Voodoo Ink and the Future of Puerto Rican Comics

Comic books have taken a dramatic rise in popularity during the 21st century and in Puerto Rico as well.  A new generation of artists have created a unique style in paper as well as digitally, and Voodoo Ink is helping them broaden their horizons and share them with a larger public.  By expressing themselves through their art and presenting it to the world, they are representing the often-unseen talents this island offers, and therefore showcasing a little piece of who we are.  

On the night of the release of their 3D comic, HCUPR interviewed the founders of Voodoo Ink at Rio Piedras’s very own comic book store, Mondo Bizarro, located on Ave. Ponce de León, about the history of comics in Puerto Rico and asked for their take on how the comic business will grow on our island.  

HCUPR: What is Bombavisión? 

Ibaiko: Bombavisión is a native comic book style created in Puerto Rico around 1985 with the publication of “La Ventana” by Pepe Vázquez.  There were many other artists alongside him who created their own projects, but all the same followed a similar style in theme, grahics, style format.  They also used the anti-hero character and melded American comics, like DC and Marvel, as well as Japanese influence with Puerto Rico’s culture.

HCUPR: Are there any specific characteristics that can be recognized in Bombavisión comics?

Ibaiko: The inclusion of Puerto Rican culture and our Spanglish, placing the characters on a street we know or places like the Ponce Letters or Old San Juan; these elements and many others that are familiar to the people of Puerto Rico are what embody these comics.

HCUPR: What inspired the creation of Voodoo Ink?  

Ibaiko.

Ibaiko: It began with these two gentlemen: Pepe Vázquez and Victor Rosario-Fermaint.

Pepe Vázquez: After publishing my work in Puerto Rico for a few years, it occurred to me to collect many other artists to work and distribute our work here and outside of the island.  It was then we began to meet and coincide here, in comic book stores. We shared our work and eventually began collaborating.  The idea has always been centered on having the best artists in Puerto Rico and to create an anthology that would represent us all over the world.  And to a point, I believe, we have succeeded.  Of course, in this age, there are newer ways to publish and display your work, but in that era, where there weren’t as many comics, it was much easier to call that talent and for them to respond, like Reynaldo León, Ivan Camilli, Wilfred Santiago, and many others.Voodoo Ink was a good springboard for all those talents developing in the 90s to have a platform in which to express themselves and to show their work.  

Victor Rosario: What also helped with the development were the growing amount of comic book stores opening in Puerto Rico, something that was far more common in the United States.  When I was a kid, I used to go to pharmacies and supermarkets to buy them. That disappeared because suddenly there were these new places where we [Victor and Pepe], as comic book collectors, coul meet and talk. We always bought comics but we never crossed paths, and this helped us to organize ourselves in a common space and that was what began the movement.  For the growth of an artistic movement, it had to start somewhere, and that place was in David Comics Clan Comic Book Store in Santurce. 

HCUPR: And what do you think of the rise of Puerto Rican comic books?Ibaiko: It’s phenomenal.  There are so many new artists, and what we would like for them know is the existence of this Puerto Rican tradition so they can have a sense of belonging.  That they don’t have to imitate what the rest of the world does because what they do fits in with the Bombavisión style: Puerto Rican comics made by Puerto Ricans.

Artwork by Abigail Burgos 

HCUPR: For an artist to publish their work in the web, as a webcomic, does that count too?

Vázquez: The format is irrelevant.  It’s the future of the industry, to be honest.  The paper may never disappear, but we have to look into that new road. Webcomics forever!

Rosario: And it’s places like these, Mondo Bizarro, run by a new generation, that is promoting the comic in a powerful way.  And artists like Abigail Burgos, who’s from your generation and her work is shown in Voodoo Ink, is woman of vision and bringing in a new audience that is different from our own time, with the same influence but different styles.  

HCUPR: What’s one of the most interesting things you’ve noticed with the publishing of Voodoo Ink?

Ibaiko: The most interesting thing about Voodoo Ink is that it’s not only brought a new generation but we’re also seeing the inclusion of a female audience. And that’s so interesting because, in the United States, comic books are more popular to boys. The Puerto Rican comic, on the other hand, has a Japanese influence from manga and anime, and that helped introduce girls to comic books and that, in turn, has brought them to our comic.  And I think that the reason why Voodoo Ink is so popular with them is because, in comparison with the format in the United States whose traditional format of the male superhero distances women from comics, Voodoo Ink comics are stories, and you can connect with the characters.  These characters are just regular people, and that makes women more inclined to reading these types of comics compared to the supermacho superhero who can’t do wrong.  And there are so many female artists like Rosaura Rodríguez from Días Comics, as well as  the creators of SodaPop Comics, Carla Rodriguez and Rosa Colón.

Rosario: Voodoo Ink opened the doors to many female artists.  We look for talent, for people with the desire to showcase their work. 

HCUPR: Lastly, any future projects for Voodoo Ink?We feel accomplished in having explored the comic format.  And by publishing this 3-D comic, we’ve put the cherry on top of the ice cream milkshake we’ve worked on for a long time.  Now we want to work on new formats and projects, to bring a new variety that doesn’t necessarily fit in the comic format, and to expand new works but keep our name as Voodoo Ink.

From left to right: Victor Rosario-Fermaint, Ibaiko, the author, Abigail Burgos, Pepe Vázquez.