMUK-
