Comic book writer and editor Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez announced the creation of his new comic superhero, "La Borinqueña," on Tuesday (May 10) with the following Instagram post:
As the Brooklyn-based Miranda-Rodriguez explained in an interview with The Washington Post, he hopes the comic will inspire fellow Puerto Ricans and diaspora members to think and act critically in the wake of the island’s ongoing debt crisis:
This comic book that I’m writing with my team is not going to solve the debt crisis in Puerto Rico, but it’s going to open the dialogue in a way that can be accepted and understood by a larger audience that will absorb it, learn from it and also take action from it.
La Boriqueña will debut at New York City’s Puerto Rican Pride Day Parade this summer as part of a presentation with the parade’s organizers. Miranda-Rodriguez and his team will release a comic book later in the year.
Miranda-Rodriguez created the character, whose outfit incorporates the Puerto Rican flag, after receiving praise for rendering several Spanish-speaking characters in a one-off Marvel comic. "People saw themselves. And when you see yourself, that’s empowering," he said. "When you hear your story, you recognize for the first time that you have that superpower."
Read The Washington Post’s full interview with Miranda-Rodriguez here.