During the day, Rep. Robert Garcia of California is immersed in politics and policy.

But by night, he’s engaged in a different passion: comic books.

“When I immigrated to the U.S., I didn't know English – I was a Spanish speaker only,” explained Garcia. “Comics [are] kind of how I learned to read and write English.”

Garcia, the first openly gay immigrant member of Congress, was just 5 years old when he arrived with his family from Peru and settled in Southern California. He became a citizen in his 20s, and served as the mayor of Long Beach before his constituents helped send him to represent them in Congress starting in 2023 — when he was sworn in on a copy of Superman #1, from 1939.

Spectrum News joined Garcia on a recent trip to Big Planet Comics on U Street in Washington. His eyes lit up as he walked in the locally-owned shop, which he’s been known to frequent every once in a while when he’s in town for work.

“I think one of the first things that people can understand about comics is, it’s a global industry,” Garcia said. “It’s fiction, it’s reading, it’s an American art form. I’ve always said that there’s nothing more that the American art form of fiction has produced that’s been more impactful globally than comic books.”

He shared that it was his mom who helped to foster his love for comics, when the two would visit the local Thrifty Drug Store, a now-defunct West Coast pharmacy and general store. There, he’d stop at a spinning rack of comics and browse. 

“I would just sit in the store and read them because we couldn't afford all the comics, but every once in a while, I'd buy a couple, my mom would get me some,” Garcia recalled. “And I still have the very first comic I ever purchased at that Thrifty — I still have in my collection. It's an old Action Comics comic book, and I have been collecting ever since.”

Garcia’s mom passed away in 2020 from COVID complications, but the lessons she — and by proxy, the comic books that she helped foster her son’s love of — have made a lasting impact.

“My favorite comic book character, Superman, stands for truth and justice. Those are some of the best values anyone can learn,” he explained. “The very first issue that he appeared in was taking on corporate CEOs and fighting for the little guy. Those are values, as a progressive, that I think are important.”

Comic book characters, Garcia added, can also help those struggling to feel like they belong.

“Take the X-Men, for example — the X-Men are a group of misfits and mutants and people that have been outcasts, that have strange powers that manifest in strange ways, that really speaks to a lot of people,” he said. The X-Men line has been interpreted over the years as allegorical to several civil rights movements, as its characters seek to find a place, and maybe joy, in a world that can often hate or fear them. “It speaks to the LGBTQ+ community, it speaks to people that feel they're different. And so the X-Men also teaches values of inclusion and family.” 

Comics, he said, are a way for young readers to learn good values and develop a sense of what social justice actually means.

“It may not hit us in the face directly when we're reading this stuff, but it does stick with young people, and it does stick with fans, and I believe a lot of us take on some of these values that we read,” Garcia said. 

The freshman lawmaker admits he hasn’t counted exactly how many comics he has now (“I would gather that I have close to between, like, 9 and 10,000 — it is a very large collection,” he estimated), but he’s continuing to add to it. On this visit, he picked up copies of “Superman: House of Brainiac” #3 and “Absolute Power” #1, both in DC Comics’ latest run of major summer events. 

“My first job in high school, all my money was spent on comics. And I would buy, not just the comic that was coming out that week, I would buy a bunch of old comics. I would go through 25 cent bins,” he recalled. “I have a room back home. I mean, all that's in this room, honestly, is just long boxes of comic books,” with a collection that runs from decades-old classics, like the infamous Batman storyline “Death in the Family” — in which Batman’s sidekick Robin is killed by the Joker — to contemporary classics like “Saga” and “Ex Machina,” by writer Brian K. Vaughan.

While his collection resides on the west coast, Garcia is still finding ways to incorporate his love for comics into his day to day life on Capitol Hill. His office is decked out with superhero-inspired art, including a large painting of Superman by the late Californian artist Mel Ramos, which is on loan to Garcia from the Mel and Leta Ramos Family Foundation. There are comic books dotting his shelves, and even his campaign logo is designed like a comic book cover.

He also founded the bipartisan Popular Arts Caucus, which focuses on issues such as copyright protections, piracy, artificial intelligence, and supporting artists. In May, Garcia hosted Capitol Hill’s first Free Comic Book Day, which is held nationally on the first Saturday in May.

“To be able to share comics, or to reignite someone's interest in comics, or to just make them learn about Free Comic Book Day, and share that with like hundreds and hundreds of influential Hill staffers and and leaders and members of Congress and people that are interested was really, I think, a special moment,” Garcia said.

As the cashier rang out Garcia’s purchases, his eyes pored over the shelves of the store, roving for new — or classic — titles to pick up. “I have all of these,” he said, pointing out some old-school Batman titles over the register. “I collected these as they came out when I was little.”

Garcia left the store with new books in hand, but he’d have to wait to dive in — probably on his next flight back to California, he said. For now, he had to get back to Capitol Hill and a round votes on the House floor, doing his part — like his favorite caped hero — to pursue truth, justice and a better tomorrow.