Last week, Sin City and Josie and the Pussycats star Rosario Dawson hosted a live video chat on her Instagram account, where she announced that she was teaming with adward-winning comics writer Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez on La Borinqueña Guest Starring Rosario Dawson, a new graphic novel that is being produced with support from the Natural Resources Defense Council, a non-profit organization dedicated to environmental education and action. According to a statement from Miranda-Rodriguez, the graphic novel will also help raise money for philanthropic work in Puerto Rico.
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Miranda-Rodriguez teamed with an army of talented comics creators for Ricanstruction: Reminiscing & Rebuilding Puerto Rico, a graphic novel that was designed to help Puerto Ricans in need following 2017’s Hurrican Maria. La Borinqueña Guest Starring Rosario Dawson will emphasize the importance of a clean energy transition in Puerto Rico.
The book will feature a lead, original story written by Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez and illustrated by Will Rosado, colored by Chris Sotomayor, and features original cover art by Rita Fei and variant covers by Bill Sienkiewicz, Chris Sotomayor, ChrisCross, Andrew Crossley, Leila Del Duca, Luciano Vecchio, Gustavo Vazquez, Edgar Delgado, Rafael Albuqueque, Alvaro Jimenez, and Richard Ortíz. The variant covers were all donated by the artists without cost. One of those artists is Gus Vasquez, a veteran comic book artist and Dawson’s uncle. In a 2021 interview about the 20th anniversary of Josie and the Pussycats, Dawson credited Vasquez as a big contributor to her love of comic book roles and characters.
Short stories also written by Miranda-Rodriguez feature the Nitainos the new superhero team lead by La Borinqueña illustrated by Steve Buccellato, David Fernandez, Francisco Javier Rodríguez, and Elkys Nova Díaz.
Dawson and Guardians of the Galaxy star Zoe Saldana took turns voicing La Borinqueña in animated shorts aimed at getting out the vote in the 2020 U.S. election, and Dawson reprised the role in motion comics intended to help covid-related charities in the early days of the pandemic. Dawson has previously expressed enthusiasm for bringing a screen adaptation of the character to life.
“La Borinqueña is a brilliant character that has already generated so much goodwill in the world,” Dawson said in a statement last March. “I’ve been a huge fan and grateful collaborator for years and am seeking to continue supporting her by producing and hopefully directing the pilot of a La Borinqueña series. To bring this character to life in live action, hopefully embodied by the incredibly talented Madison Reyes, would be a dream come true. We all need to experience representation on this level.”
La Borinqueña is a Puerto Rican superhero, created by Miranda-Rodriguez and self-published by him with a number of artists attached. Well-reviewed and a big seller for an indie book, La Borinqueña became a much more visible character when she headlined Ricanstruction and Miranda-Rodriguez found himself working with superstar comics talent like Gail Simone and Reginald Hudlin.
La Borinqueña Guest Starring Rosario Dawson will be released on April 6, and is available for preorder now via La Borinqueña’s website.
