La Borinqueña: Decolonizing Puerto Rico via Comic Books
CAS Speaker's Series Presents
Wednesday, APRIL 3 // 4:30 PM // CFA 303
La Borinqueña is an original character and patriotic symbol presented in a classic superhero story created and written by graphic novelist Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez. Her powers are drawn from history and mysticism found on the island of Puerto Rico. The fictional character, Marisol Rios De La Luz, is a Columbia University Earth and Environmental Sciences Undergraduate student living with her parents in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She takes a semester of study abroad in collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico. There she explores the caves of Puerto Rico and finds five similar sized crystals. Atabex, the Taino mother goddess, appears before Marisol once the crystals are united and summons her sons Yúcahu, spirt of the seas and mountains and Juracan, spirit of the hurricanes. They give Marisol superhuman strength, the power of flight, and control of the storms.
Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez is a graphic novelist most notably recognized as the writer and creator of the critically acclaimed and bestselling superhero series La Borinqueña. In addition, he is celebrated for his philanthropic efforts via the benefit anthology Ricanstruction: Reminiscing & Rebuilding Puerto Rico featuring La Borinqueña teaming up with Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman and other DC Comics heroes. He self-published this anthology under his own studio Somos Arte and to date Edgardo has raised close to a quarter of a million dollars for grassroots organizations in Puerto Rico via the La Borinqueña Grants Program. As the Creative Director and owner of Somos Arte, a Brooklyn-based creative services studio he has worked with such notable clients as Atlantic Records, Columbia University, and Marvel. In addition, Edgardo is a curator of art exhibitions having already produced three original Marvel comic book art exhibitions and his very own La Borinqueña for the Smithsonian Museum.
Edgardo continues to be recognized widely for his work on NBC, CNN, The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR and numerous other media outlets for having already produced in addition to his own series La Borinqueña, graphic novels under the Darryl Makes Comics imprint which he co-owns with Darryl DMC McDaniels (from RUN DMC), and the comic book series Freak written by Emmy and Tony award winning writer John Leguizamo. He has also written for Marvel Comics critically acclaimed anthology, Guardians of the Galaxy: Tales of the Cosmos.
As part of his national tour he continues to speak on such topics as diversity in comic books and current socio-political issues related to Puerto Rico. The Smithsonian, The American Museum of Natural History, Columbia University, Princeton University, Colgate University, Contemporary Art Center of New Orleans, New York Comic Con, Rhode Island School of Design, Viacom, Hasbro and many other institutions, libraries and events invite him to deliver keynote presentations and talks to audiences that range from elementary school children to graduate students.
For more information please visit www.la-borinquena.com and www.somosarte.com and follow Edgardo on social media on Twitter @MrEdgardoNYC and Instagram/Facebook @LaBorinquenaComics
Co-sponsored by: Department of Modern Languages