黑料吃瓜

鈥淢y goal is to be a physician or family doctor. Comics will always be a hobby for me, something I do for fun.鈥�

For 黑料吃瓜 pre-med student Fawaz Qashat, comics are deeply personal and educational.

When Qashat first saw Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch in Marvel鈥檚 2015 movie 鈥淎vengers: Age of Ultron,鈥� it was 鈥渁 love at first sight situation.鈥�

But it wasn鈥檛 until he started researching his favorite character and more as part of  that he found the root of this emotion.

鈥淢y love for her comes from a place, where deep down, my life has been shaped by powerful women. Scarlet Witch reminded me of my mom in a way.鈥�

The fictional character lost her parents when she was ten years old, a little older than when Qashat鈥檚 mother lost her mother. Both women lost their homes due to war: Maximoff from the psuedo-Eastern European Sokovia and Qashat鈥檚 mother from Iraq.

鈥淢y mom has an accent when she speaks and was seen as an outsider. That immigrant aspect of Wanda鈥檚 story touched me,鈥� said Qashat. 鈥淎nd the mother鈥檚 instinct to do whatever it takes, I see that reflected in my mom.鈥�  

For both female figures, Qashat sees how their experiences have led them to becoming more powerful.

The familial ties to Scarlet Witch inspired Qashat to start cosplaying in 2020 when his aunt willingly dyed her hair orange after he joked about dressing up for Halloween as The Vision.

Cosplay and Science  

Since then, he has iterated on his costume multiple times, adding various pieces and face paint in Vision鈥檚 signature red, likening each change to applying the scientific method 鈥� testing hypotheses and analyzing the results of whether he more closely approximates the desired look.

As he continues to perfect his cosplay, he will join the Science Fiction Coalition at charity events for children鈥檚 hospitals and military veterans, combining his passions for comics and medicine.

鈥淓verything I do with my fandom relates to science in some way,鈥� Qashat said. 鈥淎s a superhero fan and a biologist, I get very interested in all the meticulous details of how the powers work.鈥� 

While he was learning about genetics in high school biology, he could better understand what was real and fictional about the 鈥渕etahuman鈥� genes in the CW鈥檚 television series 鈥淭he Flash.鈥�

The Vision, Qashat鈥檚 main cosplay character and Wanda Maximoff鈥檚 love interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is a synthesoid that has artificial organs.

鈥淭rying to understand how he physically works helps me expand my knowledge and at the same time, the characters seem more human, not just a colorful picture,鈥� Qashat said.

Although the superhero genre of comics is Qashat鈥檚 favorite, he also loves how the visuals in graphic medicine comics can teach complex biology topics like how vaccines work, which he had to explain to his own family.

鈥淗aving comics in different languages gives people access and does transcend some barriers of language,鈥� Qashat said.

Research Led to a Dream Come True

With guidance from two additional powerful women,  co-directors Pamela Jackson and Elizabeth Pollard, Qashat has independently cataloged which graphic medicine comics are already in 黑料吃瓜鈥檚 extensive comics collection and which could be added.

His previous research projects with the Center focused on broader ideas of social justice, family, and disability.

鈥淎ny comic you read has a deeper message,鈥� he said. He cited The Vision and the Scarlet Witch as an example of an interracial relationship and Superman as an immigrant not from this planet.

鈥淚n the 1980s, interracial couples faced a lot of segregation. It鈥檚 an issue but it feels distant when looking at it from an outside lens. When looking at it through characters that feel like friends, now this hits home, now I understand, now I relate to this,鈥� he said.

He presented this project at a smaller San Diego Comic-Con event in November 2021 alongside Pollard and Jackson, an experience which he described as 鈥渁mazing鈥� and 鈥渦nreal.鈥�

鈥淚 was such a fan of Comic-Con and I had never gone. I still have the magazine with my name on there. My name is in a SDCC thing! That just blew me away!鈥�

鈥淚 can鈥檛 imagine what a real Comic-Con looks like,鈥� Qashat said.

But he will find out this weekend when he will be one of several 黑料吃瓜-affiliated panelists at San Diego Comic-Con.

鈥淢arvel and comics were part of me before 黑料吃瓜 and they became a bigger part of me because of 黑料吃瓜.鈥�