A new superhero is rocking the comic book scene with her fierce confidence and Puerto Rican roots.
Darryl Makes Comics, co-created by Darryl "DMC" McDaniels of hip hop group Run-DMC, has introduced LAK6, a 13-year-old Puerto Rican superhero, to the comic book world. The company's editor-in-chief, Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, described the character as "precocious" and "very outspoken" as she takes on the streets of 1980s New York City.
The comic book series introduces LAK6, whose real name is Leticia Lebron, as a middle school student who helps a journalist interested in learning more about the series' vigilante DMC, based on McDaniels. Miranda-Rodriguez explained that her superhero alter ego is developed more throughout the series and that her character wasn't created simply in the interest of diversity, given that strong female characters were part of the series from the beginning.
"Genuinely we looked at who we already had and we wanted to introduce a new character," Miranda-Rodriguez told The Huffington Post. "We were like, 'Well we already have these powerful characters in our books.' Yeah, they’re women, but it’s not because they’re women that we made them into heroes. It just so happened to be that the characters in our series were already strong women."
Miranda-Rodriguez described the influences behind LAK6's Latino roots and how the character took shape, noting that the teen hero was inspired by graffiti artist Lady Pink as well as Iris Morales, a member of the Young Lords activist group. Her foster parents are based on Puerto Rican activists Lolita Lebron and Pedro Albizu Campos.
Miranda-Rodriguez told HuffPost he’s received positive feedback about the Puerto Rican teen, especially from women and young girls. "It’s something cool for a lot of women, especially of color, especially of Latino descent because she’s not a derivative character," he said.
Miranda-Rodriguez clarified that LAK6 is not the first Puerto Rican superhero, but emphasized that she doesn't serve as an accessory or extension to a male counterpart. LAK6 is fierce all on her own, and that's something we can get on board with.
H/T Vivala
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