I am no Marvel expert, nor do I keep up with all of the superhero movies that come out, but when my friends and I decided to go to the movies one night, I was presented with the hardest decision I’ve had to make this semester: Do I watch Aquaman or the new Spider-Man movie? 

I didn’t make up my mind until getting to the counter to receive my Spider-Man ticket, and I have to say, it was the best decision I’ve made, ever.  I had been listening to “Sunflower” by Post Malone and Swae Lee on repeat for weeks, but when I saw the animations come to life in the film, it was different. 

Miles Morales, an Afro-Latino teen, leaves his neighborhood in NYC to attend a private boarding school. He eventually gets bitten by the spider and starts his journey to confidently kick ass. After the movie, I couldn’t stop thinking, I’ve never seen anything like that. 

I’ve never seen the various animations styles and comic book text combine like that to create a work of art. I’ve never seen a Black and Puerto Rican young superhero character break the whitewashed hero archetype, and we need more of that. 

I had this feeling to pick up a pencil and start drawing. A new lifetime goal of mine is to create a graphic novel focusing on under-representative perspectives.