Source: NY Daily News
You think you’ve got problems? Try being Ben Grimm, aka the Thing. All he wants to do is head out solo to Puerto Rico for a few days to chill in Old San Juan.
While there he intends to enjoy the adulation of the locals, who think his pebbly skin reminds them of the Spanish-era fortress El Morro — which is why they’ve taken to calling him El Morrito.
But no! Grimm’s Fantastic Four buds — that’s Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman and the Human Torch to the uninitiated — just can’t leave him alone.
So they fly down to La Isla where — Gasp! Pow! Ka-chunga! — they run into a rabid band of chupacabras, those goat-sucking monsters of Boricua legend.
Will the Fantastic Four save the rain forest El Yunque from the evil monsters? Will the jealous Human Torch manage to attract his own following of sun-kissed Latina honeys? And will Marvel Comics sell tons of copies of “Fantastic Four: Isla de La Muerte,” due out in English and Spanish-language editions on Friday?
“My aim in this book was for the reader to learn about Puerto Rico,” says Tom Beland, the Guaynabo, Puerto Rico-based writer of “Isla de la Muerte,” which contains numerous references to Boricua cultural touchstones like Old San Juan, mofongo — a mashed plantains dish — and the tiny frog coquí.
“I wanted whoever had been to this island to be able to pick up this book and recognize the culture instantly,” adds Beland. “We’re eliminating 95% of the comic readership by doing this, but I didn’t give a s—.”
The idea for the chupacabras tale came after Beland, who describes himself as “the guy who writes about relationships” for Marvel Comics, was asked to do a story on the Fantastic Four and how they operate as a family unit.
After attending Old San Juan’s annual San Sebastian festival, he came up with the germ of the concept, “that this is where Ben Grimm comes [for vacation], because he looks like the fort. If you remotely resemble anything on this island, you’re automatically a cult hero.”
Beland then wrote the story, but also did some brainstorming about what Puerto Rican tidbits should be included with editor Alejandro Albona and artist Juan Doe, who are, respectively, Puerto Rican and Nuyorican.
“We were like three school girls at a slumber party,” says Beland. “It was this cool little P.R. thing we were talking about.”
Even better, Marvel’s honchos went for the concept. The only thing they asked for was that there be a major villain in the piece.
So Beland added one of the Fantastic Four’s old adversaries, Mole Man, since a good part of the story takes place in caves underneath El Yunque.
What emerged was a potent mix of Marvel-mania and sort of a “short cultural history of P.R. for gringos and others.”
“Latino culture is a very untapped source for comics,” says Beland. “In this book we really hit on the culture. I think Puerto Rico is probably the fifth member of the Fantastic Four in this piece.”
Well, yeah. And if nothing else, there’s that wonderful moment in the story when good old Ben, using the catch phrase that every comic geek knows by heart, says “It’s chupa-clobberin’ time!”
