Sneakers, like roller skates, are this thing that I’ve been trying to resist.
But listen.
Nike and their SNKRS app are not making it easy on me, and this webcomic? With a Dominican-American shoe-savvy teen illustrated by the same artist I fell in love with via Nubia: Real One? Ugh, downloading app now!
Air Jordan 1 frequently drops some really cute sneakers that tug at my need for bright, vivid colors. They also speak to my nostalgia of begging my parents for the new Jordans back in high school. Admittedly, I thought the webcomic would just be a cute little webcam style thing that showed our lead character, Marisol, going on and on about why you needed to buy the shoes so you, um, buy the shoes.
Honestly, I would’ve been fine with that. I love Marisol’s character design, right down to her laying them edges flat.
Just … look at the baby hair!
To my surprise, MariSole is an actual heartfelt story about a girl who’s trying to deal with the trials and tribulations of her life. We get to meet her family, see her interact with different characters, and watch her develop as a character.
MariSole is a web comic chronicling the life and times of Marisol “Mari” Garcia, a 16-year-old Dominican-American teen from Washington Heights whose love for sneakers knows no bounds. On the Internet, Mari is kind of a savant, posting high-energy videos full of sneaker wit and wisdom. In real life, she’s a very relatable, sometimes shy, teen who just started her junior year at a new high school. MariSole is a Gen Z slice-of-life saga tory about friendship, family, bullies, junior proms, and shopping. It’s also about how anyone, no matter what age, can use the thing they care about the most as a springboard for having confidence in every aspect of their life.
Marisol knows her way around a good pair of kicks. She’s starting her junior year at a new school, having had to transfer after being bullied by some former friends. This means that she’s a bit hesitant about the whole making friends thing—her last friends just chased her around the block, after all, in an attempt to beat her up.
Friendship (and potentially more???) have a way of finding you, though, as Marisol meets fellow Air Jordan 1 enthusiast, Krissy, who just so happens to be wearing the sneakers that go with this issue of the comic, the Air Jordan 1 Hyper Royal.
(They are absolutely sold out, btw, but they were REAL cute).
Before I knew it, I was done with the first three chapters and trying to click the “next” button to read more.
Jordan Brand has a rich history of using its platform for storytelling and highlighting athletes and artists, alike. The webcomic was created in partnership with artist Robyn Smith (illustrator and cartoonist, including Nubia: Real One) and writer Jamila Rowser (also publisher and founder of Black Josei Press), and creative agency Wieden+Kennedy, led by copywriter Jordan Dinwiddie. The webcomic aims to further build on Jordan Brand’s commitment to spotlighting and amplifying women’s voices as well as invite new consumers into the family.
I’m excited to get to the part where we see how Marisol acts on the Internet. I feel like it’s something that many people will understand. Back when I was a teenager (particularly when I was 18) I was way more carefree and honest with who I was online, but offline I was quieter, not revealing specific things about myself to people. While I am definitely alluding to my bisexual status on that one, I also feel like I was WAY more of a geek online, up until the point where I stopped giving a flip about what folks offline thought about me.
That took some time, though, so seeing a story with a WOC who has a different online and offline persona is extremely relatable to me. I’m looking forward to seeing where this story takes Marisol.
The first three chapters are available now with the next release coming this May/June for the Fit Check issue. For now, you can get attached to Marisol (and the shoes) in the current issue Nu School, Same Shooz.
The webcomic will be updated via the SNKRS app and, just like this issue, the next launch will be in celebration of a new pair of J’s!
(Image: Jordan Brand)
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