Celebrating Filipino American History Month with BAYANI

Written by Allen Macaraeg

New York, NY– October is Filipino American History Month and the celebrations were loud and proud at New York Comic Con 2025 thanks to Mark “Marvel” Teodosio, creator of “The Realest Bayani”. 

Teodosio is a Filipino comic book creator based in New York City, who started his creative career as a hiphop artist before making comics. In 2016 he created TCNY: The City Needs You publishing company, and he began crafting a comic book series to bring Filipino culture to the mainstream, educating both non-Filipinos and Filipino Americans. This series, titled “The Realest Bayani”, is Teodosio’s tribute to his late cousin Marlon Ramos, who the protagonist is named after. 

“The Realest Bayani” made its debut at New York Comic Con 2018 with Issue 1 and was completely sold out by the end of the convention. Issue 1 begins with the Battle of Mactan featuring the Datu (Filipino word for chief) Lapu Lapu, who is regarded as the first national hero of the Philippines. Teodosio takes the reader through Filipino history by tracing the different BAYANIs, or heroes in Tagalog. 

This year at New York Comic Con 2025, Teodosio began displaying the first graphic novel of “The Realest Bayani”, including Issue 1 to Issue 5. His table also featured other works by Filipino creators, including Doug Marcaida’s Lineage Issue 1 and Eraserheads: Combo on the Run Issue 1. 

“The Realest Bayani” and more can be found on https://www.thecityneedsyou.com