Everyday, evidence of our increasingly diversified community is presented in any number of ways. We see new ethnic restaurants pop up all the time, see bilingual newspapers, or hear neighbors speaking in a multiplicity of tongues.

So it should come as no surprise that the world of comic book superheroes should similarly evolve. I refer to The Fantastic Four, the famous team of crime-fighting superheroes whose exploits are available at a store near you. With one twist: The action will for the first time ever be documented en Español.

According to a report from the Associated Press last week, the latest chronicles of the adventures of Sue, Reed, Johnny and Ben are now available in English and Spanish.

The bilingual issue marks a first for a major American comic book publisher. And it’s no surprise, given that Spanish is the second most common language spoken in the United States after English, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

And at a population of approximately 44 million, Hispanics are the nation’s largest ethnic or racial minority. In fact, according to 2005 figures, the U.S. had the third-largest Hispanic population in the world, second only to Mexico (106 million) and Colombia (43 million). The U.S.’s Hispanic population then was 42.7 million.

Released Friday, “Fantastic Four: Isla de la Muerte!� — or “Los Cuatro Fantasticos: !Isla de la Muerte!� — takes the long-running series to Puerto Rico, according to publisher Marvel Entertainment Inc.’s Web site. The book’s name translates as “Island of Death� in Spanish, and the crime-fighters will confront a mythical creature of Latino lore.