Puerto Rico just gained a new super human to help with their economic crisis. She goes by La Borinqueña, whose mission is to fight for social justice and promote unity among all Boricuas. She was named after the island’s national anthem, and was created by Puerto Rican writer and artist Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez in efforts to promote symbols of hope and solidarity—in a trying time for the island.
In a recent interview with The Huffington Post, Miranda-Rodriguez echoed these sentiments and explained the inspiration behind this new Afro-Latina heroine. “Given everything that’s going on in Puerto Rico right now with the financial crisis… I thought to myself, now more than ever, Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans in the diaspora need a symbol to rally around,” he said.
The Brooklyn-based artist’s choice to make La Borinqueña a super hero came naturally since he’s also created other Latino super heroes for Marvel and DMC Comics before. Yet he credits the world’s fascination with comic super heroes his main source of fuel for making that idea come to life on paper.
“People are so enamored by superhero culture that it occurred to me that if we’re going to raise awareness of what’s going on in Puerto Rico, we need a superhero to do that,” he explained.
Along with Miranda-Rodriguez’s stellar illustrations, is a killer story line to match. La Borinqueña’s real name is Marisol Rios De La Luz, and she is an undergraduate student at Columbia University, majoring in Earth and Environmental Sciences. Part of her syllabus includes going to her parent’s homeland, where she eventually goes on an archeological adventure, and finds ancient artifacts within five of Puerto Rico’s caves. In the midst of her search, she stumbles upon her own super human powers.
These powers are solely used to shine light, and be a sense of hope, affirms Miranda-Rodriguez. “She doesn’t fight crime, per se. She’s a symbol of hope,” he said.“Her super powers aren’t actually needed to make a significant change. In essence, she realizes that her superpowers can’t create social change, however she can actually be a catalyst for social change. She will find and Puerto Ricans will see that they actually have the power themselves.
“We’ll discover, through her adventure, the power of the Puerto Rican community, and that is the nature of coming together,” he continued.
The comic will be written in English, peppered with Spanish in between the story line. It’s set to make its debut at Café con Comics during National Puerto Rican Heritage Month in November. Profits made from the comic will be donated to the National Puerto Rican Parade’s scholarship program. The artist’s studio Somos Arte teamed up with the organizers of the parade and a slew of other Puerto Rican editors, colorists, and artists for the project.
Be sure to catch La Borinqueña’s official debut at New York City’s Puerto Rican Day Parade on June 12, and peep the superhero in action in the video below.