Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez Brings Puerto Rico Hope With La Borinquena

The diversity movement within the comic book industry has spawned not just a resurgence for already established characters of color like Black Panther and the Netflix crasher, Luke Cage, but also brand new characters of all different backgrounds and ethnicities. Recently, a new character by the name of La Borinquena has surfaced sporting a costume stylized like the national flag of Puerto Rico. However, her creator, Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez’s intentions when developing the Boricua superheroína were not to go with the trend of putting out characters to further diversify the comic book world. The triple-threat writer/editor/artist saw the potential in the character serving a bigger purpose—that she could become a symbol of pride, culture and hope for a land that can really use a hero right now.

“As a storyteller I find it very important and I take a very great responsibility to create a character that can stand as a symbol of hope. I’m not creating a story or character because I feel there’s a need for diversity. It’s more because there’s a necessity for social change. Here we are with a debt crisis in Puerto Rico, and all of these hedge funders taking money away from Puerto Rico. This is an opportunity for us to make a political statement,” Miranda-Rodriguez told ‘LLERO.

Mentored by Young Lords Party member, Iris Morales, Miranda-Rodriguez’s urge to step in when he witnessed an injustice somewhere was already embedded in him. However, before this sense of fighting for justice, the New Jersey-born, New York City-raised creator was simply trying to escape the madness that was growing up in the 1970s and ‘80s in the South Bronx by drawing as well as diving into the pages of comic books. Introduced to the medium by his older brother, Axel Miranda, and cousin, Santiago De Jesus, Miranda-Rodriguez would collect bottles and cans in order to raise the money to buy comics. It was shortly thereafter that the young artist first realized that he can produce comics himself, which he would then present to his classmates who would commission him to produce more original stories featuring fan favorites like Captain America and Iron Man. He was sort of like a young Alex A. Schomburg in the making.

Before cutting his teeth as a professional comics creator, though, Miranda-Rodriguez was an art curator. Working on a few Marvel Comics-inspired art exhibits is what led him down the path he’s currently on. Through these exhibits he was able to meet heavy hitters in the industry like Phil Jimenez, Axel Alonso, Carlos Pacheco and Humberto Ramos, to name a few. It was also via these shows that he met Darryl “DMC” McDaniels from the legendary hip-hop group Run DMC, who Miranda-Rodriguez would later partner up with to create the publishing company Darryl Makes Comics and the critically acclaimed graphic novel series DMC.

More on Edgardo’s collaboration with DMC after the jump…

“My good friend, Rigo ‘Riggs’ Morales, who helped produce my second exhibition with Marvel, introduced me to DMC. For that meeting, I came up with the idea that we should start our own publishing company,” Miranda-Rodriguez shared of the origin story of his career in comics. “The first two graphic novels that we have produced have been very well-received. It’s amazing to have been able to receive this much praise for an independent project that’s not associated with a major publishing company, and that kind of transitioned into me getting my first writing gig alongside DMC at Marvel Comics for Guardians of Infinity #3.”

His success with DMC and Marvel provided Miranda-Rodriguez the proper momentum and motivation needed to take the character La Borinqueña—which was originally created solely to place on t-shirts for the National Puerto Rican Day Parade committee in order to raise funds for their Rising Scholars program—and further evolve her into a full-fledged comic book character with her own series. This way Miranda-Rodriguez’s symbol for hope could reach a larger audience and raise awareness on an entirely larger scale. Before he could do this, however, he felt he had to do a bit of research. Therefore, he headed to Puerto Rico this past summer where he explored the Northeast Ecological Corridor of the island to get a deeper understanding of Taino mythology and its deities—like the goddess Atabex and her sons Yúcahu and Juracán, which are the ones who give La Borinqueña her superhuman abilities.

“I was also able to tap into the local community and get a sense and a pulse of what was happening. I was really able to understand the power that so many prominent activists have invested in Puerto Rico, like fighting for the Northeast Ecological Corridor to preserve the natural habitat of the island. Also, with everything that is happening now in Puerto Rico with the debt crisis and this bill signed by the federal government, PROMESA, which is going to basically decide the present and future of Puerto Rico, it’s a very, very real time,” a sentiment which Miranda-Rodriguez reiterated this past Wednesday (Oct. 5) during a panel discussion at the Café Con Comics exhibit at the Center For Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College in East Harlem, where he also briefly touched upon his life as a social activist before comics. The event also featured and exhibited artwork by comic book artists Will Rosado, Chris Batista and Felix Serrano, who have worked on titles like Detective Comics, Spawn, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Superman, as well as on Miranda-Rodriguez’s La Borinqueña.

The first issue of La Borinqueña is set to debut under Miranda-Rodriguez’s Somos Arte imprint on Dec. 22, 2016, which marks the 121st anniversary of the creation of the Puerto Rican flag in New York City. The issue will also include a bonus story, which Miranda-Rodriguez created for a Smithsonian pop-up exhibit opening up in SoHo on Nov. 12. At the Café Con Comics panel it was also announced that an original La Borinqueña action figure is in the works, which Miranda-Rodriguez anticipates will be out in time for Christmas.

Having walked an unorthodox path to success, in terms of career advice, Miranda-Rodriguez says,

“I don’t really know what to say, because there’s really no specific formula to what I did. I think the main thing that I can offer is that people in art have to develop thick skin. They have to have patience, and stay as long as they can in the game. I didn’t get my first break until I was, my goodness, 42! I’m 46 now, and here I am actually creating comic books and creating new characters, and mingling with everyone from Axel Alonso to DMC. That’s just surreal!”

You can catch Miranda-Rodriguez alongside Axel Alonso, DMC, Erick Sermon, Method Man, Rigo “Riggs” Morales and some surprise guests this coming Sunday (Oct. 9) at New York Comic Con as they take part in a panel titled “Boom! Bap! Pow! – The [R]evolution of Hip-Hop & Comics” where they’ll be discussing the close relationship between these two facets of pop culture and how they have inspired one another throughout many years.

For a sneak peek at more images of La Borinqueña check out our Gallery and visit La Borinqueña and Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez at:

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