Tantalizing and Supernatural: ‘Beast of Borikén #1’ Review

Tantalizing and Supernatural: ‘Beast of Borikén #1’ Review Writer: Julio Anta / Art: Daniel Irizarri / Colors: Patricio Delpeche / Letters: Lucas Gattoni It’s been a minute since I’ve reviewed a fresh #1. There’s so much content these days, and it’s tough enough to keep up with long running mainstays let alone add more to the queue. That being said with Beast of Borikén I couldn’t help but be intrigued. Julio Anta’s previous work Home from a half decade ago was a story that I remember fondly, and the premise of a supernatural force interfering with US developers building yet another resort in a Puerto Rican city had me perk up. It certainly helps that Irizarri’s striking cover really sells the premise between the rallying crowd in the foreground and the titular beast in the back. I am not as intimately familiar with Puerto Rican myth, but I have consumed enough supernatural media between Jackie Chan Adventures and Grimm to be generally aware of its folklore, and I was all in on the goat-sucker to become a real estate developer-sucker. Beast of Borikén follows a very classical structure for a first issue. We start with a flash back, many years ago before the present, where we are introduced to the protagonist, Loli Flores, in the midst of a disaster. We then snap back to the present where the actual threat takes place: an overtly smug white man with more money than morals. This one-two punch of past turbulence and present brawl is done so deftly. The pivot from a stressed teen…