For award-winning graphic novelist Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, this weekend’s New York Comic-Con is more than a space to discuss the next issue of his culture-defining La Borinqueña graphic novel series. It’s also the kickoff for his work with a newly-awarded Mellon Foundation fellowship that illuminates the role a graphic novel can play in interdisciplinary scholarship on Puerto Rico’s recovery from the devastation of 2017’s Hurricane Maria.
La Borinqueña is Miranda-Rodriguez’s brain child; the series tells the story of a Brooklyn-born, storm-controlling superhero, who stands out for her embrace of both her African and Taino history. Some $200,000 in proceeds from previous books, which featured stars such as Rosario Dawson, have gone directly to grassroots organization in Puerto Rico, to help rebuild the archipelago. A portion of the $1.2-million Mellon fellowship covers costs for the upcoming book #4.
“That’s why this opportunity to get this fellowship was incredible,” says Miranda-Rodriguez, who in 2019 won the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award at the Eisner ceremony at the San Diego Comic Con. He’d won for Ricanstruction, a pro Puerto Rico anthology featuring contributions by noted DC artists such as as Frank Miller, Gail Simone, Greg Pak, Denys Cowans and Gabby Rivera. “I’ve entered into the space where I’m actually getting public funding for my work. Right? And it allows me to continue to develop these stories and work with the collaborative team of artists that work under our studio. And more importantly, to maintain an independent publishing model that is still linked to our philanthropic work.”
Helmed by Princeton professor and anthropologist Yarimar Bonilla, the Bridging the Divides: Post-Disaster Future project will live at Princetown though it is still connected with CUNY while the professor fully transitions to Ivy League life. An external review committee selected geographers, artists, architects, anthropologists, photographers and academics to take a look at the creating of post-disaster narratives. Much of this work involves acknowledging the American media’s focus on trauma and perhaps the expectation that people of color stick to discussing old trauma instead of expanding into the future.
It’s loosely linked to the trending Afro-Futurism movement in which Black and Diasporic authors consciously imagine a world without racism and its relatives. There is a movement for Indigenous Futurism as well. Miranda-Rodriguez, a former Marvel writer, is the first graphic artist to participate in in this project. The character he has created in La Borinqueña is brown-skinned, well-versed in her African heritage and also knowledgable about her Taino roots.In fact, part of her storyline involves harnessing the power of historical artifacts used by the indigenous people who lived in the archipelago prior to colonialization.
“I have a degree in sociology and anthropology from Colgate University. So I have a very unique approach to storytelling,” he explains. “I’m not the typical writer that just sits at the keyboard and pours ideas purely from my imagination. I research, I read historical books, I attend lectures, I listen to podcasts, I’ll read articles I keep up on news related to environmental issues, economic issues.”
Joining with other academics to discuss and research recent issues will only deepen elements of realism in Miranda-Rodriguez’s self-described “speculative Afro Taino futurist historical fiction.” The team met last week at Princetown to lay ground rules and a ground discussion.
“I’m one of only a few artists in this group of academicians, “ he explains. “I’m going to translate into my narrative. My goal here is to try to find key points of much of their research and organically put it into a narrative that I’m developing over the course of this fellowship.”
Sales of the student superhero series has already seeded $200,000 into the community in small grants. The next issue, #4, will be officially released in March 29, 2024 at the Puerto Rico Comic Con.
As for New York Comic2Con, the artist is teaming up with fellow artist and actor John Leguizamo to talk Latin and Latinx representation and showcase new works at the same booth. (Miranda-Rodriguez, via his studio Somos Arte, produced John Leguizamo’s two comic book series PhenomX and Freak adapted from the critically acclaimed Broadway show. The two will be signing for fans exclusively at New York Comic Con.) The pair will be located in the main area of the Javits Center. Hard core comic con fans will likely appreciate the location shift. He is also taking sales for the action doll modeled after his caped crusader.
“This year is the first year that we’re leaving Artist Alley,” Miranda-Rodriguez says. “And we’re going to be on the main floor, which is show level three. And it’s exciting and I’m a little anxious about it, because we’re literally diagonal from Marvel’s booth.”
This could bring lots of intersectional traffic to his booth, he posits. All the better for the holiday release – and the Hispanic Heritage Month reveal – of the La Borinqueña action figure for sale at www.bossfightstudio.com. She’s already teamed up with DC Comics in an island mashup issue, so now it’s time to bring her to the homes of the kids who read about her —but on his own terms. Miranda-Rodriguez’s company Somos Arte owns the IP for the Puerto Rican hero, and they field nearly daily requests to buy the property or obtain film rights. But it’s not for sale, the artist confirms.
“I’m going to say no, because once I relinquish the complete ownership of this property, it is in the hands of somebody else, which means it could be reinterpreted,” he says. “It means they can lighten her melanin. Or it can also simply mean—which a lot of people don’t understand about how the entertainment industry works— it can be shelved.”
ComicCon participation helps the superhero stay independent.
“Honestly, New York ComicCon and Puerto Rico ComicCon are our biggest markets right now,” he says. “We’re not saying that this book that we publish is going to completely rebuild and reconstruct Puerto Rico. But what we do say is that this book would allow me to have a conversation so that others know that the business model that we’ve created not only serves to have a philanthropic component, but an advocacy component to it as well.”
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