Saturday, July 9, 2011

Washington state father creates comic book with his disabled son as superhero

From KING 5 TV in Seattle:

AUBURN, Wash. -- Ten-year-old Joey Hernandez was born with spina bifida and is confined to a wheelchair, but that hasn’t stopped him from becoming the next comic book hero.

In a comic book that his father created, Joey’s disability becomes one of his strengths. Jason Dube, a California artist, is helping bring the story to life through voluntarily providing his illustrations to the family for free.

“He's in his wheelchair, which the cool part is the wheelchair actually transforms and goes around him and he becomes like this cool robot,” said Dube.

Joey’s father hopes this story will inspire others.

“I wanted people to see kids for not their disability, but for who they are inside,” said Joey’s dad.

But Joey’s not the only one featured in the comic book series. His father explained that many of the characters in the comic are based on real life family members.

Once the comic book is done, Joey's dad is hoping to make it available to schools, hospitals and therapy centers for free.