(The Legendary Lumpia Squad #1, SDCC 2022 Exclusive, Variant cover by Stephen Segovia)
Bárû MU was birthed from the iconic "barong hoodie" I designed for "Kuya," the Filipino American avenging bayani in the action comedy feature film Lumpia With a Vengeance. It was a design that was simple yet eye-catching. Filipinos have never seen a hooded barong in a movie and the more people watched, the more requests I got for orders. Because the barong hoodie was custom made in the Philippines, I didn't have easy access to getting more right away. So I was inspired to recreate the look but in your everyday pullover hoodie.
In collaboration with Bay Area based, Bayani Art we launched a limited edition embroidered pullover hoodie in July 2022 at San Diego Comic-Con. This Comic Con exclusive is the only batch with Bayani Art's logo, the baybayin symbol for "KA" embroidered on the left wrist, representing our KAnnection. Since then, the design has been released with black embroidery and most recently, a kids version with gold puff print.
This recognizable embroidery pattern is now a symbol of our first FilAm superhero Kuya. If DC's Superman has his iconic "S" and Marvel's Spiderman has his "spider" on his chest, the Kid Heroes "Kuya" has his barong pattern as a protective shield to all who wear it.
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