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La Borinqueña Creator Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez on Building a Superhero Empire Without Hollywood
Jun 4, 2025
Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, creator of La Borinqueña, joins AllHipHop to talk about creating an Afro-Latina superhero from the ground up. From working with DMC of Run-DMC to turning down Hollywood to protect his cultural vision, Edgardo breaks down what it really takes to build an independent comic book empire. He opens up about representation, legacy, and why family and community are his secret superpowers. Watch the full interview to see how Hip-Hop, heritage, and hustle intersect in this groundbreaking comic universe. #LaBorinqueña #AfroLatina #HipHop #Comics #allhiphop
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Executive Producers: “Grouchy” Greg Watkins and Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur
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0:00
Introduce yourself, sir. My name is
0:02
Edgardo Miranda Rodriguez. I'm the
0:05
writer and creator of the graphic novel
0:07
series Labora. Been publishing this
0:09
series now for 9 years. It's an
0:12
independent project that I've been
0:13
producing out of my own studio, Somos
0:15
Arte. Prior to doing my own intellectual
0:18
property, I kind of like got experience
0:22
developing books for other other um
0:24
icons like Daryl McDaniels. uh launched
0:27
an entire graphic novel series, created
0:29
a whole universe for him. Uh John
0:31
Leguisamo. So having had the experience
0:34
of working with already established
0:37
iconic actors who had their own ideas
0:40
gave me the experience to kind of like
0:42
come into my own space and develop my
0:43
own universe. And for the last 9 years,
0:46
I've created a unique universe of
0:48
superheroes that connects to my heritage
0:50
as a Puerto Rican and not only connects
0:52
to my identity here living in the US,
0:54
but also in the Caribbean. And you know,
0:56
we've been doing this now, publishing
0:58
seven different books and recently even
1:00
launching an action figure line, which
1:03
for like, you know, a geek like me,
1:05
that's like the, you know, the gold
1:07
standard when you get to the point where
1:08
your characters actually become action
1:10
figures, you know. Nice. Nice. What have
1:12
you learned in the process? What have
1:15
you learned? Good question. I've learned
1:18
to
1:20
embrace
1:21
flexibility, evolution, and
1:24
collaborations. Okay. flexibility
1:27
because oftent times when you're a
1:29
storyteller you're faced with the
1:32
reality that as an artist you don't
1:33
always have the resources to
1:35
independently tell these stories right
1:37
so you have to be flexible so what does
1:39
that mean so although we've been around
1:41
for 9 years I've only published seven
1:43
books okay so I've had to create a model
1:46
that actually is non-traditional comics
1:49
are published every week right but
1:52
novels are published whenever the author
1:54
is inspired to actually
1:55
the story uh George RR Martin, right?
1:58
You know what I mean? We're still
1:59
waiting on that last Game of Thrones
2:00
book. So, I've kind of created a model
2:02
for that. And I think that's what I've
2:04
learned. I've learned to be flexible.
2:05
I've learned to embrace change. And I've
2:08
also learned to evolve. And I also
2:10
learned like like I have a big baseball
2:12
hat collection. And I think as an
2:13
artist, you have to have multiple hats.
2:16
I'm a storyteller. I'm a creative
2:17
director. I'm an entrepreneur. I I do my
2:19
own marketing, publicity. And I also had
2:21
to develop a voice for myself. like how
2:24
do I represent my IP? How do I use it as
2:27
a tool of empowerment? Because in this
2:30
industry of mainstream superhero
2:32
storytelling, there's a significant
2:33
under under representation of characters
2:36
from people of color and especially
2:39
produced by people of color. Uh and
2:41
don't get it twisted, when you see
2:43
people of color being produced by
2:44
mainstream publishers, we're not the
2:46
ones that are actually producing those
2:48
stories, right? you know, and as and as
2:50
as enamored as they as many of them are,
2:52
there's still a lot more power when
2:54
characters are tethered to the actual
2:56
communities that they're telling stories
2:58
about. So, in a small way, I think
3:00
that's what I've done and I think that's
3:01
what I've learned. I've learned to
3:02
embrace flexibility and I've also
3:04
learned to embrace the power that comes
3:06
from my own people. you know, I created
3:09
a a black Puerto Rican superhero, which
3:11
means that I created a a a fan base that
3:14
that's obviously Puerto Rican, obviously
3:16
Caribbean, but also expands into the
3:18
African diaspora. So, we get support
3:20
from black community, from the Caribbean
3:22
community, from Latin community, which
3:24
is often times something that's
3:26
empowering because when you're an
3:27
independent storyteller, you have to
3:28
find a way to stay relevant and you have
3:31
to find a way to stay, you know,
3:33
buzzwordy. And nine years in, we're
3:35
still doing it. And next year is our
3:36
10th anniversary. We're launching a new
3:38
comic book cuz we created an
3:40
interconnected universe. This comic book
3:42
is actually based on a giant robot that
3:45
I actually um envisioned many years ago.
3:48
And this robot is actually part of a
3:50
larger universe that we've been building
3:52
out. It's called Behigante, which means
3:54
the giant. And I'm excited about that
3:57
because we created our own expanded
3:59
universe in comics. Yeah. So I'm able to
4:02
manage it. it. I mean, you do direct it
4:03
and produce it and um and it's also
4:06
something that I'm excited about cuz I
4:07
involve my family. This is my son who's
4:09
actually handling sales while we're
4:11
doing this interview right now. Hey,
4:12
son. And he's a going to be a senior
4:15
this fall at Connecticut College. And
4:17
it's something that I'm super proud of
4:19
because he's my first creation.
4:21
I mean, and this is a family business.
4:24
So, I've learned a lot and I also feel
4:25
that I'm still learning, you know? I'm
4:28
really proud of you, man. I just want to
4:29
throw that in there real quick. You
4:31
really did it. Tuck. Me and T. I mean,
4:33
it sounds corny, but it's real. Back
4:35
like stripes on Adidas. Yeah. Yeah.
4:37
Yeah. There it is. And And it's a
4:39
beautiful thing to have this exchange
4:41
between friends because we both came
4:43
into this culture as as young brothers
4:46
that love this culture, collecting the
4:48
books, having our lawn boxes, but
4:50
honestly, as as as professionals trying
4:53
to find a way to make ourselves relevant
4:55
to this culture, you know what I mean?
4:57
cuz it's it's such a big scene that
5:00
there's an opportunity for us to come in
5:02
and tell our stories as well. So, yeah,
5:05
man. Speaking of Adidas, how was it
5:08
working with the legend himself, DMC?
5:10
That was incredibly fun because what a
5:13
lot of people may not know about
5:16
McDaniels, is that there's a side of him
5:19
that still embraces the beauty and
5:22
innocence of youth. M and when you're in
5:25
a meeting with him brainstorming about
5:27
these characters in these universes, you
5:30
see this like 16-year-old version of
5:33
Daryl and his eyes widen up, his smile
5:37
brightens up, and you can see that he's
5:39
really invested in these characters. And
5:42
he didn't come into this um project like
5:45
a vanity project. He truly came in as
5:47
someone who loved and was enamored by
5:50
the whole comic book culture. So, it was
5:52
fun. It was also fun going on the road.
5:54
That's how you and I became really good
5:55
friends. Funny story, one time me and
5:57
Chuck were uh given this SUV and Chucky
6:01
was like, "I got this." And we get in
6:03
and it felt like we were in front of
6:05
like the SS USS Enterprise cuz the
6:07
council was in front of us and none of
6:10
us had any idea how to start the car
6:13
and we were in LA. Took us a couple of
6:15
minutes. Tuck figured it out. He got us
6:16
from point A to point B. But we had a
6:19
lot of fun times with the Arrow on the
6:21
road. where we got to hang out and meet
6:23
Stan Lee, rest in peace, and being a
6:25
part of like Daryl's entourage, and he
6:28
he actually made us feel like we were
6:30
part of his family. We didn't feel like
6:31
roadies or anything. We literally felt
6:33
like we were valuable members of his
6:35
family. And and Daryl truly did that.
6:38
Another cool thing about Daryl that a
6:39
lot of people don't know is that he
6:40
takes care of you. Whenever we were at
6:42
events, me and Chuck would stay at the
6:44
table kind of chilling and Daryl would
6:45
come back and bring us cookies. Yeah.
6:47
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. So, you got to
6:49
taste these oatmeal cookies. Amazing.
6:52
But that was that was I think that was
6:54
one of the most amazing things to learn
6:56
about Daryl and working with him is how
6:58
grounded he was, how beautiful a spirit
7:00
he has, still has. And I think one of
7:03
the most powerful things that I think
7:05
you and I embraced while working with
7:08
and being around Daryl is that we
7:10
witnessed his voice returning. Yeah. And
7:12
a lot of people may not know that Daryl
7:14
literally lost his voice. Yes. And in
7:16
the time that we were working together
7:17
with him and touring with him doing
7:19
audio events across the United States
7:20
from New York to San Diego, Chuck and I
7:23
literally heard Daryl's voice come back
7:26
100%. And I think it was that working on
7:28
the comics made him so happy that that
7:31
was like these endorphins and the
7:32
adrenaline and his vocal cords literally
7:35
healed themselves. And to hear his voice
7:37
come back, the voice that was like that,
7:39
you know, that black boat of power when
7:42
we were and I'm talking about Marvel
7:43
Black, right? Aha, there it is. That
7:46
vocal powerful voice that had like
7:48
inspired us growing up in hip-hop to to
7:51
bear witness of that voice coming back.
7:53
I think for us, like me and Chuck, that
7:55
was like something amazing. If we were
7:56
there, we witnessed it come back, you
7:58
know? Definitely. Now, I've seen the
8:00
characters in ComicCons and and I was so
8:03
shocked. But what about a movie? What
8:06
about bringing it to life? I mean, the
8:08
reality is, who wouldn't want to see
8:10
their intellectual property making into
8:12
a movie? Labor is something that I've
8:14
been working on developing for nine
8:16
years going on 10 next. But the reality
8:19
is you know studios are the ones that
8:21
invest in these properties and they
8:22
invest hundreds of millions of dollars
8:24
and often times when they do that they
8:26
want to own the intellectual property
8:28
and many creators are often times
8:30
completely removed when that transaction
8:33
happens. There have been many properties
8:34
that have been developed that actually
8:37
have no say from the creators and I
8:40
don't want to ever find myself in a
8:41
position where I'm completely
8:44
disconnected from this project. You
8:46
know, I'm a dad. I have two sons and
8:49
Lauren, she's like the daughter that I
8:52
always wanted to have, right? And the
8:54
last thing I'd want is to send her off
8:56
and then and and and never see her ever
8:58
again and never have any kind of like,
9:00
you know, a say in terms of what would
9:02
happen. I mean, the studio comes and
9:05
says, "Oh, we're going to make Lainka."
9:07
And all of a sudden, they decide to make
9:08
her a white Puerto Rican. I'll be like,
9:10
"No, no, she's supposed to be a Afro
9:12
Latin. That's the last thing you're
9:13
going to do." So for me, it's about
9:15
really kind of like keeping her true to
9:17
our heritage, to our culture, and also
9:18
to the fans, you know, to really like do
9:21
that fan service and and and stay loyal
9:23
and and reality is I wouldn't be here if
9:25
it wasn't for the fans that have been
9:26
supporting us all these years, you know.
9:28
Can I sign up for you? Congratulations.
9:31
I'm going to let you go and sign these
9:32
autographs.
9:34
What's your name, bro? Donovan. Donovan.
9:36
Yeah. Shout out to Donovan supporting
9:39
and two jokers.
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