Muslim illustrator and creative director Sara Alfageeh has been quite passionate about comics ever since she was a child.
So, when a failed depiction of a Muslim superhero made the rounds online, she couldn't help but share her dose of criticism. Alfageeh's frustration came after an illustration of the X-Men character Dust, a mutant from Afghanistan, was shared with the public.
The illustration shows a niqabi woman - who has been described by Marvel as having "respect for tradition" - while donning a latex costume. Alfageeh questioned where modesty comes into play with the drawing of Dust.
"Who looked at a niqabi character and still gave her the latex costume treatment?" she wrote in a tweet.
Alfageeh explained to the BBC that she didn't understand why the artist "felt the need to sexualize Dust" and make her "clothes cling to her body". That's not all. The comic fan took her criticism a step further ... by drawing a completely new version of Dust.
"Much of my inspiration came from searching modest fashion Instagram hashtags and Pinterest," she said in an interview with SBS.
"I wanted to see how Muslim women were choosing to present themselves, and especially street fashion has such an incredible sense of agency. I wanted to channel that attitude," she added.
Her version of the Marvel superhero has been shared over 5,000 times on Twitter at the time of writing.
Dust's "makeover" went completely viral, garnering attention from all over the world
"I wanted her to be a little snooty"
People on Twitter completely fell in love ...
"I am here for this"
"Awesome redesign"
"She looks like a real X-Men member"
"Please make this a reality"
"Mashallah"
"The outfit design is fire"
The character has stirred controversy on multiple occasions
Dust, who is also known as Sooraya Qadir, is an adolescent Afghan girl who has the ability to transform into a sandstorm and slowly rip off the skin of her enemies.
Dust - created by writer Grant Morrison - has been an X-Men character since 2002, when she made her first appearance. However, the character has drawn criticism over the years for being "poorly researched".
For one, the character only speaks Arabic, despite the fact that she lives in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. She did not speak Pashto or Dari, the more commonly spoken languages in the country.
Dust is not the only Muslim Marvel superhero...
In 2014, Kamala Khan - otherwise known as Ms. Marvel - became Marvel Comics' first Muslim-American hero to headline her own comic.
Ms. Marvel was released in 2014 as a nerdy, sarcastic Pakistani-American teenager, with an extreme dedication to delivering justice.
In 2015, the character of Khan was used to wipe away messages of hate that had appeared on buses in San Francisco.
Racist ads had been promoted by an anti-Muslim group and she became the face of protest against Islamophobia.
