Eric M. Esquivel

American comic book writer and journalist

Eric M. Esquivel
Esquivel in 2012
Born	(1987-02-10) February 10, 1987 (age 37) Gurnee, Illinois, U.S.
Notable works	Border Town
Collaborators	Eddie Berganza
emecomics.com

Eric Michael Esquivel (born 1987^[1]) is a Latino American^[2] comic book writer and journalist, known for the 2018 series Border Town, which was cancelled following allegations that he had sexually and emotionally abused a female friend.

Early life

Eric Esquivel was born on February 10, 1987,^{[citation needed]} in Gurnee, Illinois. He is of Irish and Mexican ancestry.^[2]

Career

Esquivel has worked as a journalist and critic, writing for such websites as Bleeding Cool,^[3] Fox News Latino,^[4] Bookmans Entertainment Exchange,^[5] and The Tucson Citizen.^[6] He has worked as a comics writer for publishers including Archie Comics, Boom Studios, DC Comics, Dynamite, Frederator Books, Heavy Metal, IDW, Papercutz, Scholastic, Starburns Industries Press, and Zenescope.^[7]

In 2018, Esquivel began writing Border Town, a magic realist comics series with art by Ramon Villalobos, at the center of a relaunch of DC's Vertigo imprint. The series dealt with immigration and Latino identity, for which Esquivel received death threats in advance of its publication.^[2]^[8] The series was well-received by critics, and the first issue went to a second printing after its September 2018 release, to meet retailer demand.^[2]

In December 2018, Esquivel was accused by a woman of subjecting her to ongoing sexual and emotional abuse several years previously; he disputed her account of their interaction. His creative collaborators on Border Town (of which four issues had been published) withdrew from the project.^[9] DC cancelled the unpublished issues, and accepted retailer returns of those that had been published.^[10]^[11] DC also cancelled plans for Esquivel to take over writing their superhero Nightwing series.^[12]^[13]

In 2020, Esquivel announced Alternate Empire, a publishing venture with Eddie Berganza, who had been terminated by DC in 2017 following sexual harassment allegations.^[14]^[15]

Bibliography

Childish Delusions of Grandeur and Superiority #1-2
The Adventures of Bikini Automatic #1 (one-shot)
Calabrese! #1-2
Horrible Little People (OGN)
Reasons Why Superman is Better Than God (mini-comic)
Awesomenaut (OGN)
Zombies vs. Cheerleaders #3 (collected in Zombies vs. Cheerleaders Volume One TPB), #4, #5, #7, Volume II #2
Robot <3 Kaiju (one-shot)
Girl Scouts in Space (one-shot)
The Golden Age: Blackest Terror (mini-comic)
The Golden Age: The Owl (mini-comic)
Blackest Terror (one-shot)
Normal #1 ('zine)
Unite And Take Over: Stories Inspired By The Songs of The Smiths Volume Two (OGN Anthology)
Thor: Unkillable Thunder Christ (one-shot)
American History Z (OGN Anthology)
Electric Youth (one-shot)
Freelancers #2-6
Autobiographical-Erotic Asphyxiation (a comic strip, appearing in The Tucson Weekly)
The Legend Of Oz: The Wicked West Volume Two, #6-8
The In Crowd #1-4
The Spider's Web #3
Smell Ya Later (An ongoing comic strip, appearing in the Tucson Weekly)
Bravest Warriors #13
BOO! #3
Adventure Time #27-28
Loki: Ragnarok And Roll #1-4
Grimm Fairy Tales: Wonderland #22-25, Age Of Darkness one-shot
Grimm Fairy Tales: The Dark Queen (one-shot)
Sonic the Hedgehog #265
Mega Man #41-44
Roberto Roboto Volume One, "Domo Arigato!"
G.I. Joe - Storm Shadow: 21st Century Boy
Super Sonic Digest #11
Border Town #1-6 (issues #5-6 not published)

References

^ "Esquivel, Eric M., 1987-". VIAF. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "This Latino Writer Got Death Threats for 'Border Town,' a Comic Book About Healing Racial Tensions". Remezcla. 2018-10-18. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
^ Johnston, Rich. "Journalism". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
^ Esquivel, Eric. "Free Comic Book Day in Tucson". Fox News Latino. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
^ Bookman, Bob. "Donald Glover Cast as Miles Morales in 'Spider-Man' Cartoon". Bookmans. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014.
^ Esquivel, Eric. "Time to bid adieu to readers, face 'film'-flam world". The Tucson Citizen. Archived from the original on 2013-02-05. Retrieved 2013-01-22.
^ "Long Beach Comic Con is excited to announce Eric M. Esquivel will be coming to #LBCC2018!! – Long Beach Comic Con". Retrieved 2019-02-15.
^ "Vertigo Writer Receives Veiled Death Threats Ahead of SDCC Appearance". CBR. 2018-07-12. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
^ Forrest Hollingsworth. "Artist and colorist leave DC Vertigo's 'Border Town' in response to abuse allegations against writer Eric M. Esquivel". Adventures In Poor Taste. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
^ "DC Cancels Hit Comic Book Series 'Border Town' After Abuse Claims". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
^ "BORDER TOWN #5-6 Cancelled, #1-4 Made Returnable". Newsarama. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
^ "As Expected, Eric Esquivel Dropped by DC Comics From Nightwing". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
^ "Nightwing Co-Writer Eric Esquivel Removed From Issue #58". CBR. 2018-12-20. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
^ "Eric M Esquivel and Eddie Berganza Launch New Comics Publisher. Yup". bleedingcool.com. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
^ "Eric Esquivel and Eddie Berganza Team Up for the New Publisher Alternate Empire". Graphic Policy. 2020-02-01. Retrieved 2020-06-07.