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Kevin Aninta ‘29OD was the kid in school who was always doodling in the margins of his notebooks. But it wasn’t until he was in college that he started drawing comics.
In fact, a comic strip he once posted on TikTok reached 300,000 views per strip. It was about a 2024 feud between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake involving multiple diss tracks from both artists, making it one of the biggest feuds in recent hip-hop history.
“Usually my drawings are based on real life,” said Aninta, originally from Washington, D.C., who graduated from Howard University with a degree in biology. “For that strip, I was turning the rappers into comic book analog superheroes.”
Another political cartoon Aninta drew did even better and racked up three million views on Reddit.
An avid reader of comics, Aninta enjoys everything from “Calvin and Hobbes” to the “Absolute Martin Manhunter,” a superhero comic book maxi series published by DC Comics based on its character, Martian Manhunter, one of the lesser-known Justice League of America members.
Drawing comics gives Aninta a creative outlet from life’s pressures, one he intends to continue as he continues his first year at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Drexel University.
The godson of an optometrist, Aninta shadowed his godfather, Charles Aneke, OD ‘89, and fell in love with the profession. “I worked with a lot of doctors who went to PCO, and I saw what kind of doctors they were,” he said. “I thought PCO could make me the same kind of doctor as well.”
Although it’s been a few months since he’s posted his comics on Instagram, Reddit, or TikTok because he’s been focused on preparing for his entrance into graduate school, Aninta plans to continue his drawings once he gets settled in. He tends to collect new drawing tools as well and is inspired to create with every new pen and pencil he purchases. He recently saw an artist using a type of pencil and said to himself, “Oh, I need to get that and figure out a way to create a comic with it.”
Drawing has long been an outlet for Aninta, giving him the space to express himself on paper, he said.
“It’s something that even if I try and take a break from it, I still find myself unconsciously picking up the pen and drawing,” said Aninta, who hopes to eventually publish his own anthology series of comics. “It’s just a part of me. I’m probably going to keep drawing comics through grad school, and I expect it will just keep getting bigger and bigger.”
