Puerto Rico, stand up! Boricua Pride was in full effect as the Children of Puerto Rico showed up and showed out at this year’s New York Comic Con.
From the opening celebration of the New York Public Library’s exhibit, ¡Wepa! Puerto Ricans in the World of Comics, an exhibit showcasing the comics and creators from Puerto Rico, followed up by a panel at NYCC, to the pro panel Cafecito at Comic Con, to the very popular Boricua-Verse Meetup for cosplayers and fans.
Comic Con being what it is, I couldn’t make it to each of these gatherings, like the ¡Wepa! opening (check out the Beat coverage here) or panel. I’ll have to search for the panel online, but I will make an effort to see the exhibit at the 5th Ave. branch long before it closes in March of 2026.
What I did catch was an early morning discussion about Latino comics, from superheroes to gentrification to culinary touchstones at the Cafecito at Comic Con panel, moderated by Aníbal Arocho, the Library Manager at Hunter College’s Center for Puerto Rican Studies. He was joined by Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, writer and creator of La Borinqueña, editor/writer David Betancourt from The Athletic, and Marvel Studios designer Nik Virella. There wasn’t any coffee, but there was a boatload of enlightenment to be had.
The panelist spoke about the importance of Miles Morales, specifically Betancourt, as he said, “The headlines were New Spider-Man, half Latino, half black, which there’s some issues with that headline, as it is, but that was a headline. You can kind of tell that there weren’t a lot of Latinos in the newsroom, because the thing about Latinos, saying Latino isn’t enough. We want to know what type you want to know, what you’re flagging. I know if you guys ever seen the World Cup. Latinos like waving their flags. It’s a big, big deal, but none of the reports, when Miles first came out, said what he was. Now, me, being the smart reporter, I am, I’m like, All right, it’s New York. He’s either Dominican or Puerto Rican. So the first time I interviewed Brian Michael Bendis, I was the first reporter to ask him, You know, Miles Half, Latino, half African American. I’m like, I need to know, where is his mom from? And he said, ‘oh well, Rio’s Puerto Rican.’ And I kind of.. got a little emotional, and I said, off the record, look, Brian, I have to tell you, this is gonna make the story, but this is a big deal to me, because my father’s Puerto Rican, and my mother’s African American, and I’ve never seen myself in anything.”
Thankfully, it was Miranda-Rodriguez who pointed out that Virella was the first artist to have Deadpool do the heart hands, but her name isn’t as celebrated as it should have been.
And of course, there was a discussion of George Pérez and how his art was always infused with his Puerto Ricanness, from co-creating Marvel’s first Puerto Rican superhero, White Tiger, to fellow Boricua Iris Chacón being the inspiration for Starfire, to his curly-haired Wonder Woman, to him being arguably the most inspirational comic book artist since Jack Kirby.
But the highlight of this weekend was the official meetup of The BoricuaVerse. Hosted by NYCosplayer and Floris_Lilium, this was a gathering of Puerto Rican-themed cosplayers, celebrating their love of comics and genre with a shot of sazón.
There were straight-up superhero cosplayers dressed like La Borinqueña, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and the Joker, but then we got the mashups of fandom and PR Pride with the Boricua-influenced Mandalorian, Black Cat, and Hawk-Girl. For me, the real standouts were the father-daughter Puerto Vulcans, Jibaro Grogu, Boricua Ahsoka, and one flag-bearing Bad Bunny.
Of all of the dancing, singing, and picture taking, it was Cosplayer and host, Floris Lilium, who shared some beautiful and inspiring words during the meetup.
“When I talk about Puerto Rican pride, I’m not just talking about a flag, or a holiday, or a parade. I’m talking about a heartbeat. I’m talking about something that lives in us, something that no storm, no distance, no challenge can ever take away. Our pride is the rhythm of the drum, the sound of the coqui at night, the laughter of our families, the strength of our ancestors. It is who we are.
And at the center of that pride is creativity.
Puerto Ricans have always been creators.
We take the world around us and turn it into art, into music, into poetry, into fashion, into stories that touch hearts far beyond our shores. We create because it’s in our blood—it’s how we survive, how we celebrate, how we tell the world that we are here and that we matter.
That’s why cosplay, for us, is so much more than costumes and conventions. It’s another way we bring our imagination to life. It’s another way we tell our stories, show our colors, and prove that creativity is a gift our culture gave us long before we were even born. Every seam we stitch, every prop we build, every character we embody-it all carries the pride of our people. It’s our culture transformed into something vibrant, something unforgettable.
Because being Puerto Rican means being driven. It means we don’t stop when it gets hard. We push forward. We innovate. We shine. That drive, that fire—that is our superpower. And when we bring it into cosplay, when we pour our heart and soul into creating, we’re not just crafting costumes-we’re carrying our heritage onto the stage. We’re saying: Look at us. Look at what we can do. Look at what our culture makes possible.” – Floris Lilium
And if that wasn’t enough, they capped the day by heading to Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez’s booth on the show floor. In a moment of pure serendipity, I was already there getting a quote from him about representation in comics and NYCC when we heard the music coming toward us. And then we were in it again as Miranda-Rodriguez addressed the crowd, giving another inspirational moment.
“This is about the culture. You know, we don’t see our flag all the time in a place like this, but when you walk up and down these alleys at Javits Center, you can feel the Latin presence. We might not always be represented by these big corporations, so we gotta make a way and represent ourselves. We do it in our part as storytellers with La Borinqueña, cosplayers do it with BoricuaVerse, we’re showing the world, we are not moving because we make the world move with our tambor, with our culture. Bad Bunny does it with his music, but we do it here with our culture. Don’t ever forget it, this is our city, this is our culture, and this is our flag. ¡Estamos orgullosos!” – Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez
And for me, the weird kid growing up who wanted to fly, I got to put aside the madness and hate of the outside world to have a wonderful time with like-minded nerds, and revel in the spirits of Roberto Clemente, Tato Laviera, and George Pérez. This was my moment with mi gente.
Stay tuned to The Beat for more coverage from NYCC ’25.
