Edgardo Miranda-Rodríguez’s Boricua superhero La Borinqueña is celebrating her tenth anniversary. The character has been the face of charity-focused work that’s supported artists and even helped with hurricane María’s recovery efforts (with an anthology comic that was aptly titled Ricanstruction). Miranda-Rodríguez has also built on the character’s world by populating it with additional Latin superheroes that find in Puerto Rican history and legend the source of their powers and worldviews.
Ten years in, how do you celebrate a character with such an impressive track record of activism coupled with good old-fashioned superhero storytelling? Some might revisit the past to reaffirm the foundational elements of the characters. Miranda-Rodríguez decided to go bigger, literally. And the result was V-G1GANTE, a Mazinger-inspired giant robot that’s modeled after a mischievous folkloric figure that’s popular in Puerto Rican culture. Here, the horned figure flips the script on its origins, going from a representation of evil and intimidation to one of justice and scientific responsibility. Go big or go home.
V-G1GANTE is written by Miranda-Rodríguez and illustrated by Hernán Castellanos, with colors by Eliana Falcón-Dvorsky (who also edits the book), and it’s La Borinqueña’s first foray into manga.
The story follows La Borinqueña’s ‘Defenders of Puerto Rico’ team The Nitaínos as a kaiju threat rises from the Puerto Rico Trench. Given the size of the creature, V-G1GANTE is the best option available to contain it.
The giant robot is piloted by Brismar Besosa Crúz, a computer science student from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus. She possesses a strong moral compass that is reflected in the design of the robot (which is colored in red, white, and celestial blue of PR’s flag). Unethical science, irresponsible superpowered beings, and environmental issues take center stage as V-G1GANTE lets the world know why she’s earned her place among La Borinqueñas’s Nitaínos.
All the hallmarks of previous Borinqueña comics are here. Miranda-Rodríguez’s script continues to promote environmental activism through his characters. Villains and misguided scientists are portrayed as people who think profit and progress should not be held back by geographical concerns. Big tech, to an extent, is put on notice by the superpowered group, which evokes discussions on how the wealthy escape to Puerto Rico not only for tax reasons but also to exploit the island’s resources.
V-G1GANTE, a high-tech invention of its own, argues that technology works best when it’s used to protect the environment rather than taking from it for financial gain (an idea that harkens back to the very first Superman comics of the Depression era). The spirit of La Borinqueña flows through the character in this sense, helping define V-G1GANTE’s overarching mission as it pertains to the protection of Puerto Rico and its shores.
Hernán Castellanos’s art is a real treat here, perfectly capturing the speed, intensity, and kinetic energy manga is known for. The book moves at a brisk pace thanks to an economical approach to paneling, which aims to cap pages at 4-5 panels each. Movement is constant, so it’s important the script give the artist the space to convey that. Miranda-Rodríguez, clearly a fan of anime and manga, gives Castellanos precisely that.
The V-G1GANTE’s design will delight fans of Gundam as well as Mazinger. It’s a creation that looks like it can go toe-to-toe with the best of them and would look amazing on the big screen (should this ever get a much-deserved movie out of it, live-action or animated).
Eliana Falcón-Dvorsky’s colors make the colors match the energy, with national colors flying high alongside darker tones to distinguish between the good and evil as the story progresses. They remind of classic anime, 80s/90s series in particular, where the colors were gloriously indulgent and had an even larger say in the story. The book is simply firing on all cylinders, and it signals the start of a whole new era for La Borinqueña universe.
With V-G1GANTE, Miranda-Rodríguez proves that his proudly Boricua female superhero creation is one of the most thematically and stylistically diverse characters in comics, capable of blending classics such Mazinger-Z with vejigante culture to expand on an already vibrant and diverse world. ¿Boricuas hasta en la luna? ¡Boricuas hasta en el manga!
