TORONTO โ As Canadian Muslims enjoyed the events of the annual MuslimFest in Mississauga, their kids were beaming with excitement in a workshop where they explored their Muslim superheroes.
โThe thing with the Muslim community is, itโs depicted so many times in the comic books where itโs always a negative point,โ Adonis Howard, from Ink Pallette Productions, told Toronto Star on Sunday, August 28.
โNow they have some great characters (who are) Muslims.โ
MuslimFest, the largest Muslim festival in North America, returned to Mississauga Celebration Square in suburban Toronto last Saturday for its twelfth year with over 25,000 visitors expected to take part in the festivities.
Featuring local and international artists, concerts, stand-up comedy shows, workshops, films and documentaries, the festival begins on Saturday, August 27 and runs until Sunday evening, August 28.
As part of the event, Howard conducted a workshop for Muslim youth on drawing superheroes and Pokemon figures, along with their Muslim superheroes.
Howard and fellow artists showed more than 20 kids, aged about 7 to 13, including numerous girls, how to draw characters such as Batman and Pokemon.

Momina Khawaja, 8, shows off her favourite drawing of a Pokemon. (Andrew Lahodynskyj/Toronto Star)
They also learned about Muslim superhero Dust, an Afghani heroine with the ability to turn her body into sand, and Ms. Marvel, also known as Kamala Khan, a Pakistani American with shape-shifting abilities.
โI mean, for the longest time itโs been Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, all these great characters, but itโs always the one culture,โ said Howard.
The session helped Howard to build kidsโ self-esteem and confidence.
โI donโt want to hear the words โI canโt draw,โ because back in the day I couldnโt draw either,โ said Howard, who started his art career when he was 26.
โOut of eight cousins I was the worst artist in my family. All my cousins could draw, and I couldnโt draw a cat.โ
Nine-year-old Momina Khawaja says she โabsolutely lovedโ the workshop and is planning on continuing to practise drawing.
โIt was amazing! We all got to see so much figures and awesome superheroes that we loved, and Pokemon,โ said Khawaja.
โI had company helping me, I had people looking at it saying, โOh wow, you did such a good job.โ It was a beautiful event!โ