Posted in: Comics, Fantagraphics | Tagged:

Fantagraphics To Publish John Vasquez Mejias' Lolita Lebrón Woodcut

Fantagraphics To Publish John Vasquez Mejias’ Lolita Lebrón-Puerto Rican Revolutionary woodcut graphic novel, part two of Puerto Rican War

John Vasquez Mejias' has sold the North American publishing rights to his upcoming woodcut graphic novel Lolita Lebrón-Puerto Rican Revolutionary, the sequel to his 2024 book Puerto Rican War: A Graphic History about the Puerto Rican nationalist "whose fight against colonialism led her to lead an attack on the U.S. House of Representatives in 1954" to Gary Groth at Fantagraphics, courtesy of his agent Anjali Singh.

In 2023, he told Alex Dueben for The Comics Journal, "The book I'm working on now, about the Puerto Rican revolutionary Lolita Lebrón, I know how to end it and where to leave it, but there's a lot of stuff in the middle I don't know"

In 2024, he told Gregory Mcnamee at Kirkus, "Vasquez Mejias is now looking more closely at the life of Lolita Lebrón, the revolutionary leader who was radicalized after the U.S. governor of Puerto Rico ordered the police to shoot into a crowd of unarmed demonstrators in 1937. (The governor was removed from office but not otherwise punished.) "You know, they were just going to unfurl the Puerto Rican flag and fire their pistols in the air, but one guy got carried away and wounded five congressmen," he says of the 1954 attack on the Capitol. "Lebrón was a seamstress, like my mom and my aunts who came to New York at about the same time. They were expecting to be killed, but they were taken alive and were sentenced to life in prison, although President Carter released them in the late '70s."

In 2024, he told Maegan Dolan that "the book that I am working on now is about Lolita Lebrón, a Puerto Rican nationalist who came to New York to find work. She was in some ways seeking the American dream. She began working as a seamstress, but found the discrimination in her workplace unbearable. She increased her involvement with the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in New York. My mom and aunts immigrated to New York from Puerto Rico around the same time, and my aunts both worked in a sewing factory, just like Lebrón. So I pulled stories from their experience; I got a lot of great anecdotes talking to them about this period. The book includes a lot of side stories, like why some people had a little gleam in their eye about a naval base on Puerto Rico (because of its proximity to the Panama Canal). And then for a decade or so, there were some sterilization experiments on the women. I weave these stories in, so that by the time she attacks the Capitol with two other people, my hope is you see that there was a lot of abuse that led up to that breaking point. I am trying to create a full portrait."

And now in 2025, he has posted "My woodcut novelette Lolita Lebrón-Puerto Rican Revolutionary will be published by Fantagraphics and released in 2026. I consider this book to be part two of the Puerto Rican War and I'm very excited for folks to read it." He will also be part of a panel at New York Comic Con on Thursday, the 9th of October, called " ¡Wepa! Puerto Ricans in the world of comics" in connection to a New York public library art show.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!