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This DC superhero superfan writes a comic of his own
In the D.C. region, conversations often start with, “What do you do?” WTOP’s “Working Capital” series profiles the people whose jobs make the D.C. region run.
Millions of us grew up reading comic books, fantasizing about becoming our favorite superhero and telling our own stories in our head or through playtime with Spider-Man action figures.
But one D.C. man took that passion throughout his career and eventually told his own stories using his favorite Marvel character.
David Betancourt is a veteran journalist for The Athletic. He lectures at both the University of Maryland and American University. But the thing that connects it all is his love for comic books and he has been fortunate to write a few of his own.
Betancourt grew up with a comic book always in his hand, and he attributes his love of reading and writing to those early comics that he read as a kid.
During his years as a culture reporter at The Washington Post, he made several connections with Marvel, which asked him to write a character with whom that Betancourt has a deep affinity: Miles Morales, a newer Spider-Man who has become widely popular thanks to two theatrically released animated movies: “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”
“The character of Miles Morales means a lot to me, because he represents the first time, I felt that I’ve truly seen myself in any medium,” Betancourt said.
Much like Morales, Betancourt has one African American parent and one Puerto Rican parent.
“He’s bilingual, he’s biracial, he looks like me and he’s Spider-Man. And that’s somebody who I always wanted to be as a kid,” Betancourt said.
He was first approached by Marvel to write an essay about how much Miles Morales meant to him. He was then asked to write a few more essays about the comic book company.
“I said, ‘I’ll do it if I can write Miles, because he’s a character that means a lot to me, because I am what he is.’ So that led to me writing my very first Miles Morales comic book story for Marvel,” Betancourt said.
In the story, Morales as Spider-Man meets the Black Panther. At its core, it is a story of identity.
“He talks to the Black Panther, ‘When people see you and your Black Panther superhero suit, even though they can’t see you, they know you’re Wakandan. I have this superhero suit, but people don’t know what I am,” Betancourt said about his story.
Morales wanted the world to know that he is both Black and Puerto Rican.
“In the story, that led to the creation of what is known as the Boricua suit,” Betancourt said.
The black Spider-Man outfit prominently displays the Puerto Rican flag on its chest. It has even been made into an action figure. His biggest hope is that it appears in the final Spider-Verse movie that will be released next year.
“It really is kind of an out-of-body experience,” said Betancourt. “To always be that adult that runs to the superhero toy section to see what cool toys are there … then see a toy that started off as an idea in your head, it was really an amazing experience. It’s something I’m very proud of.”
Another proud moment was when he received fan mail as a comic book writer. One letter came from Latin America, writing that they could tell this particular story was written by a Latino.
He took great responsibility to reflect both sides of his culture in Miles, but made sure the story and action was on point. It is a balancing act.
“People aren’t running to the comic bookstore to buy a superhero comic to hear someone talk about how Puerto Rican or how black they are. They want to see a superhero bench pressing a car and throwing it and getting into battles with super villains,” he said.
“So you really have to pick your moments where you can let the reader know that you’re a part of that culture and you want to express that within the character.”
Along with writing comics, Betancourt has written books about comic book culture. He authored “The Avengers Assembled: The Origins of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”
Betancourt is highlighting a series of lectures and activities for children at the D.C. Public Library called “Comictroplis.”
“We have multiple writers from the comic book realm that I’ve curated,” Betancourt said, speaking about the shows.
“I want this series to be for the older comic book-loving community, but especially our young community. Here is a chance to peek inside what it’s like to create comic books and let these kids know that reading comic books can be a path to becoming a creator,” he said.
“I want this series to be an eye-opening experience for young kids that are into comics that potentially have an interest in maybe doing that someday.”
On Saturday, June 13, Betancourt will speak about his path towards writing Miles Morales at the Southwest Neighborhood Library.
To register for one of the three remaining events, visit the D.C. Library website.
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