A Bronx man who cannot use his arms or legs has become a comic book author — with an unusual way of writing his stories. Borough reporter Erin Clarke tells us more.
Luis Cruz was born with a muscle and joint disease called Arthrogryposis.
"The doctors told my mother he won't amount to nothing," Cruz said. "He'll be physically disabled. He won't be able to use no arms. He'll probably die by the age of three."
Forty-five years later — he's written six comic books.
"I actually write and draw and type with my mouth," Cruz said. "I can type about 25 words a minute with a pen in my mouth."
His comics have been published by an independent company and now he has his own — Cruzin' Comics.
Cruz sometimes draws a quick sketch of how he envisions his characters, but most of the time he sends a lengthy description to one of three comic artists he works with in Spain and Australia.
"Drawing for me to do an entire comic book it would take me forever," he said.
All of his comics have a very personal touch.
"I always put people with disabilities in my stories because I feel that that's something, other than Professor X, there's really no handicapped characters, prominent characters," he said.
Last year he participated in his first Comic Con as an exhibitor and was at the Five Points comic Festival.
"I'd like to see that doctor now and prove to him that he was wrong," Cruz said.