Marvel Voices Comunidades #1: Strength in Identity

By Gabriel de Jesus and Duna Haller

Marvel Voices: Comunidades #1 gives Latinx creators the opportunity to tell stories that take the Latinx experience and apply it to the world of Marvel. While each writer approaches their stories from different perspectives, common themes of community, identity, and history and culture can be found. 

A connective thread throughout the anthology are the precise, creative letters of Ariana Maher, which manage to both create a coherent framework for the reader’s comfort and include coloring, playfulness with shaping and balloons, and vibrant emotions out of every character’s dialogue.

Identity

“Latinx and Proud” by Julio Anta, Enid Balam, Oren Junior, and Fedrico Blee uses Spider-Girl (Anya Corazón), Spider-Man (Miles Morales), and Miles’ mother to break down the word Latinx. As showcased by the slice-of-life, street-level art, more concerned with everyday life and details than with a showcase of powers, this comic has the least action of any of the other multipage stories, and it pushes as its main purpose to educate through the heroes’ day-to-day and activism. Mrs. Morales asks all the questions I have faced regarding the use of the word Latinx but is far more receptive to the explanation than most.

 “Loco-Motion” by Yehudi Mercado, Mauro Fodra and Fernando Sifuentes of Photobunker Studios addresses identity in a different way. Robbie Reyes and his brother are forced to confront people pushing their perception of their identity onto them. The bigots harassing people are looking to start conflict so that they can dictate the way Latinx people are perceived, and they overimpose themselves through their aggression, which is purposely shown in the most unsightly and in-your-face artwork of the whole anthology. The fire of this story can be felt, and the ugliness of this violent whiteness permeates the pages in a poignant way. When Robbi acts against it, we can feel him taking control of his identity and deciding how he wants to be seen.

“¿De Donde Eres?” by David Betancourt, Alitha E Martinez, Jose Marzan Jr, and Bryan Valenza is another Miles Morales story that speaks to identity. Betancourt directly addresses Miles in the context of who he is and how he is perceived. Miles Morales is a revolutionary character and has been since his introduction, and as he grows in prominence, this is something that will only continue to grow. But as a multifaceted character, it is too easy for writers and readers to only look at Miles from specific perspectives. Miles is Black. Miles is Puerto Rican. It is not a single identity alone that makes Miles groundbreaking but all of his identity, including the intersectionality of it all. While Betancourt cannot possibly fully elaborate on this in the way it should in a few short pages, he does lay it all out in a straightforward and eloquent manner.